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Concrete is awesome because you just pour it into a mold and it dries. With this technology it appears that you still need a mold and you have to take the time
by jostmey 11y ago
Concrete is awesome because you just pour it into a mold and it dries. With this technology it appears that you still need a mold and you have to take the time to layer it.
- x3n0ph3n3 11y agoConcrete cures. Drying is a misnomer.
- hugh4 11y agoNow now, let's not get all prescriptive-linguistics up in here. Poured concrete is wet. Cured concrete is dry. Sounds like drying to me.
- afarrell 11y agoIn a conversation about structural integrity, the distinction between drying and curing is meaningful, not pedantic. http://www.cement.org/for-concrete-books-learning/concrete-technology/concrete-construction/drying-concrete-vs-curing-concrete http://www.cement.org/for-concrete-books-learning/concrete-t...
- sparky_z 11y agoThe water doesn't evaporate, it is consumed in a chemical reaction. It's a fundamentally different process, not an arbitrary linguistic rule. In fact, you have to be careful that the concrete doesn't dry out during the curing process. Also, cured concrete isn't necessarily dry. For structures like bridge piers, concrete can, and often does, cure underwater. That said, if x3n0ph3n3's intent was to enlighten rather than score points, he could have explained this more clearly.
- StavrosK 11y agoDoes the reaction not require oxygen? I was wondering what happened to concrete underwater.
- Turing_Machine 11y agoNope. Some plasters, mortars, cements, and similar substances require exposure to air (actually it's usually carbon dioxide they need rather than oxygen) but others, including modern Portland cement, do not. Classic Roman concrete would also set under water.
- sparky_z 11y agoExpanding on what x3n0ph3n3 said, concrete doesn't harden because the water in it evaporates away. Rather, the water is consumed in a chemical reaction. In fact, you have to be careful that the water doesn't evaporate too much during the curing process. It's very common to hose down a curing sidewalk and keep it covered for 30 days. Incidentally, the chemical reaction is exothermic. That's one of the reasons why you can't pour a concrete dam all at once: the heat generated would be enormous.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]