Benefits of Concrete
After water, concrete is the most utilised material in the world. It is an extremely versatile construction material with an almost unlimited list of applications. It is incombustible, can endure extreme temperatures and corrosive environments and can be used for all types of building and civil engineering projects. Many of the basic necessities of modern living, such as housing, water, sanitation and transport are delivered by concrete.
Concrete is a compound material made from sand, gravel and cement. Cement is a compound of various minerals which when mixed with water, hydrate and rapidly become hard, binding the sand and gravel together into a solid mass. The oldest known surviving concrete is to be found in the former Yugoslavia and is thought to have been laid in about 5,600 BC. The Egyptians were the first major users of concrete in around 2,500 BC. In about 300 BC the Romans developed 'possolanic' cement by adding volcanic ash to their normal lime-based concretes. This produced a much stronger material.
The Romans are accredited with many developments in concrete, including the development of both reinforced and lightweight concrete. Lightweight concrete, based on lightweight aggregates, was used in the roof of the Pantheon and in some of the arches and vaults of the Colosseum (82AD), while the foundations were made of dense concrete.
After the collapse of the Roman empire in 400 AD, concrete became a forgotten material and its use did not re-emerge to any significant degree, until a new form of cement, Portland cement, was invented in 1824 by an English inventor Joseph Aspdin, who created the first artificial cement. Portland cement has remained the dominant form of cement to the present day.
Benefits of Concrete
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