Self-healing rubber

This invention

This invention is a self-healing elastomer composite — a rubbery material that repairs its own surface cracks at room temperature, with no help from anyone. It works in two complementary ways. Tiny microcapsules hold polymerizing agents that burst open at a crack and seal it. Reversible chemical bonds, called dynamic covalent crosslinks, re-form to mend the damage. The invention sits in the field of self-healing polymer materials, where polymer chemistry meets materials engineering.

Where it fits

Your idea lives in a well-developed corner of polymer materials science. It touches Polymer Compositions (C08L) and Polymer Chemistry (C08G), both tightly clustered here at roughly 29–30× the corpus baseline. That signals a focused, actively pursued area. Filings in this result set appear steadily from 2003 onward, with the busiest years around 2014–2020 at 5–7 per year. The direction has matured over two decades and remains current. Several groups have been active nearby: the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (a pioneer in microcapsule self-healing), President and Fellows of Harvard College, 3M Innovative Properties, and Bayer MaterialScience. The field also connects to Surface Coating (B05D), which these results touch a little less.

Closest related work

US-7569625-B2 — Self-healing elastomer system (The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois · 68 citations · 3-member family)

This is perhaps the most directly related reading. An elastomer matrix carries one set of capsules with a polymerizer and a second set with a matching activator. When a crack ruptures both, they react and heal the elastomer. It shows how Illinois — a foundational group in this field — tackled autonomous repair in a rubbery matrix using paired microcapsule chemistry, which overlaps closely with your microencapsulated polymerizing-agent approach.

US-6518330-B2 — Multifunctional autonomically healing composite material (Board of Trustees of University of Illinois · 147 citations · 9-member family)

A heavily cited cornerstone of the field. It describes a polymer holding a polymerizer, a matching catalyst, and capsules — the original autonomic self-healing composite concept. It shows how the core capsule-and-catalyst mechanism was first framed. That makes it helpful background for seeing how your dynamic-covalent variation builds on or departs from the classic capsule-only route.

US-11529648-B2 — Self-healing laminate composition, related articles and related methods (Board of Trustees of Michigan State University · filed 2022, recent · 3-member family)

A recent entry centering on dynamic covalent bonds in self-healing polymers, arranged in a layered (laminate) form. It shows how a current group approaches the reversible-bond side of self-healing — directly relevant to your dynamic covalent crosslink mechanism — and how dynamic chemistry can be paired with other layers or polymers for structural repair.

US-11319467-B2 — Self-healing microcapsules, process for the preparation thereof, polymeric matrix and composite materials (Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation · filed 2022, recent · 8-member family)

A recent take on the microcapsule route. A polymeric shell holds a healing agent, with catalyst deposited on the capsule surface, made by suspension polymerization. It shows how a contemporary group engineers capsule and catalyst placement for composite matrices — useful for comparing manufacturing and catalyst-delivery choices against your own formulation.

What you can do next

• Explore & build on it. Browse the related work above — new, differentiated ideas often come from combining or improving on existing approaches, such as a specific elastomer chemistry, a particular dynamic-covalent bond type, capsule formulation, or a faster ambient-temperature healing mechanism others haven't pinned down.
• If you'd like to protect it. Filing a provisional application (usually with a patent attorney) is a common first step. Most inventions can be protected in some form — what matters is how broad and defensible that protection is, which is where a patent attorney adds value (a very narrow claim may be granted but protect very little).
• If you'd like to make or sell it. The patents above point to who holds rights in this space; if your product would use a protected approach, licensing is a path worth exploring.