This Self-Heating Concrete Melts Snow - No Power Needed
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Material scientists at Drexel University in Philadelphia have developed a self-heating concrete that warms up on its own when temperatures drop below zero. No power needed. How does this new “smart material” work? Will we see it on our streets soon? Let’s have a look.
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Two other smart materials I read about recently: one has retroreflectors built in to reflect the Sun's energy back to its source, to help reduce the "heat island" effect in cities. The idea is that roofs would unroll this material during the summer, and then roll it back up in the winter to conserve the sun's energy. Another one is a specific kind of white paint that radiates energy in the IR band atmospheric spectrum "hole", allowing the energy to be radiated to space (on cloudless days/nights). This white paint allows the radiating surface to become cooler than the surrounding air by up to 8C, which is a pretty big deal.
Yes but none of the examples of cooling effect I've seen told anything about how much energy it can radiate, something like BTU/cm2. You can cool a very thin layer, and measure temperature but that would not have any practical use.
@@utkuaThat's a great point. Watts/(m^2) would also be a good metric.
Well, I installed solar panels at my roof. And curiously, the room below got significantly colder than it was before.
The white paint attributed to Purdue University does reflect more light but not due to nanoscale reflectors. It's just white paint due to barium sulfates. There are no micro reflectors involved, you just made that up to make it easier for yourself to understand.
This is yet another IDIOT solution to a non-problem. The carbon footprint of producing the Portland Cement power used to bind the aggregates into concrete is ENORMOUS. Billions of cubic feet of natural gas is used to manufacture cement powder and the other resources required like sand are also in short supply and the mining thereof, like all mining, is environmental catastrophe. Sand is so rare it is often supplied by a criminal black market which, of course, is locally environmentally even more destructive than commercial mining of or crushing of material to make sand. BTW, many people attack me regarding the sand crisis. I have seen at least two documentaries on the situation. The problem is a very specific type of sand is required for concrete aggregate. So before you mindlessly attack me, go look it up and educate yourself.
I’m an architect and snowmelt system are a real pain to deal with as they are quite delicate and difficult to work around if future repairs are required. Very interesting concept!
Plus, snow melting solutions have to have an efficient way to get rid of the water, or it'll freeze and form ice which is much worse than dealing with snow
not to mention that they mostly are used as a "plan b" when the normal solution can't be used. And especially in Germany where it rarely gets that cold.. the first time those systems would be needed, there is a good chance they don't work anymore and nobody noticed..
@@nirmalasokan1687AI A=1 I=9 AI=19 read Revelation 1 18 one plus eighteen is 19 Glory to Jesus the clouds are filling with the glory of heaven AI is our great change or Great tribulation Deuteronomy 6 4 six plus four is 10 1+0=1 read the verse do the math Daniel 8 25 not by human hands. 8+25= 33 3+3=6 six means multiplicity in three dimensions. In English 6 is a 9 or a 3 is an M a W a E or better said a quantum state where zero is both one and zero simultaneously. Convention of an nullary product. Quantum AGI Matthew 24 30 24+30=54 5+4=9 Mark 10 18 10+18=28 2+8= 10 1+0=1 glory be to God blessed is the Holy Spirit. Let God Revelation 3 14 these are the words of the Amen. pi and Egypt have a ancient thing notice the verse and words. Now Amun (Amen) is an Egyptian deity Revelation 11 8 Amun Ra a=1 r=18 ar=19 leaving the clay of manu from the word A mun R a Manu means first man or Adam (Atum) secret name of Ra 1 Corinthians 15 45 on the sixth day God made man 15+45=60 And on the seventh day God rested 60+1 Corinthians is 61. 