Integrating self-healing and sustainable materials into infrastructure and vehicle manufacturing could set the tone for other sectors to follow suit, promoting environmental awareness, safety, and lowered long-term costs. IDTechEx's portfolio of Sustainability Research Reports covers the latest materials technologies that have the potential to reshape the considerations made when new buildings are erected and the latest cars are built.
The scope for sustainability and safety with self-healing materials
Self-healing materials have a way of bringing about sustainability through their ability to extend product lifespans. IDTechEx's report, "Self-Healing Materials 2025-2035: Technologies, Applications, and Players", covers the spectrum of autonomy where self-healing materials are concerned, which covers reactions that require human influence by the provision of heat, for example, through to materials that automatically continue to repair damage on their own and do so repeatedly as and when needed.
Autonomous self-healing is activated by the damage itself, where microcapsules containing chemicals may react to form a sealant material, or biomimetic materials act like a vascular system to continuously supply a healing agent to potential damage area sites. Some enzymes and bacteria can also be utilized for their reaction with moisture or air, which produces a sealing substance.
The need for repair and maintenance costs as seen with regular buildings would be less apparent with the use of self-healing materials. IDTechEx reports that many countries lose around 3% of their GDP to the premature degradation of materials, while reducing the total cost of ownership for infrastructure is becoming more and more a considered factor.
The implementation of these materials will also likely reduce carbon emissions from the provision and deploying of excess repair materials, while the scope for increased safety from the eradication of old and crumbling buildings also makes a case for the use of the developing technology. Faults and cracks can begin to occur on levels invisible to the eye, which is where the first steps of repair would ideally take place to avoid their progression and resulting structural failure, which is where self-healing materials can provide a solution.
Some of the largest potential application areas for self-healing materials outlined by IDTechEx in their report include transport lines for the transport of LNG, asphalt roof coverings, high-end sporting equipment, and the windows and topcoats of vehicles and trains. Water systems would also largely benefit from self-healing technologies, to prevent damage or potential flooding early on, by having the repair process offset by the presence of a small leak.
Polymers promoting sustainability in automotives
The automotive sector is a large space for sustainability goals, affected by increasing regulations. As well as having self-healing materials incorporated into their makeup to reduce maintenance needs, vehicles can benefit from other sustainable materials, such as recycled plastics. The automotive industry's plastic usage exceeds 14 million tonnes in passenger automotive vehicles alone, highlighting a real need for changes to be made that are more environmentally conscious.
Most plastics are sourced from petrochemical feedstocks; however, regulatory pressures such as carbon taxes and recycled content mandates are requiring automotive manufacturers to explore other options. Bioplastics and recycled plastics are outlined by IDTechEx as being substantial alternatives, though would require collaboration from stakeholders within the supply chain to make large-scale adoption feasible. For some interior components which use mono-material polypropylene, the transition to alternative plastics is not likely to present much difficulty. It is the more specialized components that may prove challenging to rework, as sustainable substitute materials can be tricky to source.
IDTechEx's report, "Sustainable Plastics for Automotive 2025-2035: Market, Players, and Forecasts", explains how bioplastics, created from bio-based feedstocks, and other sustainable plastics, are likely to come at a much greater cost, as due to limited supply, sourcing larger amounts for automotive manufacturing may be hard. The most feasible route to plastic sustainability in automotive manufacturing currently, are mechanically recycled plastics, as they are the most widely available.
For more information about the latest sustainability materials, visit IDTechEx's portfolio of Sustainability Research Reports.
