Roman concrete contains lime clasts which give it the ability to heal as it erodes and cracks. Including lime in modern concrete would quickly rust the rebar, making it infeasible for most of the buildings we use it for.
This was true until the inexpensive development of Basaltic Rebar
Which begs the question of why there isn't widespread replacement using basalt rebar alongside EMC derived concrete, I always chalked it up to some kind of institutional inertia among large concrete corporations, but that's just a guess on my part
It's more often a matter of design life in construction. Advances in engineering have made it much more possible to design building that just barely stand up, and 'advances' in neoliberalism have made it impossible to build anything else.
Planned obsolescence in construction isn't impossible or anything though.
Roman concrete contains lime clasts which give it the ability to heal as it erodes and cracks. Including lime in modern concrete would quickly rust the rebar, making it infeasible for most of the buildings we use it for.
This was true until the inexpensive development of Basaltic Rebar
Which begs the question of why there isn't widespread replacement using basalt rebar alongside EMC derived concrete, I always chalked it up to some kind of institutional inertia among large concrete corporations, but that's just a guess on my part
Planned obsolescence applies to construction companies too? 🤷♂️
It's more often a matter of design life in construction. Advances in engineering have made it much more possible to design building that just barely stand up, and 'advances' in neoliberalism have made it impossible to build anything else.
Planned obsolescence in construction isn't impossible or anything though.