ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
 Bridges and other concrete structures could get a new lease on life from the first self-healing protective coating for concrete. Credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock |
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.
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CONTACT:Chan-Moon Chung, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry
Yonsei University
Wonju, Gangwon-do 220-710
Korea
Email: cmchung@yonsei.ac.kr
4 comments:
very nice information share about Protective coatings development. if this is true then if will be very useful. thanks for sharing this information on this post as I was not aware of it and this post have bring some thing new to my knowledge. I love the informative blogs and I am also sharing this with my friends and colleagues I hope its OK for you
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. more
This sounds very impressive. The idea of concrete protective coating that heals itself is very exciting. I would like to know what material is in these microcapsules. I'll have to keep researching this.
Walter Kowalski | http://www.capsbeta.com/concrete-protective-coating
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