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We Finally Know How Ancient Roman Concrete Was Able to Last Thousands of Years
(www.sciencealert.com)
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this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2024
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Yep, it’s the the lime. And: “ The team is now working on commercializing their concrete as a more environmentally friendly alternative to current concretes.”
Quick lime as a 'concrete' is nothing new, or newly rediscovered though... The story seems to come up every few years, and anyone that has used a fluidised lime boiler knows how good quick lime is at forming concrete.
And, coincidentally, every time the story comes up there's a company ready to sell you the magic roman concrete.
Yeah, I was thinking it's like the "Voyager Has Left the Solar System" story - we've heard that several times over the years, and probably will again.
To be fair, we keep expanding what we class as the solar system. Poor old voyager keeps getting the goalposts moved!
The year is 76,014. Voyager still hasn't left the solar system. Also, the solar system now contains Proxima Centauri.
What is that, like 12 people now?
that'd be great, a lot of buildings are torn down just because the concrete cracks.
i'd be interested in seeing how using better concrete impacts overall costs and of course emissions. because the building ends up standing for a lot longer, the temperature isolation becomes very sub-par over time. that would increase total energy consumption compared to buildings that are frequently rebuilt.
but very promising.
Meh. Lime mortar absorbs and releases moisture. IRC "Roman" lime concrete is much the same.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan, but that kind of thing isn't compatible with modern insulation. You end up with damp and mould issues in the walls.
Sure it works great in uninsulated stuff though. But people and governments want every room in a building to be insulated nowadays. The whole one warm room, the rest of the building is cold and you'd better wear a three piece suit or heavy wool jumper thing, is abhorrent to our spoiled western arses.
Also: the Romans didn't build their buildings that high. AFAIK Lime concrete has lower tensile and compressive strength, which is an issue with high rise buildings.
Spoken like somebody who doesn't live where rooms would be intolerably hot without insulation most of the year.
Also we only see the few structures which survived. 99%+ did not make it 2000 years.