Soon, cements that self-repair cracks, store latent heat energy
March 3rd, 2011 - 6:21 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 3 (ANI): Cements that self-repair cracks and store latent heat energy could be the future building materials - thanks to the efforts of a Spanish researcher.
Idurre Kaltzakorta studied the possibility of incorporating additional functions into cement - one of the materials most commonly used in construction, given its good performance at low cost.
She created silica microcapsules with organic material inside, the idea being to provide the cement with new functions, and opted for two types of organic materials, each corresponding to one of the two added features mentioned above.
Thus, on the one hand, the microcapsules were filled with various epoxy resins (used in the manufacture of adhesives), to provide the cement with the capacity for the self-repair of cracks. On the other, phase change materials were encapsulated.
These are materials that absorb or free a great quantity of heat on the phase of the material changing (from solid to liquid or liquid to gas and vice versa), and enable the storage of latent heat energy in the cement material.
Kaltzakorta studied the synthesis of the encapsulated material, opting for synthesising microcapsules by combining sol-gel chemistry with emulsion technology.
This route enabled the encapsulation of organic material, difficult with other routes, under mild temperature and pressure conditions.
Once the microcapsules were obtained, the thesis analysed the effect of the addition of these to the cement matrix, to verify the viability of the technique.
With this in mind, Kaltzakorta used a number of techniques with which the features of the new cement material could be studied.
The thesis showed the viability of the development of a new generation of cements capable of the self-repair of cracks as well as storing latent heat energy, based on the application of silica microcapsules with various organic materials.
Her PhD thesis, undertaken at Tecnalia’s Construction Unit, has been presented at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). (ANI)
- Bio-based polymers that heal cracks on the anvil - Jan 09, 2011
- Researchers create self-healing electronics - Dec 21, 2011
- Scientists stimulate self-healing process in defective plastics - Apr 06, 2011
- Divorce not problematic, but its poor handling is - Jan 18, 2012
- Coming soon: self-repairing building materials - Apr 19, 2008
- Now, materials that repair themselves - Apr 18, 2008
- Self-healing polymer coatings may soon make car scratches history - Dec 10, 2008
- Mimicking photosynthesis key to inexpensive solar-powered jet fuel - Feb 21, 2011
- Wondrous polymer coating heals cracks, erases scratches - Dec 10, 2008
- Secrets of glass unlocked by studying crystals - Dec 01, 2010
- Bacteria can power simple machines by turning microgears while swimming - Dec 17, 2009
- Soon, crash helmet that will smell after cracks develop on it - Jun 08, 2010
- Crash helmets developing defects will alert users with a stink - Jun 08, 2010
- A quick-fix found for mobile phone cracks, scratches - Jan 11, 2012
- Food addictive can boost plastics self-healing property - Oct 16, 2008
Tags: added features, emulsion technology, encapsulation, epoxy resins, future building, heat energy, latent heat, microcapsules, organic material, organic materials, phase change materials, phd thesis, quantity of heat, repair cracks, self repair, silica, sol gel, spanish researcher, temperature and pressure, viability
