Game changers - building materials

The building material has been evolving with evolving man since the stone age times. In this new age of innovation, discovery & experiments, sustainability and aesthetically pleasing designs are creating a benchmark. The materials covered in this article are perfect examples of it.

These super materials are also one of them where their prime objective is to be "guilty free" and build up without causing environmental degradation.

Bendable Concrete

Few major drawbacks of conventional concrete are, it is brittle, leaves heavy carbon and energy footprints on environment & causes huge social and economical impact. Often it is used in combination with steel(Rebar) to support it. To overcome these drawbacks, researchers have developed a bio-concrete that repairs itself and is nick named as bendable concrete. This has been invented at the University of Michigan’s Advanced Civil Engineering Materials Research Lab. Researchers at Michigan have created this new composite, Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC), that is made with thousands of short-coated microfibers.

These are bendable super concrete which can withstand four times the tensile force of its standard counterpart.

It's widely used applications are in Construction of Roads and Bridges, Construction of Earthquake Resistant Buildings & Construction of Concrete Canvas.

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Curface

Recycling and managing human waste is one of the challenges faced by humankind. Amid this dismay, this innovation answers it.

To tackle this task effectively UK firms, like Re-worked and Smile Plastics, teamed up & found a solution to this.

Their new material, "Curface," is made of 40% recycled coffee grounds in combination with recycled plastic and bioresin. The finished product is a beautiful granite-like smooth surface that has the strength and durability of hardwood. It is waterproof and scratch-resistant. It doesn't require sanding or finishing and is malleable.

The company has begun the Curface material in applications like countertops, siding for espresso machines

?Applications for Curface mainly include appliance surroundings and tabletops.

E Ink Prism

With fast-evolving lives, there are also evolving walls!?

The standard walls are changing. The E Ink Prism, developed by E Ink Holdings Inc., creates continuously transforming architectural surfaces using bi-stable electronic ink film. This ink is composed of printing industry pigments (similar to paint), but is configured to disappear and reappear upon user interaction.

This wall is tile-based so, users can potentially "turn on" only a few tiles at a time – producing a mosaic tile colour effect. This low-power wall interface holds the potential to completely transform how users interact with interior spaces.

It doesn’t stop at colour. Programmable patterns and shapes can be integrated to create designs or functions. Doors can indicate if a conference room is occupied, and wall designs can respond to noise, temperature, or motion in the room. Whatever the idea, the opportunities are endless and only limited by a designer’s imagination.

Solar Leaf

Solar energy is one of the most reliant on green energy. So tapping it could truly help us.

Recent advancements in technology have enabled humans to make thinner and more translucent material. This has increased the possibilities for generating energy right inside the facade itself without losing window transparency.

The world's first bioreactive facade has been developed by Arup Engineers in close partnership with the Strategic Science Consult of Germany and Colt International.

The curtain wall system consists of four layers of argon-insulated glass, water, algae culture, growth medium, plastic scrubbers, compressed air, and inflow and outflow pipes. When the sun shines down on the facade, the algae biomass grows and generates renewable power. This power is transferred via heat within a closed-loop system to a building energy management center, which harvests the algae biomass and the heat via a heat exchanger.

The advantage of biomass is that it can be used flexibly for power and heat generation, and it can be stored with virtually no energy loss. Moreover, cultivating microalgae in flat panel PBRs requires no additional land use and isn’t unduly affected by weather conditions

NeptuTherm

Countries with chilly winters uses a lot of energy to keep their places warm & livable. So improved insulation is need of an hour. This innovation helps us with that.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology have created and helped commercialize seaweed insulation. The Posidonia oceanica seaweed, also known as Neptune grass, is a widely abundant natural material that has a high insulating value as well as strong mold resistance and low flammability.

They have developed methods for processing the material, which enables it to be used for blown insulation applications in walls, roofs, and ceilings.

The most amazing thing about this product is that it does not require any chemical additives.

It can be filled into roof, wall and ceiling cavities and then packed tight by hand.

These materials have one common goal, to be more sustainable than their current counterparts. These are going to take over the market in the upcoming years.