Posted on 05/06/2017 7:38:09 PM PDT by Lorianne
It's the world's most popular building material, and ever since the Romans built the pantheon from it some 2,000 years ago, we've been trying to find ways to make concrete more durable.
No matter how carefully it is mixed or reinforced, all concrete eventually cracks, and under some conditions, those cracks can lead to collapse.
"The problem with cracks in concrete is leakage," explains professor Henk Jonkers, of Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands.
"If you have cracks, water comes through -- in your basements, in a parking garage. Secondly, if this water gets to the steel reinforcements -- in concrete we have all these steel rebars -- if they corrode, the structure collapses."
But Jonkers has come up with an entirely new way of giving concrete a longer life.
"We have invented bioconcrete -- that's concrete that heals itself using bacteria," he says.
"We have invented bioconcrete -- that's concrete that heals itself using bacteria," he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Interesting.
Interesting if it works.
Is it good for wall building? ;-) Oops, buy American, and this new concrete additive is from the Dutch.
I’ll be impressed when it can sing and dance...very well.
The eggplant that ate Chicago
Is this just theoretical? I mean: I’d like to see something concrete.
>”We have invented bioconcrete — that’s concrete that heals itself using bacteria,” he says.
I personally have urinated on enough miles of WV roads to carry me to the Moon.
Kind of a weird feeling to know that one is driving over a massive mound of wet cement...
I just hate it when cracks have leakage.
I see a movie about this stuff on the SciFi channel in two years.
“Excuse me, but will this ice melt hurt my concrete?”
“This ice melt? No. Look, it even says so on the package.”
Next Spring.....
“Look at these photos! That ice melt you sold me destroyed our concrete!”
“That? That’s just normal wear and tear.. Concrete always melts like that when it gets too hot out. Put some shade over it next time.”
Actually, as I understand it (having been there a number of times), the concrete is all cured, but only because they ran cooling pipes through all of it. Had they not done that, then, yes, it would have been 500 years.
OUTSTANDING place to visit, love it every time!
Roman Concrete vs today’s Concrete is superior.
JMHO
A building material needs to be in active use for at least 40 years before you have enough data to make a determination.
Promising approach though!
If you try to tunnel into bioconcrete you find out it’s flesh-eating bacteria. Spread the word throughout Mehico.
crap! Wouldn’t you know it? I just washed all my bioconcrete foundation with antibacterial soap
Sodium Chloride (salt) will also melt ice, but it will cause deterioration of concrete and steel reinforcement.
Concrete can be treated with agents that seal it which makes it more resistant to damage.
You already said that.
The testing process will take years and adoption will be slow. Concrete manufacturers and the building industry are reluctant to embrace major innovations because, until proven in long term testing and real world use, there is too much chance of an innovation going wrong in unanticipated ways.
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