# Making stronger concrete



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

http://www.labmanager.com/?articles...e-Could-Hold-Key-to-Cutting-Carbon-Emissions/

*Ancient Concrete Could Hold Key to Cutting Carbon Emissions*



> *Berkeley Lab scientists and their colleagues have discovered the properties that made ancient Roman concrete sustainable and durable*
> 
> The chemical secrets of a concrete Roman breakwater that has spent the last 2,000 years submerged in the Mediterranean Sea have been uncovered by an international team of researchers led by Paulo Monteiro of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
> 
> ...


_Drill core of volcanic ash-hydrated lime mortar from the ancient port of Baiae in Pozzuloi Bay. Yellowish inclusions are pumice, dark stony fragments are lava, gray areas consist of other volcanic crystalline materials, and white spots are lime. Inset is a scanning electron microscope image of the special Al-tobermorite crystals that are key to the superior quality of Roman seawater concrete. *Image courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory*_​


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## Jimthewagontraveler (Feb 8, 2012)

Very cool thank you


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## swjohnsey (Jan 21, 2013)

Good article. Modern society "forgot" how to make concrete for almost 2,000 years. The Romans used several different types of concrete among them the one mention here to be used in water. 

If you ever have to have something made with concrete do lots of research first. There is about much difference in concete as there is in cars, everything from Fiat 500s to Ferraris. Guess what kind of cement is used in most houses.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Portland cement never fully cures and keeps getting harder every year. Cement likes being under water. Part of that is the relatively stable temperature. Heating in the sun and cooling at night build up stresses that eventually crack the concrete or cause small pieces to erode away. Repeated freeze thaw cycles work on these cracks just as they do on mountains.


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