Posted on 04/26/2014 9:53:08 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
new water-repellant concrete impregnated with tiny superstrong fibers promises to leave roads and bridges free of major cracks for up to 120 years.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee civil engineers have developed a concrete mix that is durable and superhydrophobic. They call it Superhydrophobic Engineered Cementitious Composite (SECC). Preventing normally porous concrete from absorbing water means that liquid can’t get inside, freeze and cause it to crack. The concrete’s unusual characteristics, including being significantly more ductile than traditional concrete, means that cracks that do form do not propagate and cause failure.
“Our architecture allows the material to withstand four times the compression with 200 times the ductility of traditional concrete,” said associate professor Konstantin Sobolev, whose lab created SECC.
(Excerpt) Read more at txchnologist.com ...
I don't know how it is in your state but in mine the gas tax that is suppose to go for road construction and repair is dumped into the general fund and doled out in drips and drabs for road repair. They then wail that they just have to raise the gas tax because the roads are so awful.
If they just would use the money how they said they would we would have a great road system.
The downside to the groves is greater road noise.
They have and it is a synthetic zeolite type which was also used in other ancient structures. The sea wall at Herculeum is still whole near Pompei. We could use it now but it costs 7x normal concrete today. Back then they didn’t have the cheap stuff.
In a sterilized form, and with its ability to bend, it might have an application medically in the repair of degenerated spinal discs.
I did a 100’ driveway. I made sure the concrete was cured properly by using running water under plastic after the surface had set. Twenty years later when I checked the surface was still perfect.
Couldn’t there also be a problem using it for swimming pools in very wet climates or places prone to floods? In those places the porousness of cement is needed to help reduce the likelihood of the pool popping out of the ground.
Also, constructing roads in that environment with this type of cement may allow road sections to float out of alignment. Maybe?
And it’s like a cheese grater if you dump your Goldwing
Especially the transverse grooves that you show in #42. My God, it was HORRIBLE driving on those things in I-84. The longitudinal grooves are bad, too, when they aren’t perfectly aligned with the roadway because they tug the car a little left and right which is very annoying. But there’s no doubt they sure do help control hydroplaning.
After looking at the linked article and the videos, this stuff reminds me of FLUBBER!!
It bends! It repels water! LOL
“New water-repellant concrete impregnated with tiny superstrong fibers promises to leave roads and bridges free of major cracks for up to 120 years.”
100 years! LOL! Who is ASS enough to believe this?
My grandpa worked on the PA Turnpike and he said they had the technology back in those times to put macadam/cement down for 50 years or more but the politicians saw an opportunity to have Union labor on a continuous basis holding on to a job at taxpayer expense. This was 60 years ago,so I could not verify.
Yep, they’ve had this capability for years, especially with ashphalt but because it would mean the loss of so many jobs no union crew would touch the stuff.
Me, for one. They have been able to make far superior concrete for years, and asphalt, but it would radically change the entire market so it has been blocked at every turn. It’s more money of course, so builders won’t pay for it because they will be long gone before regular concrete or asphalt breaks down, but municipalities are mostly union and they have fought it tooth and nail to keep it from being used. They use the excuse of initial cost but the real fact is they will lay themselves out of a job without the repair and replacement work they do also.
That’s a sad statement about the America I love. Growing up, that’s how you’d tell whether you’d crossed into Nassau County - suddenly the roads were smooth.
I got just 5 words as a comment:
San Francisco "New" Bay Bridge...
I don't know if you know the roads of NYC but I can't see ANYTHING lasting more than 10 yrs on The Brooklyn Queens Expressway between the Kosciusko bridge and the Varranzano Narrows.. Nothing. Ever. I am not being sarcastic or ironic, I CANNOT believe.
Grew up in Detroit, the weight of what Michigan allows on their roads is way more than NY I bet, I think it’s the highest in the nation. They can do it, no one wants them to is all. I know that foundation is key also, it’s not just the topping but what goes under it is what makes it so durable as well.
It can be built to last, it’s just nobody has the political will to do so.
Look at the money justified and wasted for the “Big Dig”.
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