National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Photo: Bendable Concrete Heals Itself -- Just Add Water


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A slab of self-healing concrete bends under 5 percent tensile strain, the force needed to stretch a material by 5 percent of its initial size.

While ordinary concrete would crumble under such pressure, the new material forms micro-cracks that can then auto-seal after being exposed to water and carbon dioxide, researchers said in March 2009.

Photograph courtesy Nicole Casal Moore/University of Michigan