時(shí)差N小時(shí):自我復(fù)原的混凝土

Have you ever been driving down a pothole filledstreet, thinking, "I wish the city, someone, anyonewould fix the roads!" Soon, roads and streets may beable to fix themselves.

你曾經(jīng)開(kāi)車走過(guò)滿是坑洼是街道，并想著“我希望這個(gè)城市的有些人會(huì)修理這條路!”也許很快，路和街道就能自行進(jìn)行修理了。

Researchers at the University of Michigan havedeveloped a type of concrete that heals itself whenit cracks. Regular concrete is like ceramic when itbreaks. It really breaks, opening a wide chasm thatrequires serious mending.

如今，密歇根大學(xué)的研究人員研發(fā)出了一種破裂后可以自行修復(fù)的混凝土。普通的混凝土被打碎時(shí)就像陶瓷一樣。破裂嚴(yán)重時(shí)會(huì)撕開(kāi)一個(gè)大口，需要認(rèn)真修補(bǔ)。

Self healing concrete behaves more like metal.It bends without breaking thanks to specialfibers holding it together. Bending or stressing the new concrete creates hairline fracturesinstead of gaping holes. All it takes to mend the tiny fissures is exposure to water and carbondioxide. Chemicals in the concrete mix with water and carbon dioxide to form a healing scar.

自我治愈的混凝土表現(xiàn)得更像金屬。因?yàn)橛幸环N特殊的纖維支撐所以將這種混凝土彎曲之后仍然不會(huì)破裂。彎曲或者擠壓這種新型的混凝土?xí)a(chǎn)生發(fā)絲那么細(xì)的裂縫而不是漏洞。要修復(fù)細(xì)小的裂紋只需讓其接觸到水和二氧化碳。然后混凝土結(jié)合水和二氧化碳就會(huì)發(fā)生化學(xué)反應(yīng)，填充裂痕。

In the lab, the concrete was able to heal itself back to nearly full strength after a slab wasstretched to three times its normal size. Self healing concrete could help cut costs forrebuilding not only new roads but also bridges and other structures that use the material.

在實(shí)驗(yàn)中，混凝土板被拉伸至原尺寸的三倍時(shí)，混凝土就能夠完全恢復(fù)。自愈混凝土能夠幫助消減重建的成本，不論是新修的道路還是橋梁以及其它使用混凝土的結(jié)構(gòu)。

You won't find self healing concrete on roads just yet. The researchers are working onbringing it to market in the next few years. And when it's ready for widespread use, selfhealing concrete could make potholes a thing of the past.

不過(guò)，你還不能在街上找到自愈混凝土。接下來(lái)幾年，研究人員將致力于將這種混凝土推向市場(chǎng)。一旦被廣泛應(yīng)用，自愈混凝土?xí)尠伎幼兂蓺v史。