21. Self-healing Surfaces

unique	унікальний	distributed	розподілений
a scratch	подряпина	to damage	пошкоджувати
a trace	слід	a pellet	кулька
a scar	шрам	to burst	вибухати
electroplated	гальванізований	to fail	зазнавати невдачі
rust	іржа	to alter	змінювати
to recover	відновлювати	a scale	масштаб
to transfer	передавати	entirely	цілком
to introduce	вводити

Human skin has a unique property – small scratches and cuts heal quickly, leaving no trace of a scar after just a few days. It’s a different matter with materials, such as metals – if the electroplated layer protecting the metals from corrosion is scratched, rust protection is lost and the layer has to be recovered. Engineers are working on transferring the self-healing effect of skin to materials. The idea behind this is to introduce evenly distributed fluid-filled capsules into the electroplated layer – rather like raisins in a cake. If the layer is damaged, the pellets at the point of damage burst, the fluid runs out and “repairs” the scratch. Until now, these plans have failed due to the size of the capsules – ranging from 10 to 15 micrometers they were too large for the electroplated layer, which is around 20 micrometers thick. The capsules altered the mechanical properties of the layer. Researchers from Stuttgart have developed a process for producing electroplated layers with nano-capsules. At only a few hundred nanometers in diameter, the capsules are measured on another scale entirely, compared with previous results.

Speech Patterns

We stayed at home due to the bad weather.	Ми залишилось вдома через погану погоду.
Due to your help we managed to finish the project on time.	Завдяки вашій допомозі нам вдалось завершити проект вчасно.

1. Say whether the following statements are true or false.

1. The researchers try to create the material which can “cure” itself when scratched.

2. The technology uses capsules filled with gas.

3. The technology using nano-capsules was developed in Great Britain.

2. Give synonyms to the following words from the text:

a property, quickly, a few, matter, to protect, to introduce, to damage, to burst, due to, to alter, to produce.

3. In the text, find the words that correspond to the definitions:

1) a slight injury, usually of skin; 2) a process in which a solid, especially a metal, is eaten away and changed by a chemical action, usually by oxidation; 3) a dried grape; 4) to restore (something damaged or broken) to good condition or working order; 5) a straight line connecting the centre of a geometric figure, especially a circle or sphere, with two points on the perimeter or surface; 6) any of a number of chemical elements that are often lustrous ductile solids, have basic oxides, and are good conductors of heat and electricity.