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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Revolutionary 'green' types of bricks and construction materials could be made from recycled PVC, waste plant fibers or sand with the help of a remarkable new kind of rubber polymer discovered by Australian scientists.
The rubber polymer, itself made from sulfur and canola oil, can be compressed and heated with fillers to create construction materials of the future, says a new paper unveiling a promising new technique just published in Chemistry—A European Journal.
"This method could produce materials that may one day replace non-recyclable construction materials, bricks and even concrete replacement," says organic chemistry researcher Flinders University Associate Professor Justin Chalker.
[...] "This new recycling method and new composites are an important step forward in making sustainable construction materials, and the rubber material can be repeatedly ground up and recycled," says lead author Flinders Ph.D. Nic Lundquist. "The rubber particles also can be first used to purify water and then repurposed into a rubber mat or tubing."
"This is also important because there are currently few methods to recycle PVC or carbon fiber," he says, with collaborators from Flinders, Deakin University and University of WA.
[...] The new manufacturing and recycling technique, called reactive compression molding, applies to rubber material that can be compressed and stretched, but one that doesn't melt. The unique chemical structure of the sulfur backbone in the novel rubber allows for multiple pieces of the rubber to bond together.
More information: Nicholas Lundquist et al. Reactive compression molding post‐inverse vulcanization: A method to assemble, recycle, and repurpose sulfur polymers and composites, Chemistry – A European Journal (2020). DOI: 10.1002/chem.202001841
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @06:56PM (2 children)
This is true, the main reason to stick with Lego brand is that they are built to incredibly tight and consistent tolerances. Chances are that one of the first plastic sets they made will still interchange with the newest sets they're making. Which is a huge accomplishment, but also a huge part of why they're so expensive. At this point, the Lego brick production is nearly 100% automated by various robots. The prices of the sets has remained largely the same going back to at least the '80s.
That being said, I could definitely see interchangeable Lego style bricks being used for the construction of temporary buildings. Things where you just need a relatively quick and sturdy shelter where it would be useful to disassemble afterwards. Think refugee camps where you might need something more sturdy than a tent, but may also need to be able to assemble and reassemble without having experts involved.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday May 26 2020, @07:09PM (1 child)
That would be handy - though I suspect wall panels would work better than bricks in almost every way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 27 2020, @01:46AM
Possibly, but bricks are much easier to ship, they can fill more available voids in a shipping container, provided you're not over weight. Panels are great, but aren't as easy to fit around other items and are harder to assemble with just one or two people and can be somewhat limited in terms of reconfiguration to suit the needs on the ground.
I think it's more likely that it would wind up being a mixture of bricks and panels or canvas.