Your crimson colored GT convertible just arrived, and before you know it, some punkass decided to key your precious baby. There’s nothing more agonizing than watching that unruly scratch stare back at you on a car that’s worth a king’s ransom. But why fear, when Doctor Paint is here! This probably sounds like a cheesy marketing slogan but if motor scientists have their way, one may never have to worry about scratching that paintwork again!
The revolutionary coating that’s yet to fill paint cans across the globe, claims to repair blemishes or scuffs from a surface when exposed to sunlight.
The self healing process takes about 15 to 20 minutes to evaporate the scratches, and the car's paint job is restored to showroom-standards. If it goes as planned, the creators claim that it could be used to vanish scratches from CDs, TV screens, shades, shoes and even furniture.Dr Marek Urban who developed the intelligent polymer at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, said it could also be used in medical tools where scratches can harbor germs. 'There are an immense number of opportunities for this,' he said. 'Basically anything externally exposed.'
The material is still in research phase, and you can expect to see it at your local mod-shop within the next five years.
Self healing materials have always eluded scientists because of their complexity and affordability. However, the healing material described here and also featured in the academic journal Science, is far simpler and cheaper.
The speed of repair depends on the sunshine, so a car in a driveway in California would heal upto four times faster than a car in downtown London. 'Dry or humid climate conditions will not affect the repair process,’ notes Dr. Marek.
There's however a big but to the magician's paint job, it only works once. Though as the researchers remark, you have to have either really bad luck or neighbors to have scratches on your car in exactly the same place twice.
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