Self-Repairing Platinum and LIBS

Metals are unable to heal themselves: a common knowledge that has now been debunked. Scientists have discovered that pure metals can repair their surface disruptions on their own.

The team from Sandia National Laboratories and Texas A&M University shared this discovery with the public on July 19. They claimed that platinum possesses self-healing abilities of its fatigue microscopic cracks. These minuscule fractures may eventually lead to a machine failure as they spread over time.

This astounding discovery would enable the creation of self-repairing machines and bridges made of metals with this ability. What was previously only a topic of the Terminator movies may, thus, soon become a reality.

AtomTrace LIBS devices are able to analyze this miraculous platinum. Our instruments have recently studied the ceramic electrode to discover the concentrations of zirconium, yttrium, and platinum in the sample. The picture below shows the spectral line of platinum in the sample.