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Scientists develop metal that regenerates itself in experiment and open doors to a new era in engineering

Written by Valdemar Medeiros
Published 12/01/2025 às 11:45
Scientists develop metal that regenerates itself in experiment and opens doors to a new era in engineering
Photo: Sandia National Laboratories and Texas A&M University

Scientists at the Sandia National Laboratorys succeeded, for the first time, to make a metal regenerate itself. Discovery happened by chance and promises to revolutionize the engineering segment.

Metal that regenerates itself? For the first time, scientists have witnessed pieces of metal regenerating themselves without any human intervention, overturning key scientific theories. If the discovered phenomenon is harnessed, it will usher in a major revolution in engineering, a revolution where engines, bridges and self-healing planes can review the data generated by wear, making them safer and longer lasting.

Understand how the discovery of the regeneration of self-regenerating metal came about

The research team from Sandia National Laboratories and Texas A&M University described their findings in the journal Nature. According to one of Sandia's materials scientists, Brad Boyce, it was absolutely amazing to watch the metal regenerate firsthand.

The researcher points out that it has been confirmed that metals have their own intrinsic and natural ability to heal, at least in the case of nanoscale fatigue damage. Fatigue damage to metal is one of the ways machines wear out and eventually break down. Stress or repeated movements generate microscopic cracks. Over time, these cracks grow and spread until the entire device breaks or fails.

The fissure that Boyce and his team of scientists saw disappear was one of those tiny but consequential fractures measured in nanometers. Boyce says that from the solder joints in electronic devices to the engines in his vehicles and the bridges they drive over, these structures often fail unpredictably due to cyclic loading that leads to the initiation of cracks and eventual fracture in the metal. When they fail, you have to bear replacement costs, lost time and, in some cases, even injuries or loss of life in the engineering sector. 

Theory of the metal that regenerates was discovered in 2013

Although scientists have developed some self-healing materials, mostly plastics, the notion of a self-healing metal has largely been the domain of science fiction. The estimate is that cracks in metals would get bigger, not smaller.

Even some of the basic equations we use to describe crack advancement exclude the chance of such healing processes. In 2013, Michael Demkowicz, then an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, began chipping away at conventional materials theory. 

The scientist published a new theory, based on findings in computer simulations that, under some conditions, the metal should be able to weld cracks generated by wear. The discovery that his theory was true came inadvertently at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a Department of Energy facility operated jointly with Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

Metal manages to regenerate after 40 minutes of tests

The scientists only planned to assess how cracks formed and spread across a piece of platinum at the nanoscale using a specialized electron microscope technique they had developed to pull the edges of the metal repeatedly 200 times a second.

Surprisingly, about 40 minutes into the experiment, the damage changed course. One edge of the crack has merged as if it were retracing its steps, leaving no trace of the previous damage. Over time, the crack grew back in a different direction.

Boyce, who was aware of the theory, shared the results with Demkowicz. The professor claims that he was very happy with the news and then recreated the experiment on a computer model, proving that the phenomenon witnessed in Sandia was the same as he had theorized years before. His work was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Science, Basic Sciences, and Energy, the National Nuclear Safety Administration, and the National Science Foundation.

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ROSI
ROSI
12/01/2025 14:02

Did they copy the ETs' metal regeneration?

Alexandre
Alexandre
In reply to  ROSI
12/01/2025 19:18

Hahahahahaha… I just thought of that.

Ricardo
Ricardo
In reply to  Alexandre
12/01/2025 21:23

So, my friends. Do you remember the Roswell case, where an alien spacecraft crashed on a large farm in the United States of America? Where American military scientists spent almost three weeks researching the opening of the ship? Has anyone here watched this documentary with interviews with these farmers who paid for the wreckage of this same ship and later discovered that the pieces they paid for regenerated? As if it were a crumpled sheet of aluminum foil returning to its original shape? So watch the Roswell case and you will understand that these little North American and European scientists only decipher what has already been deciphered by superior civilizations. Just like the ion thruster that allows you to travel the cosmos without reactive or flammable fuel, just like the cell-based communication technology that we have today and even the development of artificial intelligence. None of this is the work of human beings because we are still too primitive. We just captured them and researched their technology. Just like in the Independence Day movies. That thing there shows everything but no one sees it. Everyone thinks it is just fiction, just like they used to think that a submarine was fiction. Julio Verne would say so, right?

Valdemar Medeiros

Journalist in training, specialist in creating content with a focus on SEO actions. Writes about the Automotive Industry, Renewable Energy and Science and Technology

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