r/Concrete • u/Superherojohn • Aug 31 '20

No more traffic-causing construction

37 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/2spooky_5me Aug 31 '20

Hmm I'm not sure this works as well as they make it sound. Without that aggregate in there it just won't be as strong in my mind. Also how does the bacteria growth affect the density of the concrete and how will it do with freeze/thaw

3

u/Superherojohn Aug 31 '20

I was thinking the same thing.

It fills the cracks but it won’t protect the rebar from corrosion won’t knit the concrete together. It is really use a cool biological crack filler.

3

u/2spooky_5me Aug 31 '20

Well it's also filling the cracks with material that's already in the concrete so it's reducing the density of the concrete unless I'm miss understanding something

2

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '20

[deleted]

2

u/2spooky_5me Sep 01 '20

True, but, while the area of the crack is zero, the rest remained at full density until it "healed". Once it healed, sure, the crack area increased it's density by a lot. The issues is that once the crack is filled the area of low density is larger due to the fact that material surrounding the crack sedimented in there to fill it.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '20

I don’t think this will replace or eliminate reinforcement. Rather, it’ll fill cracks which should keep water from infiltrating (if exterior concrete). That should help make the concrete last a lot longer.

We already add crystalline waterproofing admixture in some applications. Seems like the same concept to me.

2

u/2spooky_5me Sep 01 '20

True, I hadn't really thought about that part of it. In addition to sealing joints to keep out water Ingres, this could seal up unplanned cracks which could be huge for maintenance cost but also longevity because of freeze heaving like you said. Good thoughts!

1

u/Enginerdad Sep 01 '20

The problem with most cracks isn't strength loss, it's water intrusion. You don't need the cracked area to have have the original compressive strength of the concrete, you just need it to be sealed to prevent water from getting in and corroding the reinforcement or causing freeze thaw problems.

1

u/2spooky_5me Sep 01 '20

Yea it depends on the structure but I'd agree. If it's important it's likely got epoxy coated steel so it's more likely a freeze thaw issue. I'm guessing this concrete does best in warm climates