How have Roman structures made of concrete lasted 2,000 years and more while the modern concrete in my driveway is cracking up after just decades? It's a mystery that a team of materials science researchers including Linda Seymour and Admir Masic (both of MIT) decided to resolve.
It turns out, Romans included ingredients that allowed their concrete structures to fix themselves. In particular, they blended lumps of quicklime (as opposed to slaked lime) in mortar. When concrete gets wet, it can crack, but in ancient Roman concrete, the lime lumps partially dissolve and fill in any cracks with calcite or calcium carbonate.
As described in the journal Science Advances, Seymour and Masic's team analyzed ancient Roman concrete and then attempted to reinvent the recipe and "hot mixing process." The result? A much more durable and resilient concrete than most often used today, a concrete with "self-healing potential."

Concrete for the Ages

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