Your car’s scratches may one day go away with just 30 minutes of sunlight

One of the worse things that could happen to your car is a scratch. You leave your car parked outside but, to your dismay, someone keyed it. Or if you are having a bad day, a rock kicked up while driving and left a scratch. Among several solutions to remove those scratches is the self-healing panels that have been in development for a while. Researchers have a new protective coating that will heal itself in merely 30 minutes when exposed to the sun.

Researchers at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology have created a new protective coating that is meant to replace the existing one. The coatings vehicles come with are prone to scratches. When scratched, they expose the underlying metal panel, which increases the risk of rusting. There are several remedies to fix those scratches, but the related costs can go quite high. The protective coating, the researchers claim, will buff out the scratch and heal itself in a matter of 30 minutes. But for that, it would need the sun.

In their paper, researchers noted that they used a highly durable protective resin coating with a reversible polymer network material made of acryl polyol. This coating also has a photothermal dye, which absorbs infrared light from the sun, turning it into thermal energy that raises the temperature of the coating’s surface. Then, there is a series of chemical reactions that takes place.

The chemical bonds of the coating’s polymer structure react to the high temperature of the surface. The process involves dissociation and recombination of the structure in a way that rebuilds the area where the scratch has done damage. After 30 minutes, the damage no longer exists and is completely gone.

The time duration of 30 minutes, however, can be minimised with the use of an external source of high-intensity heat. For instance, a laser and a magnifying glass. But the regular process, the researchers deem, is enough for the healing of the damaged surface. At the same time, the time duration, as well as the effectiveness of the fix will depend on factors such as the intensity of the heat from the sun. Researchers say the protective coating could also be used on other vehicles, such as boats and planes, thereby minimising their maintenance costs.

In fact, the coating is so efficient, it could also be used on smartphones. Imagine of the situation when the phone slipped out of your hand and hit a solid surface, such as floor marble, resulting in a crack on the back. A 30-minute sauna for your phone could then be enough to make it look like new.

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