Actor Robert Patrick famously portrayed the T-1000, a liquid metal killing robot which repaired itself.

Now, more than 20 years after the 1991 film Terminator 2 was released, Spanish scientists claim to have developed the world's first self-healing polymer that can spontaneously rebuild.

Actor Robert Patrick famously portrayed the T-1000, a liquid metal killing robot which repaired itself.

Now, more than 20 years after the 1991 film Terminator 2 was released, Spanish scientists claim to have developed the world's first self-healing polymer that can spontaneously rebuild.

The new material has been labelled ‘Terminator’ by researchers, who say it could help improve the lifetime and security of plastic parts in anything from electrical components to houses.

The discovery - revealed in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Materials Horizons - was hailed as the first polymer that restores itself without intervention, reported United Press International.

The researchers from the Centre for Electrochemical Technologies in San Sebastian said that after being cut in two and the pieces pushed back together, one sample 97 per cent healed in two hours.

The single piece was unbreakable when stretched by hand, according to scientists Alaitz Rekondo, Roberto Martin, Alaitz Ruiz de Luzuriaga, German Cabanero, Hans Grande and Ibon Odriozola.

They said: ‘Such a material presents near quantitative self-healing efficiency at room-temperature, without the need for any external intervention such as heat or light.’

The scientists added that because similar polymers are already used in many commercial products, this system is ‘very attractive for a fast and easy implementation in real industrial applications’.

Terminator 2, the sequel to 1984 film Terminator, sees the T-1000 sent back in time to kill John Connor and stop him becoming the chief of the human resistance against a computer called Skynet.

The T-1000 is made from a ‘mimetic polyalloy’, which can become a replica of anyone or anything it touches. He kills a policeman in one scene before becoming the officer and chasing John.

In the finale, John's mother Sarah Connor attempts to kill the T-1000 with a shotgun, but he simply rebuilds himself on the spot. However, the robot eventually dies when he falls into molten metal.