That Roman concrete recipe still bugs me after reading a paper on it

I was reading this article from the Journal of Archaeology Science last week about Roman concrete, and it blew my mind. They figured out that the secret was mixing quicklime with volcanic ash at high temps, not just using slaked lime like we assumed. The concrete actually self-heals cracks over time because of that process. Has anyone else come across a modern study trying to copy this for new buildings?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew91624d ago

Ruby's probably right about the patent thing knowing how construction companies operate. But I keep wondering if this is actually as big a deal as the article makes it sound... I mean yeah self healing concrete is cool but Roman concrete took decades to really set properly and most modern projects can't wait that long. The hot mixing process sounds legit but they've been trying to replicate it for years and still can't get the same durability, so maybe it's more about the specific volcanic ash source than the technique.

ruby_lane24d ago

Bet someone's already tried patenting it as "bio concrete" for sidewalks and marking it up 300%.