concrete

3D-printed concrete structures are claimed to be faster and cheaper to build than their traditional counterparts, but they're not always as strong. That problem may soon be solved by adding a pinch of graphene oxide, which could also be used to detect cracks.Ordinarily, concrete buildings, bridges and other structures are made by pouring wet concrete into wooden molds (aka forms) which are removed once the concrete has hardened.By contrast, the 3D printing of such structures involves depositing successive layers of…

Construction materials provider Infra.Market has sold 10% of its stake in its subsidiary RDC Concrete for $20 million, to public market investors led by Ashish Rameshchandra Kacholia. Ace investor Kacholia is known to pick up stakes across companies. Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering CollegeCourseWebsiteIIM LucknowIIML Executive Programme in FinTech, Banking & Applied Risk ManagementVisitIndian School of BusinessISB Professional Certificate in Product ManagementVisitIIM KozhikodeIIMK…

Concrete may seem strong and permanent, but it can be surprisingly vulnerable to the elements. Now researchers at Drexel University have demonstrated a type of self-healing concrete embedded with “BioFibers” that use bacteria to patch up cracks as they form.You don’t get to be crowned the world’s most-used building material without doing a few things right – concrete is easy to make, strong and, under ideal conditions, durable for long periods. But of course, the real world rarely plays to ideals, so concrete is exposed…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Nigeria's new works minister, David Umahi, is pushing for the use of rigid pavement in road construction, as against the flexible pavement predominantly in use. This, as the minister noted, is due to the precarious state of flexible pavements in the country. A…

Working with private industry, the University of Cambridge has gone one step beyond 3D printing with a concrete infrastructure unit that was not only made in an hour, but incorporates sensors to make it self-monitoring and, one day, self repairing.If there's one topic least likely to spark animated dinner party conversation, it's the bits and pieces of civil engineering that one sees while driving along a nation's road networks. These tend to be taken so much for granted that they may as well be invisible unless they're…

The ancient Romans were master builders and engineers, perhaps most famously represented by the still-functional aqueducts. And those architectural marvels rely on a unique construction material: pozzolanic concrete, a spectacularly durable material that gave Roman structures their incredible strength.Even today, one of their structures – the Pantheon, still intact and nearly 2,000 years old – holds the record for the world's largest dome of unreinforced concrete.The properties of this concrete have generally been…

California-based ebike maker Vanpowers – the company behind the novel City Vanture and the capable fat-tire Manidae eMTB – has announced the UrbanGlide, a 70-mile commuter pitched as "a precision-built, high-torque, smooth-powered bike.""We created UrbanGlide specifically for commuters navigating the concrete jungle," said the company's Darik Duan. "This is their tool – and toy. Every component – from the hydraulic brakes, powerful motor, the suspension fork, the ultra-comfortable suspension seatpost and saddle, the…

Traffic is among the biggest sources of air pollution, but what if the very roads they drive on could help clear the air? Engineers in Korea have now demonstrated that photocatalytic concrete can help reduce pollution in tunnels.While we need to transition to greener vehicles as soon as possible, it’s still going to take a few decades. In the meantime, finding other ways to slurp up that air pollution is important, so why not turn to the most common building material in the world to help? In recent years scientists have…

Apple has told the Indian officials that it needs "concrete reason or a legal requirement" to fully comply with its directive to disable betting apps from its App Store. This and more exclusives in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.Also in the letter:■ Slowdown hits used car startups■ A bunch of startups buck trend to offer double-digit hikes■ US fund slashes Eruditus’ valuation by 8.6% to $2.9 billionExclusive: Apple says it needs concrete reason to take down banned betting apps Amid a government crackdown on…

In an attempt to solve two environmental problems at once, researchers at the University of Kitakyushu in Japan have found that shredded nappies can be used to replace between 9 and 40% of the sand used in making concrete without reducing its strength. Disposable nappies are a growing source of non-recyclable waste, and cement production is responsible for almost 7% of global greenhouse-gas emissions and consumes around 50 billion tonnes of sand each year. The nappy-infused concrete was used to build a small house in…