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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, 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