Self Healing Building Materials
The construction industry is a major contributor to natural resource consumption and environmental degradation. The use of materials that inherently cause an impact on the environment are unavoidable in construction applications due to their strength, speed of construction and safety. Self-healing materials were created to address the limitations of these conventional materials by increasing their lifespan, reducing waste, and minimizing the impact of material disposal.
Self-healing materials mimic the natural ability of bio-organisms to repair themselves. Typically, they can heal small fractures and restore themselves without compromising their structure and without external intervention. Self-healing concrete is one of the best-known examples of self-healing materials, which was used by the Romans. The Pantheon, Colosseum and aqueducts are surprisingly durable because they have been constructed with this type of concrete. The secret to the Roman concrete’s self-healing properties lies in the mixture of concrete with calcium “lime clasts” that recrystallize once they are mixed with water.
Nowadays, self-healing concrete uses carbon dioxide instead, but the principle is very similar to the Roman self-healing concrete. There are other examples of self-healing materials such as hydrogels, carbon fiber composite, ceramics, and automobile coating; however, their use is limited and not widely available.
It is expected that their use and availability will increase in the future because buildings can be designed to be more durable and resilient. Furthermore, maintenance costs, disposal and addition of new materials, and costly repairs are greatly reduced, consequently creating a positive change to the environment.
