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Self-healing in concrete refers to its ability to autonomously repair cracks, reducing the need for manual intervention. There are two main processes: autogenous, which utilizes un-hydrated calcium hydroxide, and autonomous, which includes methods like vascular systems, capsule-based healing, and bacterial processes. While self-healing concrete enhances durability and reduces corrosion, challenges include cost and dependency on environmental conditions.

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15 views

Write-up 2

Self-healing in concrete refers to its ability to autonomously repair cracks, reducing the need for manual intervention. There are two main processes: autogenous, which utilizes un-hydrated calcium hydroxide, and autonomous, which includes methods like vascular systems, capsule-based healing, and bacterial processes. While self-healing concrete enhances durability and reduces corrosion, challenges include cost and dependency on environmental conditions.

Uploaded by

Suvam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Self-healing in Concrete

Have you ever noticed cracks in concrete? Are there any methods to remove them? You will
answer only a few external techniques for repairing cracks. Is there any way that we can
rectify the cracks internally? Have you ever heard about self-healing in concrete? Be patient;
you will get your answers shortly.

Self-healing in concrete is the ability to heal through some processes undergoing in itself. It
reduces the need to detect and repair cracks and is one strategy to address corrosion risk.
Concrete undergoes crack repair and rectification by autonomous or autogenous methods. But
how do these cracks arise?

There can be multiple reasons. Improper mixing of design mix, leaving air voids at the time
of solidification, improper vibrating of the slurry, using inferior quality reinforcement
material, and excessive addition of water in concrete led to various kind of cracks that arise
when the concrete undergoes thermal and pressure variations. How can these cracks be
healed?

Healing these cracks by hand or some tool needs a lot of effort and is sometimes impossible.
Therefore, relying on self-healing is most trustworthy. There are two kinds of self-healing
processes, one is an autogenous process, and the other is an autonomous process.

Concrete in itself processes naturally specific autogenous healing properties. Under this
process, un-hydrated calcium hydroxide particles work as a healing material. The hydration
of clinkers initiates the healing process. The reaction of cement with water or moisture in the
void helps rectify hairline cracks through the inherent properties of concrete and the
dissolution of calcium. But these autogenous processes are not always up to the mark.
Sometimes there is a need to add some catalyst agent within the concrete or in its design mix.
In autonomous processes, additional external self-healing provisions are catered to improve
the performance and for concrete repair. There are mainly three kinds of autonomous
processes or autonomous self-healing concrete depending upon the type of reagent used.

The first one is the Vascular self-healing method. It is a healing technique where a hollow
tube network bearing a healing agent is embedded in the concrete. The tubes should be
chemically inert so that it doesn't affect the properties of concrete. Also, it has some bonding
with the concrete mix. Inorganic Phosphate Cement (IPC) is generally used along with clay
tubes. When a crack appears in the concrete, the healing agent leaks along with capillary to
seal the crack.

The second one is Capsule based Self-healing method. The Capsules used in this are
generally cylindrical and spherical. The shell material of the capsule can be silica,
polystyrene, ceramics, glass, or urea-formaldehyde. The healing efficiency of this method
depends on the cement mix and properties of embedded capsules. Even we can rely upon a
multi-capsule system. When these capsules come into contact, they break and open, healing
components are released, and the crack gets cured. The healing agents can be epoxy resins,
polyurethane, or Methyl methacrylate monomers (MMA).

The third one is Bacterial Concrete. In this concrete, self-healing of cracks is done by some
bacterial processes. It is observed that small gaps in the width structure in the range of
0.05mm to 1mm are filled by repetitive dry and wet cycles. The type of bacteria used in this
concrete can be a dormant cell viable for over two hundred years under dry conditions. These
bacteria catalyzes the self-healing process. These bacteria can be easily found in soil and
water. How is bacterial concrete prepared?

Two methods prepare the bacterial concrete. The first is directly applying bacterial spores and
calcium lactate into the concrete. The second one is adding these materials by encapsulation
into the concrete. What is happening inside the concrete after the addition? When the crack
arises in the concrete, the capsule wall breaks, leading to bacteria exposure to the
environment. the bacteria feed over the lactate and forms un-hydrated calcium, which then
comes in contact with moisture and carbon dioxide and forms calcium carbonate.

Conclusion
Adding foreign material to the concrete mix is not always good. Using in low quantity is
unsustainable as bacterial concrete costs more than regular concrete. Also, the concrete mix
design with additives is not available in IS Code. In bacterial concrete, bacteria's growth
sometimes depends much on temperature and moisture. But adding foreign material heals
internal cracks and thus increases the concrete structure's life. Also, it reduces steel corrosion
due to the formation of the gap. The addition of vascular tubes reinforces the concrete
structure. Autonomous concretes are sustainable and increase structural strength and
durability when used in large quantities.

Keywords: -
1) Sefl-healing concrete.
2) Bacterial Concrete
3) Vascular Self-Healing
4) Capsule based Self-healing
5) Autogenous self-healing
6) Autonomous self-healing
7) Sustainable Concrete

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