Bendable Concrete Heals Itself -- Just Add Water

[Are_grits_groceries]

Its not quite as advanced as Terminator technology. But a new concrete that can heal its own wounds may soon bring futuristic protection to bridges and roads.

Traditional concrete is brittle and is easily fractured during an earthquake or by overuse.

By contrast, the new concrete composite can bend into a U-shape without breaking. When strained, the material forms hairline cracks, which auto-seal after a few days of light rain.

Dry material exposed by the cracks reacts with rainwater and carbon dioxide in the air to form "scars" of calcium carbonate, a strong compound found naturally in seashells, said study co-author Victor Li of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The flexible material is just as strong after it heals, the study authors report.
<snip>
Although it costs three times as much as traditional concrete, the material is a cost-saver in the long run, due to its reduced maintenance needs and energy demands, Li said.

Builders using the bendable concrete, for example, don't need to buy and install devices that counter seismic activity.

A slab of self-healing concrete bends under 5 percent tensile strain, the force needed to stretch a material by 5 percent of its initial size.

While ordinary concrete would crumble under such pressure, the new material forms micro-cracks that can then auto-seal after being exposed to water and carbon dioxide, researchers said in March 2009.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090505-self-healing-concrete.html

Muh... Something new. Good for earthquake zones.

[WillParkinson]

1. Neato!

Thanks for sharing this.

[panader0]

2. I'm pouring twenty yards of concrete at ten today

I wonder when this stuff will be available and for how much.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Not yet...

...

The paper is called “Autogenous healing of engineered cementitous composites under wet-dry cycles.” This research is funded by the National Science Foundation and a China National Scholarship. Li will give a keynote address on self-healing concrete at the International Conference on Self-Healing Materials in Chicago in June 2009. The University is pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property, and is seeking commercialization partners to help bring the technology to market.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090422175336.htm

[rateyes]

4. I wonder how it would feel to drive on that stuff; especially in a semi tractor-trailer.

It seems like--especially on a bridge--it would feel like driving on memory foam. :shrug:

[havocmom]

5. Thanks. Havocdad will LOVE this concept

I see a whole new retirement hobby opening for him!

[byronius]

6. Great post.

[Control-Z]

7. I love this kind of stuff.

Beats the hell out of hearing about the economy.

Give me more!!

[Vidar]

8. Just wow!

[BlooInBloo]

9. Heh. Materials science would have been the only physics field that remotely interested me. Very cool