Intelligent composites and their use for self-healing concrete

Abstract

It is shown that during operation reinforced concrete structures are very often susceptible to cracking, which leads to a deterioration in the quality and expected life of them. The traditional methods of restoration and strengthening of structures are methods of building up, impregnating the structure of concrete with polymer and other materials, applying monolithic coatings or gluing metal polymer and other elements. Known repair methods are characterized by high complexity of execution, high cost, etc. It is shown that there is a pressing economic incentive for the development of concrete capable of self-repairing and repairing damage. Recently, tendencies toward the creation of new materials that are capable of actively interacting with external factors have been outlined towards world practice; such materials have received the name “intellectual”. The use of «intelligent» materials allows you to monitor and predict the state of various structures and structures, at the required time and even in hard-to-reach areas, significantly increase the resource of engineering systems and their reliability. It has been shown that to date, various chemical methods have been developed for creating self-healing concrete. One of the breakthrough technologies in the field of obtaining effective materials and structures based on them are biotechnologies based on the use of microorganisms. Many researchers have studied the use of calcite produced by bacteria to increase the life of concrete-based structures and restore buildings by eliminating cracks, increasing the strength of concrete, reducing permeability, and reducing water absorption. The article provides an overview of the work of foreign specialists in these areas.