Page 78 - CO April 2017 Full Issue

SPECIAL FOCUS: CONCRETE & CONCRETE EQUIPMENT A concrete future The remarkable building material – Concrete – the rock-solid material that makes up our bridges, buildings, sidewalks, streets and more, has become a construction staple for its low cost to put together and ability to mold into just about any shape. Giving a boost to this growth is the new construction and repairs to existing infrastructure, which currently require vast amounts of concrete.With the consumption expected to escalate dramatically in the future, there seems to be promising times ahead for concrete & concrete equipment manufacturers globally. Since a lot has been read and written about in many developed nations coupled with stronger, we’ll need to use less of it in our the concretes future and fortunes, in this recent fuctuation in economic cycles has structures,” says Ulm. “And if we can make story we aim to bring you new age concrete hampered the growth of the market. On the it more durable, it’ll last longer before it materials that have found an edge over the other hand, demand for paramount surface needs to be replaced.” conventional yet long lasting concrete. fnishing as well as resistance to combat Surprisingly, while concrete has been a adverse weather conditions is likely to create critical building material for 2,000 years, Admixtures greater opportunities. improvements have largely come from With changing times, we have seen the trial & error rather than rigorous research. composition of concrete changing for Recycled concrete As a result, the factors controlling how it good. Today, it is being produced using Recognising the critical need for concrete, forms and performs have remained poorly permutation and combination of various Roland Pellenq, senior research scientist understood. Today, methods of recycling chemicals and other ingredients, what we in the MIT Department of Civil and concrete generally involve cutting it up and call as admixtures. Tese superplasticisers Environmental Engineering (CEE) and using it in place of gravel in new concrete. have been the central elements to develop research director at France’s National But that approach doesn’t reduce the need to high-strength concrete, which is economical Center for Scientifc Research (CNRS) manufacture more cement. Te researchers’ and workable. Increasing customer and his colleague Franz-Josef Ulm, idea is to reproduce the cohesive forces they awareness and durable civil structure are professor of CEE and have identifed in cement hydrate. “If the the major factors responsible for driving Director of the MIT micro texture is just a consequence of the the concrete admixtures in the Asia-Pacifc Concrete Sustainability physical forces between nanometre-sized region. The fact that admixtures make Hub (CSHub), have been particles, then we should be able to grind concrete structures cost efective for both working to reduce its old concrete into fne particles and compress contractors and stakeholders have also environmental footprint. them so that the same force feld develops,” added to the popularity of the ingredient. Teir goal is to fnd ways to says Ulm. “We can make new binder Besides this, established infrastructure do more with less. “If we can make concrete without needing any new cement — a true 80 construction opportunities|aPrIL 2017