Surwon Technology Reveals Graphene-Reinforced Concrete
Surwon Technology says new graphene-infused concrete is twice as strong as conventional variants.
HONG KONG, Sept. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Researchers at Hong Kong-based advanced materials innovator, Surwon Technology say they have discovered a means by which to integrate graphene into concrete, significantly increasing the construction material's tensile strength and resistance to water.
According to data from initial tests, the resulting combination is twice as strong and three times as resistant to water as standard, construction-grade concrete. Surwon Technology's Chief Technical Officer said that the development had enormous implications for construction standards, particularly those in areas susceptible to flooding and those with a history of earthquakes and tremors.
"This could make a tremendous improvement in torsional stiffness tolerances in earthquake resistant structures. One can only imagine the difference such a grade of concrete would have made in Japan's catastrophic Fukushima disaster," alluding to the 2011 incident in which a strong quake led to a highly-destructive tsunami that damaged the reactor at a nuclear power plant.
The technique developed by the Surwon Technology scientists utilizes a nano-engineering procedure which is able to suspend slivers of graphene as thin as atoms in the water used to mix the concrete.
According to the Chief Technology Officer, the process needs less material than more traditional methods of producing concrete and, consequently, reduces the graphene concrete's carbon footprint.
"Significant investment will be needed to reduce the cost of producing the graphene the process uses but the payoff in terms of structural integrity and sustainability vis a vis architecture and construction far outweighs the outlay," said the CTO.
SOURCE Surwon Technology
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