Nissan develops car paint that fixes scratches!

[BrooklynBay]

A friend of mine sent me this link in an instant message. I thought that it would be of interest to different people, so I posted it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10333350/ According to the company, they claim that their coating automatically repairs minor scratches, and lasts about 3 years. There was a car with scratches that "healed" after a week. I remember seeing a Ford Mustang at an auto show a few years ago that came with a special paint called "mystic paint". It appeared the constantly change color depending upon the viewing angle. Since then, I never actually saw it on the road. I wonder if this special coating from Nissan will be like that too. I can't understand why the auto manufacturers spend millions of dollars developing something, stimulate interest, and then never put it into production.

 

[Rick]

Because they would lose money... Scratches that heal themselves don't bring $$$ to their dealers body shops.

 

[dreamr]

I remember seeing a Ford Mustang at an auto show a few years ago that came with a special paint called "mystic paint". It appeared the constantly change color depending upon the viewing angle. Since then, I never actually saw it on the road.

Ahhh the Mystic Purple Cobra.... The paint was used for the '03 and '04 Cobra's I believe. Very nice!!!! A buddy up here has one running 9's

Now as to this scratch paint I want some!!!! Of course if it takes a week to heal itself my rig would be really scratched up all summer anyway.

 

[Lt.Jim]

Now why can't the make an engine that repairs itself!

 

[TheFox88]

Only $100 extra too! Wow. I wouldn't mind knowing a little more about how it works.
I remember seeing something on the history channel a while back that had some kind of polymer that would change colors in response to electricity. That would make an interesting car paint. What can't technology do?

 

[F14CRAZY]

Mystic by BASF

 

[MONMIX]

Because they would lose money... Scratches that heal themselves don't bring $$$ to their dealers body shops.

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Self repairing paint sucks !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rick]

See, there ya go

 

[BrooklynBay]

I once read an article a few years ago about a similar type of coating that NASA was experimenting with on spacecraft. It was developed by a man named Dr. Laurence E. LaForge. It has microscopic pores that stored, and released small charges of polymer that mixed every time there was a light impact strong enough to cause a little damage. These polymers obviously didn't require any oxygen to start the chemical process, and were strong enough to keep the outer surface of the spacecraft from getting further damage as a result of the previous impact. That would help prevent weak spots from accumulating. I just did a search, and found two links with information on this. The first one is: http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/02144/future/healcons.htm, and the second one is: http://science.howstuffworks.com/self-healing-spacecraft.htm/printable.

 

[Rick]

That's amazing stuff. The self healing control systems are going to be another phenomenal advancement.

Living Wires
During long space missions, maintaining the health of onboard computers and electronics systems will be just as important as maintaining the exterior shell. NASA is working on a new type of system that will give self-repairing capabilities to the internal wiring of the spacecraft. This new evolvable hardware will be able to monitor the electronics and correct systems before malfunctions become a crucial problem.

Initially, a self-repairing flight system would be used in airplanes before being moved to spacecraft. At the NASA Aviation Safety Program, based at the Langley Research Center, researchers are working on this kind of self-healing computer system. In 1999, the United States space agency reported that it could have commercial systems available by 2004. The idea here is to create a self-healing computer system that uses a cluster of low-power processors that are loosely coupled to spacecraft systems via wireless links.

These health management and control upset management systems could detect, diagnose and prevent abnormalities before problems become uncorrectable. The computerized health management system will monitor vital functions, help prevent and reduce any malfunctions, enhance a flight crew's ability to respond to problems and reduce a pilot's workload during an emergency. Control upset management would include advanced detection and prediction algorithms, display formats, pilot cueing and guidance and control methods to prevent accidents when failures occur. Both of these systems could work for aircraft and spacecraft.

In the future, spacecraft could possibly take us to the edge of our solar system and beyond. If that is to be possible, we will need spacecraft with built-in safeguards. These smart-spacecraft will have to be able to sense and react to potential problems that might go unseen by their human passenge

 

[BrooklynBay]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29663741/

 

[410Fortune]

Now why can't the make an engine that repairs itself!

ROTFLOL

we are almost star trek!

Bluetooth's were one step closer, but self healing wiring and electrical systems = r2d2 can actually plug in with a spinny thingy and make it heal itself!

I hope in my lifetime to see projected matter, or some sort of a force field, who needs to roll up your window when you can just turn the window off? chip in the windshield? no problem, hit reset!

 

[CrazyAlaskan]

^ That would be awsome! lol

 

[Mbrooks420]

Now if only they could think of some space age special metal that doesn't rust. Oh, wait we've had that for decades, and the cars still rot out in 10 years. I've heard of live wires, but never living wires

 

[BrooklynBay]

This might fit your description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparent_aluminum

 

[Mbrooks420]

Wow, that's crazy. I was thinking more on the lines of some regular aluminum or stainless. I wonder what the transparent aluminum melts at. "Regular" aluminum alloys usually melt around 1,200f.

 

[BrooklynBay]

It probably has a higher melting point considering it's used on spacecraft. The tiles on the space shuttle are made out of some sort of ceramic since they get so hot. Another thing that is used is Aerogel. It was further improved and called Xerogel. Check these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gel