1. Super stretchy, crackresistant, unbreakable cement
Researchers in Princeton University have developed a cement which is 19 times more flexible, stretches without breaking and 17 times more crack-resistant than regular cement. Compared to materials like glass, wood and steel, cement without incorporation of fibre and other additives is brittle and not very flexible and these flaws restrict its use in many structural applications.
A few methods have been tried to improve low fracture toughness and ductility of cementitious materials by adding polymeric, glass, or metallic reinforcements to cementitious composites. However, according to researchers, these approaches only result in minor increases (about a one-fold increase) in energy absorption and fracture resistance, mostly at the cost of directly changing the materials’ microstructure.
Princeton researchers found that alternating....
