Popular Mechanics has a great list of tech materials or concepts that are rather inspiring. Pictured above is bendable concrete:
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Bendable Concrete
The nickname for Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) is self-explanatory: bendable concrete. Specially coated microscopic polymer fibers slide past each other instead of snapping under stress, so ECC bends without breaking. The material has been used to create stretchable expansion joints for a Michigan bridge, and to allow the coupling beams in a 41-story tower in Yokohama to flex during Japan’s frequent earthquakes.
SHORT-TERM IMPACT: LOWIt could take years for ECC to be commonly used in construction, unless a major earthquake puts it in the spotlight.
Although the short-term impact is low, it’s neat to see that such a material exists. From what I understand, in California they mainly build homes out of wood due to the flexibility that it possesses making it a bonus when earthquakes strike. And now you have EEC which (I’m assuming) has the strength of concrete with the flexibility of wood – very nice!
For sure, materials in this sustainable, eco friendly global world are changing daily….. materials are key!! and super exciting as inspiring for other great ideas…..hmm, soft concrete on school playgrounds…hmmm.
Actually, I remember reading about a “soft concrete” that was being used somewhere in SoCal. The story as I remember it was about the removal of several trees whose roots where wreaking havoc on the neighboring sidewalk. Someone protested, and an alternative solution was found with a recycled rubber substitute that wouldn’t crack when roots grew underneath (thus saving the trees), and provided a nice little spring in your step. š
yeah, soft is IN! Soft floors, soft electronics, soft stuff….soft is natural and wont break..