3 ms·

> Allium adds a thin protective layer of stainless steel on top of traditional steel rebar to make it more resistant to corrosion So it's like galvanizing but

> Allium adds a thin protective layer of stainless steel on top of traditional steel rebar to make it more resistant to corrosion So it's like galvanizing but with stainless steel. Thing is, stainless steel still rusts; just how much depends on a number of factors. And if you slightly nick the stainless coating to expose the iron rebar, now the whole rebar rusts. Maybe it will reduce the amount of corrosion, and that's great. But I highly doubt it would double the life of bridges.

fastball 1y ago
The claim is that it will reduce corrosion by 3x. If corrosion of rebar is the primary bottleneck to bridge longevity, a 3x longer life seems like a reasonable claim. Of course in practice if this rebar is used in a bridge you might start to discover other things become the bottleneck, but that remains to be seen.
h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 1y ago
And the acidic rain is contributing to the problem. The reason infrastructure rusts so quickly in those areas is the pollution through gasoline and diesel based engines. The rain collects the gases and binds them, leading to to an acidic solution that attacks the metal and concrete. In Europe there is a startup that tries to combat this with embedded bacteria and limestone plates that are put into the concrete. If the concrete gets a crack, the rain gets into the crack and activates the bacteria which is producing limestone to fill in the gaps. [1] [2] That approach has a much better chance to improve infrastructure lifespan in my opinion, because just putting more steel into it is not something that's affordable. Iron as a resource is way too rare as it is already. [1] https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/european-inventor-award/meet-the-finalists/hendrik-marius-jonkers https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/european-inventor-award/m... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_pseudofirmus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_pseudofirmus

fastball 1y ago

The claim is that it will reduce corrosion by 3x. If corrosion of rebar is the primary bottleneck to bridge longevity, a 3x longer life seems like a reasonable claim. Of course in practice if this rebar is used in a bridge you might start to discover other things become the bottleneck, but that remains to be seen.

h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 1y ago

And the acidic rain is contributing to the problem. The reason infrastructure rusts so quickly in those areas is the pollution through gasoline and diesel based engines. The rain collects the gases and binds them, leading to to an acidic solution that attacks the metal and concrete. In Europe there is a startup that tries to combat this with embedded bacteria and limestone plates that are put into the concrete. If the concrete gets a crack, the rain gets into the crack and activates the bacteria which is producing limestone to fill in the gaps. [1] [2] That approach has a much better chance to improve infrastructure lifespan in my opinion, because just putting more steel into it is not something that's affordable. Iron as a resource is way too rare as it is already. [1] https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/european-inventor-award/meet-the-finalists/hendrik-marius-jonkers https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/european-inventor-award/m... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_pseudofirmus https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_pseudofirmus