Thursday, May 05, 2005

Sci-Tech Today - Innovation - Bendable Concrete Hard To Crack

We've had our own bridge woes in my part of the world. (Translation: highways take turns shutting down here and there, especially for trucks. Also, the highway crews are getting somewhat experienced in tossing up temporary bridges.) Therefore I really I like hearing that people are out there concentrating on finding better building materials:

Michigan's Department of Transportation plans to use a new type of fiber-reinforced bendable concrete this summer on a section of a bridge deck in Ypsilanti. The engineered material under development at the University of Michigan for a decade resembles regular concrete -- but the composite is 500 times more resistant to cracking and 40 percent lighter.

A specially coated network of fibers is introduced into the cement to make it bendable. The university holds four patents for Engineered Cement Composites.

I'm trying to get my head around the idea of something called concrete being flexible. I hope it works. But maybe a new name is in order?

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