Swiss team develops more sustainable reinforced concrete

If human history can be divided into ages named after materials, we could now be said to be in the steel-and-glass age. But the artefacts of our previous epoch, the concrete age, are still all around us, and concrete underpins the shining structures now being built. It also comprises much of our road and rail infrastructure, but concrete ages, and materials that were used in its formulation decades ago are now deteriorating. Unfortunately, concrete produces more carbon dioxide emissions in its production than almost any other material, so engineers are searching for a more sustainable way of maintaining existing concrete structures.

At the Swiss Federal Institute in Lausanne (EFPL), Iranian PhD student Amir Hajiesmaeili is trying to develop a new generation of ultra high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC), and after three years of research has found a mixture which dispenses with the steel fibres commonly used in current UHPFRC, but has similar mechanical properties, is 10 per cent lighter and whose environmental impact is 60-70 per cent lower. _____________________________________________________________________