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from the Roman-concrete-lasts-2000-years...-why-not-our-roads? dept.
The story of concrete is so ancient that we don't even know when and where it begins. It is a story of discovery, experimentation, and mystery. Emperors and kings became legends for erecting great concrete structures, some of which are still a mystery to engineers today. Many of history's most skilled architects found inspiration in slabs of the gray building material. Common bricklayers advanced the technology, and a con man played a crucial role in the development of concrete recipes.
Today, the world is literally filled with concrete, from roads and sidewalks to bridges and dams. The word itself has become a synonym for something that is real and tangible. Press your handprints into the sidewalk and sign your name to history. This is the story of concrete.
[...] Let's get this out of the way right here: cement and concrete are not the same thing. Cement, a mixture of powdered limestone and clay, is an ingredient in concrete along with water, sand, and gravel.
So ubiquitous and fundamental, that nobody thinks about it. Its inventor is unknown, but that person changed history.
Related: Volcanic Rocks Resembling Roman Concrete Explain Record Uplift in Italian Caldera
Roman Concrete Explained
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @05:59PM (1 child)
While it might have been relatively unknown 50 years ago, the past 20 years has seen a resurgence in research on it and other veins of similiar but different mineral forming chemical reactions.
Flyash is the most common pozzolan you can use for 'Roman' style concrete, and does in fact increase strength over time.
Geopolymers, a related but slightly different field of mineral chemistry from concrete can also use flyash (Look up the Anemone(55?) post on Reddit for an example formula) and in fact provides the chemical non-reactivity of Roman Concrete, with the added benefit of polymer generation making the whole section cast while still in liquid/plastic form a single rock in whatever shape you molded. This was discussed extensively on seasteading.org's forums in regards to cast geopolymer structures for living at sea even in the most adverse of sea and weather conditions.
Another fun read is chiefio's blog entry on geopolymers. He covers a variety of formulas he attempted, links to all the scientific citations for history of Egyptian geopolymers (hint: the Egyptians probably used it for components of quite a few pyramids, either cast in-place, or on-site.) Additionally he discusses the difficulties obtaining a variety of the ingredients needed for the formulas, alternatives (sadly lye is basically unavailable in the US today without ordering it online from soapmaking warehouses, and flagging yourself with the DEA in the process.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 17 2017, @07:27PM
Ace Hardware has it as jars full of granules.
If you want to make buildings though, you need to be thinking about railway access to accept your delivery of lye. Consider making your own lye.