6 ms·

I gave a concrete example. Something that is in use today. Concretene is 30-50% stronger than standard RC30 concrete and does not require steel reinforcement

I gave a concrete example. Something that is in use today. Concretene is 30-50% stronger than standard RC30 concrete and does not require steel reinforcement, meaning significantly less material is needed to achieve the equivalent structural performance. Although the material is more expensive to produce (approximately 5% additional cost), the reduced amount of Concretene results in 10-20% overall cost saving for the end customer. https://firstgraphene.net/applications/concrete/ https://firstgraphene.net/applications/concrete/

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
"Concrete example" I see what you did, there... Like I said, it looks like the only thing that is being done, is that they are using graphene to add a bit more tensile strength. I suspect that there are other materials that would work just as well (or maybe better). It's probably not the "killer feature" for graphene. Reminds me of this old The Onion story: https://www.theonion.com/bantu-tribesman-uses-ibm-global-uplink-network-modem-to-1819563905 https://www.theonion.com/bantu-tribesman-uses-ibm-global-upl...
dahdum 4y ago
All I've been able to find is some test slabs they poured in 2021 and a bunch of news/pr articles. It doesn't appear to be widely available or used despite the ease of doing so (it's just an additive added at the plant).
- irthomasthomas 4y ago
  I'm not surprised that there is a lot of inertia. No one wants to be the first to recommend changing a 40 year old recipe for pouring concrete damns. But "just an additive" is really underselling it. The concrete slab was setting so fast, and so strong, that the builders had begun gliding polishing machines over the driest part of the floor while their colleagues were still pouring the other end of the rink. "Normally, you'd have to wait a week before you could do that," he says. The installation, in October last year, took less than a day. "By adding as little as 0.1% graphene into cement and aggregate, you can potentially use less material to get the same performance," explains Mr Baker. Reducing the amount of concrete used in construction for instance by 30%, could lower global CO2 emissions by 2-3%, he estimates To put that 2-3% in perspective, the UKs total CO2 output amounts to 2% of the total. So this tiny little additive to concrete could have massive impact. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61913871 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61913871
  - MrPatan 4y ago
    Concrete innovation doesn't have a great track record

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

"Concrete example" I see what you did, there... Like I said, it looks like the only thing that is being done, is that they are using graphene to add a bit more tensile strength. I suspect that there are other materials that would work just as well (or maybe better). It's probably not the "killer feature" for graphene. Reminds me of this old The Onion story: https://www.theonion.com/bantu-tribesman-uses-ibm-global-uplink-network-modem-to-1819563905 https://www.theonion.com/bantu-tribesman-uses-ibm-global-upl...

dahdum 4y ago

All I've been able to find is some test slabs they poured in 2021 and a bunch of news/pr articles. It doesn't appear to be widely available or used despite the ease of doing so (it's just an additive added at the plant).

irthomasthomas 4y ago
I'm not surprised that there is a lot of inertia. No one wants to be the first to recommend changing a 40 year old recipe for pouring concrete damns. But "just an additive" is really underselling it. The concrete slab was setting so fast, and so strong, that the builders had begun gliding polishing machines over the driest part of the floor while their colleagues were still pouring the other end of the rink. "Normally, you'd have to wait a week before you could do that," he says. The installation, in October last year, took less than a day. "By adding as little as 0.1% graphene into cement and aggregate, you can potentially use less material to get the same performance," explains Mr Baker. Reducing the amount of concrete used in construction for instance by 30%, could lower global CO2 emissions by 2-3%, he estimates To put that 2-3% in perspective, the UKs total CO2 output amounts to 2% of the total. So this tiny little additive to concrete could have massive impact. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61913871 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61913871
- MrPatan 4y ago
  Concrete innovation doesn't have a great track record