Do you hate concrete as much as me?
As I have to walk past the South Bank Arts Centre on my way to work every day, I have to say I’m not a massive fan of concrete. These hulking buildings of browny-grey don’t sit easy on the eye. However, there has been a new development in the world of concrete I feel obliged to tell you about... and it could help some people get
extremely rich.
A group of scientists from the University of Michigan have developed a form of concrete that can BEND. Yes, that’s right you can actually bend concrete. OK, so the South Bank wouldn’t be a more beautiful place with bendy concrete, but think about this...
Why you should learn to love BENDY concrete!
If you live in Japan, Indonesia or any other area prone to earthquakes bendy concrete could be a crucial development. Instead of cracking during an earthquake, these new structures could ride out the tremors.
It could also be useful in countries with very cold weather that can cause concrete to crack. Tests are showing that this new concrete could be a lot more durable in these climates.
This new concrete (known as Engineered Cement Composites or ECC) is just starting to be used in various projects around the world. A new bridge in Hokkaido, Japan has a thin deck of ECC – it is 40% lighter than normal concrete. If these initial projects prove to be a success, we may see ECC used all around the world.
Why you should REALLY love bendy concrete
And the story just gets better – as ECC is believed to have a much longer life span than traditional concrete and requires less maintenance costs it could well prove to be cheaper than traditional concrete.
At the moment, this technology is still in the development stages but the University of Michigan holds three patents with four more pending on this ECC technology. If ECC takes off, those patents could make some businesses a lot of money. To read more about ECC, click here:
http://www.physorg.com/news3985.html
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