Cracks: they’re some of construction’s biggest nemeses when it comes to corrosion and deterioration. When left to their own devices, cracks become so big they eventually jeopardize steel reinforcements, mechanical qualities, and, ultimately, stability. The lifecycle of concrete and the cracks that conflict its durability is nothing new to the construction industry, but what if concrete could actually heal itself?
Instead of looking to prevent the natural corrosion of concrete, a team of scientists in the Netherlands believes the answer lies in self healing concrete, a solution that, if adopted by the mainstream, would undoubtedly save a lot of time and money by avoiding extraneous labor costs and manpower. Lead microbiologist Henk Jonkers has been working on the restorative process since 2006 at Delft University of Technology, and after three years of trial and error, he was able to exact the science down to a bacteria.
The end-result? A culmination of time and effort the team has officially labeled “bioconcrete.” Bioconcrete, in theory, would replace regular concrete to avoid manual inspections and reparations by physically healing its own cracks over time. Jonkers and his team were able to make the bioconcrete a reality by embedding calcite-precipitating bacteria known as bacillus into a regular mixture of concrete. That bacteria is what’s now known as the “healing agent” in the scientifically engineered bioconcrete.
The bacillus is essentially what heals the cracked concrete, waiting to be activated by water before releasing a healing agent, limestone, into the cracks. But in order for the bacteria to produce its natural healing agent, Jonkers had to feed it a food source it could survive off of: calcium lactate.
All Jonkers had to do was set the bacillus and the calcium lactate into capsules made from biodegradable plastic and mix them into the wet concrete. Once set, the water damage that causes cracks ideally activates the bacteria, which then releases reparative limestone into the cracks. And that’s how biodegradable concrete works.
The Future of Construction
Something like biodegradable concrete means a lot to the construction industry. For Jonkers and his team, the purpose of engineering a superior concrete solution is directly for practical use in the construction industry, and they hope the bacterial concrete will lead to substantial industry savings. Here are a few ways bioconcrete could change the game:
- Less money spent on excess steel reinforcements
- Less time wasted on manual and frequent jobsite inspections
- Increased infrastructure durability
- Designing concrete structures will become more economic
- Increased jobsite safety by removing humans from dangerous reparative structures, like hazardous waste buildings
The advantages of something like bioconcrete becoming part of mainstream construction are clear to see, and while the team admits that residential buildings will still probably benefit from traditional concrete, the added incentives to commercial properties are attractive and exciting. This is the future of construction, and we should start embracing it.
All photos courtesy of CNN.
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