Cement

A new adaptation of a pre-stressing technique has been used to produce concrete that is lighter but with comparable strength, an advance that if widely applied, could save significant amounts of CO2.

A substance known as calcium phosphate cement is commonly used to repair broken bones, both holding them together and encouraging the growth of new bone tissue. Now, scientists have added carbon fibers to the material to also make it self-healing.

Strong as it is, concrete doesn’t stand up well against bending. Now, researchers at Swinburne University have developed a new type of concrete that can not only bend better, but doesn’t require cement to make, reducing its environmental footprint.

Making cement is one of the biggest contributors of carbon emissions. Now MIT researchers have developed a new method that can clean up the process.

To make concrete more environmentally friendly, the industry has been adding by-products from coal-fired power plants, but doing so had its own problems. Now, Rice researchers have developed a new composite binder that requires no cement, and reduce waste from power plants at the same time.

​It was back in April that we heard about how scientists had made concrete stronger and more eco-friendly by adding graphene to it. Now, researchers at Lancaster University are reporting that they've achieved even better results using cheaper "nano platelets" derived from root vegetable fibers.

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a novel new method to recycle wood waste by incorporating it into cement and mortar mixtures, making the resulting materials both stronger and more watertight.

Scientists are continually searching for greener ways of producing cement, which is an energy-intensive process. Now an MIT team has found that pulverizing volcanic ash and adding it to the mix not only makes the process more environmentally friendly, but the resulting structures stronger as well. ​

​The natural world is a constant source of inspiration for scientists and engineers. The latest biologically influenced innovation comes from a team of German researchers who developed a new type of stronger cement inspired by nanostructures found in sea urchin spines.

Concrete has been around for millennia, but now, engineers at ETH Zurich have developed a more efficient method for building with the material, erecting an ultra-thin, curved prototype roof that’s 5 cm (2 in) thick on average, and designed to support energy-saving systems in the building.

Although we’ve been using concrete for hundreds of years, the recipe can always use some improvement. Researchers at Rice University have found a way to “program” cement particles into specific shapes in order to make concrete that’s stronger, less porous, and more environmentally friendly.

As one of our most relied upon construction materials, concrete makes a significant contribution to our overall carbon emissions. By altering the quantities of materials used in this process, scientists have uncovered a method of cement mixing that could reduce these emissions by more than half.