Do as the Romans: Power Plant Concrete Strengthens With Time
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:
Do as the Romans: Power plant concrete strengthens with time:
A rare mineral that has allowed Roman concrete marine barriers to survive for more than 2,000 years has been found in the thick concrete walls of a decommissioned nuclear power plant in Japan. The formation of aluminous tobermorite increased the strength of the walls more than three times their design strength, Nagoya University researchers and colleagues report in the journal Materials and Design. The finding could help scientists develop stronger and more eco-friendly concrete.
"We found that cement hydrates and rock-forming minerals reacted in a way similar to what happens in Roman concrete, significantly increasing the strength of the nuclear plant walls," says Nagoya University environmental engineer Ippei Maruyama.
[...] The samples were taken from the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, which operated from 1976 to 2009.
[...] "Our understanding of concrete is based on short-term experiments conducted at lab time scales," says Maruyama. "But real concrete structures give us more insights for long-term use."
Maruyama and his colleagues are searching for ways to make concrete more durable and environmentally friendly. Cement used in concrete manufacturing produces nearly 10% of human-made carbon dioxide emissions, so the team is looking to produce more eco-friendly mixtures that still meet standardized requirements for strong concrete structures.
Journal Reference:
Ippei Maruyama, Jii Ryme, Abudushalamu Ailia, et al. Long-term use of modern Portland cement concrete: The impact of Al-tobermorite formation Materials & Design (DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2020.109297
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