Dr. Congrui Grace Jin and team have unlocked a novel way for concrete to mend its own cracks, potentially preventing structural failures and saving lives.
Dr. Congrui Grace Jin and team have unlocked a novel way for concrete to mend its own cracks, potentially preventing structural failures and saving lives.
Imagine concrete healing its own cracks like human skin recovering from a cut. That’s the vision behind the latest research of Dr. Congrui Grace Jin, published in Materials Today Communications.
Addressing one of the most persistent and expensive problems in construction, Jin, an assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution, has taken inspiration from nature to develop a synthetic lichen system to enable concrete to self-repair.
Concrete is the most widely used building material on Earth, yet it suffers from the dangerous flaw of cracking easily. These cracks, big or small, can lead to catastrophic structural failure, as witnessed in the collapse of a building, bridge or highway.
Read more at Texas A&M University
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