Human bone inspires tougher cement

The bio-inspired design allows the material to resist cracking and avoid sudden failure, unlike conventional, brittle cement-based counterparts.

In an article in Advanced Materials, the research team led by Reza Moini, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Shashank Gupta, a third-year PhD candidate, demonstrate that cement paste deployed with a tube-like architecture can significantly increase resistance to crack propagation and improve the ability to deform without sudden failure.

“One of the challenges in engineering brittle construction materials is that they fail in an abrupt, catastrophic fashion,” Gupta said in a statement.

In brittle construction materials used in building and civil infrastructure, strength ensures ability to sustain loads, while toughness supports resistance to cracking and spread of damage in the structure. The proposed technique tackles those problems by creating a material that is tougher than conventional counterparts while maintaining strength.

Moini said the key to the improvement lies in the purposeful design of internal architecture, by balancing the stresses at the crack front with the overall mechanical response.