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Rice University scientists have developed micron-sized calcium silicate spheres that could lead to stronger and greener concrete, the world's most-used synthetic material.
To Rice materials scientist Rouzbeh Shahsavari and graduate student Sung Hoon Hwang, the spheres represent building blocks that can be made at low cost and promise to mitigate the energy-intensive techniques now used to make cement, the most common binder in concrete.
The researchers formed the spheres in a solution around nanoscale seeds of a common detergent-like surfactant. The spheres can be prompted to self-assemble into solids that are stronger, harder, more elastic and more durable than ubiquitous Portland cement.
[...] The work builds on a 2017 project [DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b12532] [DX] by Shahsavari and Hwang to develop self-healing materials with porous, microscopic calcium silicate spheres. The new material is not porous, as a solid calcium silicate shell surrounds the surfactant seed.
Size- and Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Calcium Silicate Particles Enables Self-Assembly and Enhanced Mechanical and Durability Properties (DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b00917) (DX)
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(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @02:12AM (4 children)
... cancer, at least in the State of California.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @04:42AM (1 child)
Yeah, Silicates and Lungs aren't best friends.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday September 27 2018, @12:37PM
Now, have you ever took a lungful of Portland cement?
I bet cement is as health damaging as that calcium silicate dust and yet it is used all around us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Informative) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday September 27 2018, @05:07AM (1 child)
They call it Nano. Also known as MICRONIZED. If you have rosacea, very important to use sunscreen. You go out in the sun, no sunscreen, boom. Your face turns red -- very quick. So you do the sunscreen. But, you want the Nano. Because it's invisible. Nobody knows you're wearing it. You know. But nobody else. The regular, it makes you look like a clown. White nose, white everything. People laughing at you. Not the reaction you expected. And not what you wanted. And many people say, "oh, the Nano maybe makes Cancer." But many people say it's fine. I don't think anyone knows 100%. I say, go with Nano. With Micronized. Because you look fabulous. The old sunscreen, you look horrible -- white clown face. No sunscreen, you get the flare up, you look horrible. And possibly, Skin Cancer that way. Not a pretty sight!
We want very strong concrete. And the approvals are going to come very fast on that one. Tell the Rice People, just bring me the papers. I'm waiting, pen in hand. Look what happened at Florida International University. They did a bridge in concrete, they had a crack. And they lost the whole bridge. Along with, many people dieing (RIP!!!). Very sad situation, right? And Genoa. Beautiful bridge, they got a lot of use out of that one. But they didn't take care of it, because of politics. They didn't pay attention to the politics of it. Or to taking care of it. So many people died (RIP!!!). And if we had better concrete, stronger concrete, maybe those bridges would still be standing. And maybe they'd be much slimmer. Lighter. Cheaper. And more environmental. I'm known as The Environmental Hero. I've won many awards for environmental. Trust me, nobody has received more environmental awards than I have. We love environmental!!! amazon.com/Donald-J-Trump-Environmental-Hero/dp/1535456868 [amazon.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 29 2018, @04:09AM
My experience has been that trustworthy people have no need to say "trust me."