High Tech Concrete

Concrete has been around for a long time.  According to this concrete history timeline, the earliest known, spontaneous, appearance of concrete occurred approximately 12 million years ago.

Today, according to an Economist.com article titled Concrete possibilities, concrete is going high tech.

But like good chefs, materials scientists have long known that they can tweak the basic concrete recipe to create any number of desired effects. For example, adding chemicals that encourage the trapping of tiny air bubbles makes concrete more durable, because it gives water room to expand into when it freezes, thereby avoiding tiny cracks. In the late 1990s researchers began to experiment with another additive—small amounts of electrically conductive steel or carbon fibres. Even though the fibres make up less than 1% of the concrete by volume, they have a large effect: the resulting concrete gains the ability to conduct electricity.

Another high tech development in concrete, with implications for the building industry, is Grancrete.

Grancrete, a company based in Mechanicsville, Virginia, has been working on a new type of ceramic, cement-like material for making quick, durable and cheap “spray-on” housing for the billion or so people in the world who lack it. Grancrete, as its invention is known, has its origins in a material invented to encapsulate nuclear waste. Its developers soon realised, though, that its real potential lay in housing people, rather than plutonium.

A small local team can be trained to mix and to apply the grancrete, which is made from a mixture of sand and a special binding agent. The team uses a hose to spray a thin coating onto a simple frame. Because grancrete binds to many surfaces, the frame can be made from wood, metal, or even polystyrene or woven matting. When it hardens, 20 minutes later, the grancrete structure is twice as strong as traditional concrete, and it is durable, fire-resistant, waterproof and non-toxic—more than can be said for most of the poor’s housing. Salt does not corrode it, so it is suitable for use in coastal areas and its insulating properties mean that it can be used both in hot and cold climates. It should also be strong enough to withstand hurricane-force winds.

Interesting stuff, if you ask me.

Via Noodle Food which introduces us to the article with the following quote from The Fountainhead.

"Watch the light metals industry, Howard.... In a few… years… you’ll see them do some astounding things.... Watch the plastics, there’s a whole new era… coming from that.... You’ll find new tools, new means, new forms.... You’ll have to show… the damn fools… what wealth the human brain has made for them… what possibilities....

Posted by on 10/04 at 05:59 AM

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