Self-Healing Protective Coating for Concrete

Feb. 20, 2013 Scientists are reporting development of what they describe as the first selfhealing protective coating for cracks in concrete, the world's most widely used building material. Their study on the material -- which is inexpensive and environmentally friendly -- appears in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Chan-Moon Chung and colleagues explain that protecting concrete roads, bridges and other structures from developing tiny cracks has been a major technological challenge. Cracks allow water, salt used for deicing and air to enter the concrete. During winter weather, water in the cracks freezes, expands and the cracks get bigger, with road salt speeding concrete's deterioration. "Although several reports of self-healing anticorrosive coatings for metal protection have appeared, there have been no reports on self-healing protective coating for concrete," say the scientists. They describe development of such a coating, one that contains microcapsules loaded with a material that seals cracks. Cracking ruptures the microcapsules, releasing the healing agent. Sunlight shining onto the concrete activates and solidifies the sealant. "Our self-healing coating is the first example of capsule-type photo-induced self-healing system, and offers the advantages of catalyst-free, environment-friendly, inexpensive, practical healing," the report states. The authors acknowledge research supported by Korea Institute of Construction & Transportation Technology Evaluation and Planning Grant funded by Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs and by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Journal Reference: 1. Young-Kyu Song, Ye-Hyun Jo, Ye-Ji Lim, Sung-Youl Cho, Hwan-Chul Yu, Byung-Cheol Ryu, Sang-In Lee, Chan-Moon Chung. Sunlight-Induced Self-Healing of a MicrocapsuleType Protective Coating. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2013; : 130213090116007 DOI: 10.1021/am302728m

Creating Next-Generation Materials Able to Operate in the Toughest Environments

Feb. 22, 2013 Loughborough University is leading a new 4.2 million research project to develop next-generation materials able to operate in the most extreme environments. The conditions in which materials are required to function are becoming ever more challenging. Operating temperatures and pressures are increasing in all areas of manufacture, energy generation, transport and environmental clean-up. Often the high temperatures are combined with severe chemical environments and exposure to high energy and, in the nuclear industry, to ionizing radiation. The production and processing of next-generation materials capable of operating in these conditions will be a major challenge, especially at the scale required in many of these applications. In some cases, totally new compositions, processing and joining strategies will have to be developed. Academics from Loughborough's Department of Materials will work with Imperial College London and Queen Mary University on the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded project. Ultimately the research will allow new and revolutionary compositions, microstructures and composite systems to be designed, manufactured and tested. Project leader Professor Jon Binner, Dean of the Loughborough School of Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering, said: "This research is essential because of the increasingly demanding conditions in which materials have to operate across the whole spectrum of applications. It is vital that we develop the required understanding of how the processing, microstructures and properties of materials systems operating in extreme environments interact, to the point where materials with the required performance can actually be designed and then manufactured." The research team has significant experience of working in materials development and engineering. Composites based on 'exotic' materials such as hafnium diboride are already being developed for use as leading edges for hypersonic vehicles by the three universities, as part of a Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) funded project. Story Source: The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Loughborough. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.