Due to the growing need to implement sustainable and environmentally friendly systems, green construction development has recently become a priority of the global agenda for human endeavors (1). To meet the rising need for construction industrialization, the use of cement concrete as primary building material is expected to keep a rising demand (2,3). However, as a result of the extensive amount of thermal energy used, the manufacturing of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is responsible for the production of 1.35 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, which accounts for 5-8% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide (4).

Therefore, the development of technologies in sustainable construction materials, such as self-healing concrete (SCH) based on nanotechnology, has become an attractive option over conventional cement concrete (5). SCH has several advantages over conventional materials since they represent an opportunity to dump industrial waste and reduce carbon dioxide emissions released during the manufacturing process (6). In addition to countering the effects of concrete cracking by the production of CaCO₃, SCH is promising for environmental CO₂ absorption during the process.

This research aims to apprise the effects of autogenous and autonomous self-healing concrete incorporating a nano/biomimetic additive that uses a catalyst process to accelerate the reaction between calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and CO₂, this additive ends up producing calcium carbonate crystals between the cracks sealing them and repairing them effectively in a short time. This process is carried out by the nano/biometric additive shortens the repair time and avoids the use of toxic reagents, being more favorable than traditional methods, in addition to the fact that calcium carbonate crystals have mechanical properties like those of concrete, thus favoring the resistance of the structure as a whole.

References

[1] C.M. Vyas, D.R. Bhatt; International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, 4(7), 2013, 3160-3165.

[2] T.K. Jyothi, P.T. Jitha, S.K. Pattaje, K.S. Jagadish, R.V. Ranganath, S. Raghunath; Journal of The Institution of Engineers (India): Series A, 100(2), 2019, 329-336.

[3] P.K. Sarker, R. Haque, K.V. Ramgolam; Fracture behaviour of heat cured fly ash based geopolymer concrete; Materials & Design, 44(2), 2013, 580-586.

[4] P. Kathirvel, K. Saravanarajamohan, S. Shobana, A. Bhaskar; Effect of replacement of Slag on the mechanical properties of flyash based Geopolymer Concrete; International Journal of Engineering and Technology, 5(3), 2013, 2555-2559.

[5] S.S. Amritphale, D. Mishra, M. Mudgal, R.K. Chouhan, N. Chandra; A novel green approach for making hybrid inorganic-organic geopolymeric cementitious material utilizing fly ash and rice husk; Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 4(4), 2016, 3856-3865.

[6] K.K. Gupta, Nakul; Mechanical characterization and assessment of composite geopolymer concrete; Journal: Materials Today: Proceedings; Volume 44, Part 1; 2021; Pages 58-62; ISSN 2214-7853