PRESENTATION OF THE SPANISH PROJECT TRAINER
“AUTONOMOUS REGENERATION OF MATERIALS FOR DIFFERENT
APPLICATIONS”
F. Castro 1, M. Casado 1 and J. Vera 1
1
ACCIONA Infraestructuras, Avda. Europa 18, 20108 Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain – e-mail:
[email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]
Keywords: self-healing, project, Spain, standardisation, industrial applications
ABSTRACT
Despite of the recent creation of self-healing materials, these materials are gaining
notoriety in the last years due to their great value for society and economy.
The first publications regarding this type of materials are dated on 2001. The
University of Illinois was the first cutting-edge organization dedicated to self-healing
materials research. Later, in 2005 and thanks to the financial support of the Dutch
ministry, The Netherlands conducted for six years the Innovation Oriented research
Program (IOP) on Self-Healing Materials. This fact reflects the importance of public
funding for such ambitious research projects.
The project TRAINER, first project dedicated to deal with self-healing materials in
Spain, emerged in 2010 thanks to the support of the Spanish government and the
interest of different companies and research organizations for that type of materials.
The challenge of the project TRAINER is not only working on self-healing
technologies of 1st and 2nd generation, but also trying to adapt current technologies to
provide traditional materials (concrete, polymers, ceramics, asphalts, coatings and
steel) with self-healing ability. In order to achieve this goal, different approaches have
been proposed: use of microorganisms, expansive agents, PVA fibres,
supramolecular polymers, new corrosion inhibitors and zirconia based materials. The
standardization and development of test protocols for self-healing materials is, also,
another objective to be achieved through the project.
This paper will present the most relevant results achieved to date. In this context, it
should be highlighted the development of microcapsules reinforced with sepiolitebased nanoclays, expansive agents based on hydrogels and supramolecular
polymers based on hydrazones.
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