Self-Healing Concrete Closes Cracks
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Researchers have created a concrete that heals itself of small cracks.
CREDIT: TU Delft |
A new concrete heals itself of tiny cracks. When splashed with water, bacteria in the concrete make limestone, filling in hairline cracks up to half a millimeter wide, the BBC reported.
The bacteria-filled concrete is still in its research stages, but when it's ready for market, it's expected to cost more than the usual stuff, the BBC reported. Nevertheless, its creators hope it will save money by preventing the cracks from growing.
"For durability reasons, in order to improve the service life of the construction, it is important to get these micro-cracks healed," Henk Jonkers, a microbiologist who worked on the concrete at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, told the BBC.
Jonkers and his colleague, a concrete researcher named Eric Schlangen, are now working on making the concrete cheaper. They hope to start selling the material in two or three years.
Source: BBC
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