SHE

A very interesting group of innovative and smart materials are the so-called self-healing materials, which have the ability to heal damage autonomously.

Although there are few applications in the market today, it is expected that applications of the self-healing concept will show up in all industries. Think for instance about scratches on your smart phone screen that heal by themselves, cracks in a concrete bridge that fill with a self-healing substance to prevent water from entering, scratches in the lacquer of cars, etc.

With the vertical research program SHE, Flanders is taking a leading position in this fast developing area and emerging markets.

The program focuses on three different material classes:

• cementitious and mineral building materials: projects SECEMIN, SHEcon, ISHECO and iSAP
• thermoset polymers and composites: projects SEPOCOM and PUrePAIR
• Novel active protection systems on metals: projects NAPROM, SHREC and ISHECO

The image below shows the interdependence of the different projects in the program: