Around A.D. 79, Roman author Pliny the Elder wrote in his Naturalis Historia that concrete structures in harbors, exposed to the constant assault of the saltwater waves, become "a single stone mass, impregnable to the waves ...
Materials Science
Jul 3, 2017
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4481
The chemical secrets of a concrete Roman breakwater that has spent the last 2,000 years submerged in the Mediterranean Sea have been uncovered by an international team of researchers led by Paulo Monteiro of the U.S. Department ...
Materials Science
Jun 4, 2013
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5
Since its invention several millennia ago, concrete has become instrumental to the advancement of civilization, finding use in countless construction applications—from bridges to buildings. And yet, despite centuries of ...
Nanophysics
Apr 21, 2021
3
396
There's a lot the average person doesn't know about concrete. For example, it's porous; it's the world's most-used material after water; and, perhaps most fundamentally, it's not cement.
Materials Science
Apr 6, 2020
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371
(PhysOrg.com) -- A concrete material developed at the University of Michigan can heal itself when it cracks. No human intervention is necessary--just water and carbon dioxide.
Engineering
Apr 22, 2009
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Michigan State University researchers have found that by mixing ground waste glass into the cement that is used to make concrete, the concrete is stronger, more durable and more resistant to water.
Engineering
Feb 21, 2012
18
2
Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) scientists from the NTU-JTC Industrial Infrastructure Innovation Centre (I³C) have invented a new type of concrete called ConFlexPave that is bendable yet stronger and longer ...
Engineering
Aug 17, 2016
0
174
Concrete isn't thought of as a plastic, but plasticity at small scales boosts concrete's utility as the world's most-used material by letting it constantly adjust to stress, decades and sometimes even centuries after hardening. ...
Materials Science
Jan 3, 2017
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1553
(PhysOrg.com) -- First imagined and created back in 2007 by two University engineering students who met at the Royal College of Art in London, Will Crawford and Peter Brewin; tents that can be shipped to a disaster site in ...
An attack via a burst of electromagnetic energy could cripple vital electronic systems, threatening national security and critical infrastructure, such as power grids and data centers.
Engineering
Nov 14, 2016
1
159
Concrete is a construction material composed of cement (commonly Portland cement) as well as other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate (generally a coarse aggregate such as gravel, limestone, or granite, plus a fine aggregate such as sand), water, and chemical admixtures. The word concrete comes from the Latin word "concretus" (meaning compact or condensed), the past participle of "concresco", from "com-" (together) and "cresco" (to grow).
Concrete solidifies and hardens after mixing with water and placement due to a chemical process known as hydration. The water reacts with the cement, which bonds the other components together, eventually creating a stone-like material. Concrete is used to make pavements, architectural structures, foundations, motorways/roads, bridges/overpasses, parking structures, brick/block walls and footings for gates, fences and poles.
Concrete is used more than any other man-made material in the world. As of 2006, about 7.5 cubic kilometres of concrete are made each year—more than one cubic metre for every person on Earth. Concrete powers a US $35-billion industry which employs more than two million workers in the United States alone.[citation needed] More than 55,000 miles (89,000 km) of highways in the United States are paved with this material. Reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete are the most widely used modern kinds of concrete functional extensions.
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