{"id":3877,"date":"2022-03-16T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=3877"},"modified":"2022-03-02T09:07:45","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T09:07:45","slug":"nanomaterials-may-soon-give-rise-to-better-surface-sealants-for-concrete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/nanomaterials-may-soon-give-rise-to-better-surface-sealants-for-concrete\/","title":{"rendered":"Nanomaterials May Soon Give Rise to Better Surface Sealants for Concrete"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ubiquitous material known as concrete can be seen all around our modern world today, as its usage has paved the way for humanity\u2019s greatest engineering projects<\/a>\u2014from the largest of skyscrapers to your own house down the road. However, concrete itself has a particularly pesky flaw when it comes to water\u2014and Washington State University<\/a> (WSU) researchers found a way to get around it using nanotechnology<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask your nearest builder and they will tell you how important it is to keep water out of concrete; its presence tends to ruin its structural integrity, after all. For example, the volume of water expands as it freezes into ice, placing the rigidity of the concrete in jeopardy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Concrete, given its use case, is often left to fend for itself against the elements; this leads to the structural component receiving quite some damage, including those induced by the presence of water. (Salja, 2020)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The fact that concrete is a bit porous doesn\u2019t help, either. As such, engineers use surface sealants<\/em> to try and keep water out of concrete\u2019s pores. These solutions, however, only work to a certain extent\u2014or, at least, not if WSU researchers have anything to say about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers\u2019 unique solution involves incorporating certain nanomaterials into the sealant, including graphene oxide (GO) and nanoclay<\/em> formed from a unique type of mineral known as montmorillonite<\/em>. Their novel work was published in the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The sample on the left was treated with the modified concrete sealant, while the right was left to cure with standard commercial-grade sealant. (Washington State University, 2022)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The two nanoscale additives were incorporated into a commercial-grade concrete sealant, and were then tested on actual concrete; the resulting concrete became roughly 75% more water-repellent compared to unmodified control samples. These treated concrete pieces were also found to be about 44% more resistant to salt damage<\/em> that may be brought about by water carrying in dissolved corrosive salts into the concrete structure if left unabated. At the end of the study, the team found a 0.06% GO and a 0.15% montmorillonite, both by weight, to be the optimum recipe for the best-quality concrete sealant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe focused on one of the main culprits that [compromise] the integrity and durability of concrete, which is moisture,\u201d said research lead and WSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering professor Xianming Shi in a WSU press release<\/a>. \u201cIf you can keep concrete dry, the vast majority of durability problems would go away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shi continued: \u201cTraditionally when you switch from an organic solvent to water, you sacrifice the sealer\u2019s performance. We demonstrated that the use of nanomaterials mitigates that reduction in performance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next steps for Shi and co-author Zhipeng Li include optimizations to the sealant mixtures to improve their sealing performance. The duo also plans on conducting pilot-scale demonstrations of their novel work within the next two (2) years, including a concrete infrastructure experiment using the sealant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n