new building materials If the ancient Romans, who laid much groundwork for materials and techniques, saw improvements in construction, they certainly wouldn’t believe their eyes.
Translucent wood, luminescent cement, bricks made from cigarette butts, concrete to urbanize Mars… The never-ending stream of materials of the future was at first a luxury, but it has become the focus of many universities and corporations. It is part of a research project and already has two clear goals in mind. Rethinking architecture to be more innovative and, in most cases, more sustainableLet’s talk about some of them.
sauce: ArchDaily, Xataka, IAAC, The World, Excelsior
With this new building material, you don’t know where to turn if someone tells you to “knock on wood.” Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm was able to develop how to make it look like glass.
This process is based on extracting lignin from the plant cell wall and then replacing it with an approximately 93% transparent plastic polymer. The result is a structure very similar to wood, but translucent, 85% transparent quality To be exact.Windows and solar cells could be built with this new material, which is not only more resistant than glass, but may also have superior dynamic properties, thus making this compound Ideal raw material for solar cells Thanks to its affordability and abundance.
image: Royal Polytechnic University of Estocormo
As summer approaches, air conditioners become our greatest ally in the fight against high temperatures. But that scenario could change, thanks to materials developed by a group of Smart Construction students at the Catalan Institute for Advanced Architecture (Spain). Its name is Hydroceramic. made of clay and hydrogel For the purpose of coating the facade, The indoor temperature of the building can be lowered by up to 6°C on hot days.
This groundbreaking building material works by evaporation. Utilizing the properties of hydrogels, they absorb up to 500 times their own weight in water, and when the temperature rises, they evaporate until the heat in the building drops and the humidity in the environment increases. According to the tests performed, the best material for combining hydrogels is clay.
One of the main advantages of this innovative building material is the Ability to reduce energy requirementsas home implementation can reduce power consumption by 28%.
image: IAAC
Smoking habits not only cause serious health problems, but also come with large amounts of toxic waste in the form of cigarette butts.Currently, the research team RMIT University, Australia (Melbourne Institute of Technology) have found a more “constructive” use for this kind of residue: acting as a building material.
A team led by Dr. Abbas Mohjerani found that adding just 1% cigarette butts to clay bricks Reduce the amount of energy required for bakingthus reducing production costs.
During the baking process, some of the soluble contaminants contained in this residue seem to become trapped inside the brick, reducing the risk of future pollution-related problems. Addition of about 1% cigarette butt residue during the manufacturing process These bricks are lighter than standard ones and save at least 18% of the energy required to manufacture them.
The following example is about illuminated roads. José Carlos Rubio Avalos, a researcher at the University of Michoacana in San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Mexico, said: First cement capable of emitting lightcan be an extraordinary solution for lighting roads and buildings without electrical equipment.
Thanks to the microstructural modification process of cement, this material exhibits a surface texture that can capture light.According to its creator, this material is Can emit light for up to 12 hours when exposed to sunlight for the same amount of time.
The main handicap of this new material, at least for the time being, is its high production cost compared to conventionally produced cement. But its standardization could revolutionize road construction in poorly lit or unlit areas while reducing the use of plastic materials and polymers that are typical of electrical installations.
image: Agency ID
Space colonization is no longer just a movie plot. The entire machine is being developed step by step, based on a concept that may be closer than we think. 3D printing as construction technology for Mars This is one of the groundbreaking proposals that will help you achieve that. Now, according to researchers at Northwestern University, Illinois: Cement production by replacing water with sulfur It could be another promising initiative.
If we travel to neighboring planets, water is likely to be a scarce and precious resource, which increases the importance of the project. So far, however, sulfur cooling has created cavities and internal tensions in the cement, weakening its structure. However, the American team was able to produce sufficiently compact concrete with sulfur and aggregates that mimic Martian soil (a mixture of silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, iron oxide and titanium dioxide).He is the most impressive material of the future.
