The Benefits Of Concrete

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Throughout the construction industry, technology plays a role to help ease the completion of a project to all of the parties involved. The amount of technology application in the industry supports the belief that technology has a positive impact on project productivity. One of the main materials used in the construction industry that surrounds us every day, in which we overlook, is concrete. Concrete is an art form, in which it takes time and talent in order for it to be used efficiently, to produce its high strength and longevity. However, the downfall of this material is that it is extremely costly and nearly impossible to form it to an aesthetically pleasing surface. In spite of this, what if I told you that there is hope? That the dream of a material made of concrete, producing the same qualities, can be formed to any shape, and used anywhere was a reality.
Concrete Canvas (CC) was designed by British engineers in the early 2000s as part of a design competition hosted by the British Cement Association (www.nationalgeographic.com, 2013).
The engineers had hopes to design a way to make efficient shelters quickly. In order to do that, they had to develop a material that could be dried in thin layers, wetted in an uncontrolled method then, set without cracking, into a dependably strong form, thus, creating Concrete Canvas (www.nationalgeographic.com, 2013). One of the first applications of Concrete Canvas was by the British Military. They used the product to protect sandbags in Afghanistan. It was found that with the protection from CC, the sandbags were now able to stop on average 1,100 machine gun rounds fired into it (www.nationalgeographic.com, 2013). After seeing the ease of use of the material and its characteristics, the en...

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...ckage, and like a child’s balloon, the shelter will inflate (www.youtube.com, 2011). Once the shelter is inflated, completely saturate the shelter and with less than an hour of time, you have completely installed your shelter (www.youtube.com, 2011). After 24 hours the shelter will be completely useable and you will have one completely hardened, fireproof, waterproof, and sterile shelter.
Concrete Canvas is a relatively new technology that I believe, with more research and development, could change the construction industry completely. Concrete Canvas has such a positive impact on a construction project by lowering cost, time, and labor compared to typical mixed concrete. With the ability to form to almost any shape, in any condition, and be used in almost any building application I ask, “Do you think Concrete Canvas is an impressive industry changing technology?”

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