Every one of us is familiar with the staple building material known as concrete, as it is used in the construction of houses, buildings and various other things because it is extremely strong, low in price and can be easily used. However, the building aggregate, cement and water combination is not a long lasting material with cracks appearing rather rapidly with the passage of time. In the spirit of creating something more durable and long-lasting, some German scientists inserted what can best be described as self-healing capsules into actual concrete, thereby allowing the material to heal as the human body does.
This healing capability is bestowed into concrete by filling it with bacteria. These inactive bacterial spores are placed into ceramic spheres, which are then mixed into concrete along with various nutrients. Thanks to the spores, whenever a crack does happen to appear, that particular place when watered the bacteria will automatically convert the calcium of the nutrients into limestone that will fill the crack.
Given that the bacteria cannot fill wide or gaping cracks anything with a width less than or equal to 0.5 mm is fair game for the living concrete. This may not be a serious issue as often concrete cracks begin as small cracks before growing over time. If the bacteria in the concrete can fill the small cracks early, a significant amount of trouble and money would be saved.
The effect on construction firms in mixing these nutrients and bacteria in their concrete is an increase in costs of about 50 percent, which in a margined industry represents a significant up tick. However, on closer examination concrete usually accounts for only 1 to 2 percent of the full cost of an actual building project. This means that living concrete represents a much cheaper way of maintaining part of the building’s structure easily and effectively.
At the moment, this bacteria-aided living concrete is going through a myriad of tests in order to check its outdoor durability through the elements apart from its actual optimization. It is expected that the product will come to market commercially in two years.
Source: Dvice
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