不再怕碎屏！日本发现可自动修复的玻璃材料

A Japanese researcher has developed - by accident - a new type of glass that can be repaired simply by pressing it back together after it cracks.

一名日本研究人员偶然之下，发现了可以自动修复的玻璃，仅仅需要把破碎的玻璃重新拼在一起。

The discovery opens the way for super-durable glass that could triple the lifespan of everyday products like car windows, construction materials, fish tanks and even toilet seats.

这项发明开启了超耐用玻璃的大门，这能延长很多日用品的使用寿命，像汽车玻璃，建筑材料，鱼缸，甚至马桶座。

Dr Yu Yanagisawa, a chemistry researcher at the University of Tokyo, made the breakthrough by chance while investigating adhesives that can be used on wet surfaces.

东京大学的一名化学研究员 Yu Yanagisawa是在实验时意外发现的，他正在做粘合剂在湿润表面上的使用。

Does this mean you will soon be able to repair those cracks in your smartphone with a quick press of the fingers? Or surreptitiously piece together a shattered beer glass dropped after one pint too many?

这是否意味着你只要用力压一压，你碎了的手机屏就能被修复呢？或者喝多了，摔碎啤酒杯之后能偷偷地让其复原呢？

Well, not quite. Not now and in fact, not in the near future.But it does open a window of opportunity for researchers to explore ways to make more durable, lightweight, glass-like items, like car windows.

好吧，不是那么回事儿，起码目前以及近期不太可能实现。但新的确给研究者们开启了新的研究方向，探索研制更持久，轻便的玻璃制品，像车窗。

In a lab demonstration for AFP, Dr Yanagisawa broke a glass sample into two pieces.He then held the cross-sections of the two pieces together for about 30 seconds until the glass repaired itself, almost resembling its original form.

在Yanagisawa给法新社所做了演示，他把一片玻璃打成了两片，随后，他把两片碎玻璃的断面紧贴在一起30秒，然后玻璃自动愈合，和原来一模一样。

To demonstrate its strength, he then hung a nearly full bottle of water from the piece of glass - and it stayed intact.

为了展示其复原的程度，随后他将一瓶水挂在玻璃上，玻璃完好无损。

The organic glass, made of a substance called polyether thioureas, is closer to acrylic than mineral glass, which is used for tableware and smartphone screens.

该玻璃使用了名为“聚醚类化合物”的新材料，更贴近于丙烯类组织，而不是矿物质，经常用于餐具以及手机屏幕中。

Other scientists have demonstrated similar properties by using rubber or gel materials but Dr Yanagisawa was the first to demonstrate the self-healing concept with glass.

其他科学家曾经用橡胶或者胶水类物质，展示过类似实验，但Yanagisawa是第一个展示玻璃自动愈合的。

The secret lies in the thiourea, which uses hydrogen bonding to make the edges of the shattered glass self-adhesive, according to Dr Yanagisawa’s study.

根据其研究，秘诀在于硫脲，它使用氢使破碎玻璃边缘自我粘合。

But what use is all this if it cannot produce a self-healing smartphone screen? "It is not realistically about fixing what is broken, more about making longer-lasting resin glass," Dr Yanagisawa told AFP.

Yanagisawa告诉法新社，但如果不能制造自我愈合的手机屏幕，它有什么用呢？它的意义，并不是说愈合已经破碎的物品而是使玻璃使用寿命更长。

Glass products can fracture after years of use due to physical stress and fatigue. "When a material breaks, it has already had many tiny scars that have accumulated to result in major destruction," Dr Yanagisawa said.

玻璃制品经过多年的使用，由于物理压力和磨损，可能会破裂。当一个物体破碎时，其实它本身已经有了很多细小的破裂。

"What this study showed was a path toward making a safe and long-lasting resin glass", which is used in a wide range of everyday items.

这项研究展示，或许能制造出一种寿命长，安全性高的玻璃。

"We may be able to double or triple the lifespan of something that currently lasts for 10 or 20 years", he said.

他指出，我们可能能使现在使用寿命只有10年，20年的物品，使用寿命翻倍或者翻三倍。