| Title | Roman Concrete Explained | |
| Date | Wednesday July 05 2017, @08:21AM | |
| Author | n1 | |
| Topic | ||
| from the hard-as-nails dept. | ||
Researchers have unlocked the chemistry of Roman concrete which has resisted the elements for thousands of years.
Ancient sea walls built by the Romans used a concrete made from lime and volcanic ash to bind with rocks.
Now scientists have discovered that elements within the volcanic material reacted with sea water to strengthen the construction.
[...] This new study says the scientists found significant amounts of tobermorite growing through the fabric of the concrete, with a related, porous mineral called phillipsite.
The researchers say that the long-term exposure to sea water helped these crystals to keep on growing over time, reinforcing the concrete and preventing cracks from developing.
Source: BBC News
American Mineralogist DOI: 10.2138/am-2017-5993CCBY
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