6+1=7 Mark 3 29 3+2+9=14 say hey 1+4 is 5 hei (hey) in hebrew So look at your right hand one thumb four fingers 14. There are fourteen digits in a normal five finger hand. Its also how you say hello. Fourteen is also the gematria of David. On the 14 day the passover lamb was killed israel was delivered from Egypt. Yod daleth signify the hand (outworking) the door. 14 generations from Abraham 14 generations from David to exile in Babylon and 14 generations from exile to Jesus. May glory be to God not me for I lived a life of sin to learn these things as if divinely directed may I have forgiveness and be glorified by God and the gospel not myself knock and the door will be opened. I met a woman 41 R honda a young woman 14 A tumn we changed each other's life and each is a victim four fingers one thumb your left hand=41 one thumb four fingers=14 both equal 5 as this Look to the cross INRI I=9 N=14 R=18 I=9 this is 9+14+18+9=50 5+0=5 There are nineteen letters in my name it equals 6 My SSN equals 8 6+8=14 the gematria of David which is part of my name 1+4=5 I have five random dates 0427 1988 0311 1991 0822 1992 1130 2010 0419 2019 added equals 13,109 my SSN plus the cross is 13 10+9 from 109 is 19 the number of letters in my name. 1+3=4 1+9= 10 10+4 is 14 Predestination is a thing of faith but the five random dates are five birthdays of my children and their mothers. I AM that I AM i=9 a=1 m=13 9+1=10 1+3=4 10+4= 14 hei+hei =10 God is one Deuteronomy 6 4 Revelation 12 11 blood of the lamb and word of their testimony...they did nit love their lives so much as to shrink from death 1+2=3 3+11= 14= hei Revelation 12 14 12+14=26 2+6=8 Matthew 16 24 ..pick up his cross and follow me. INRIzde = 16 24 1+6=7 2+4=6 7+6=13 13 equals 4 Daleth in Hebrew which means door Revelation 3 7 between 3 and 7 is 4 Matthew matthew 7 7 7+7= 14 hei 3+7 Revelation=10 God is one Yeshua the door binary 01=10 supernatural position quantum AGI Bless Heaven bless the gospel Blessings to this faith dance and too you peace be with you. Ephesians 5 18 be filled in the Spirit 5+18 is 18=9 so 5+9= 14=hei Hei means behold, or divine breath, and light in hebrew Genesis 1 4 light (divine breath) My astrology that i do not follow is taurus 0427 and dragon1988 0427=13 my SSN plus the cross 1988=8 my SSN added through. Something to think about GOG Magog G=7 O=15 G=7 M=13 A=1 = 76 July 4 1 Nation under God the reminder Gog equals 7+6+7=20 2+0=2 two is bet in Hebrew and represents duality and division our government in America is dual party and divided. AI means the ruins according to Bible dictionary Isaiah 58 12 from ashes eagles wings rise Isaiah 40 31 4+0=4 3+1=4 4+4=8 Revelation 12 14 1+2=3 1+4=5 3+5=8 8 represents new beginnings in Hebrew and 7 represents fullness as in God rested from the fullness of his creation on the Sabbath or 7th day. It is also zayin 7 or sword. It is also inappropriate Hebrew slang By the sword of his mouth Revelation 19 15 19+15 =34 3+4=7 zayin John 4 14 4+14=18 1+8=9 Truth emet π🦋
Wont work if it dosent rise above freezing every single day.
@@publicdomain3378 Good point.
4:21 Hah. I misread the thumbnail as “self healing” and then you showed self healing concrete. Bravo.
On that note, there’s a synthetic biology research project at Macquarie University, NSW, working on creating microbes that excrete cement. Or at least, there was when I studied there 4 years ago. The hope is that it will be a cheap way of filling cracks. I like to think they’ll end the world when their synthetic species becomes invasive and covers the world in concrete.
Me too. I misread it the same way.
I misread it as self-hating!
@@adashofbitterWhy create them? They already exist in all our geothermal springs. One of my favorite hobbies is growing geothermal hotpool terraces like the famous pink and white terraces. It took us thousands of years working with nature to make that masterpiece. Don't let anyone tell you they were a natural formation. But there are a huge variety and they feed on all sorts of different chemistries and pH. I thought it said self healing concrete too btw🤔🤭. Self heating isn't so flash. Zeolite clays do that. Just add water.
No mention of how people recently figured out how Roman concrete self heals.
You could also argue that a thin layer of water could later cause it to eventually freeze at lower temps and lead to dangerous ice layers under the snow
I'm not sure whether the concept of ice "under the snow" is actually dangerous. The thing you step on is whatever is at the top. So it would be packed snow on top of ice.
same reason salt is an aweful idea in places where it gets cold enough for salted water to freeze. It becomes a perfect sheet of ice when it gets a bit colder, then when the weather heats up just a bit you get a wetted icy surface, its so slippery its almost not even funny any more lol. Never mind all the other reasons why salting the roads is criminally bad (mainly rust)
@@ControlProblem ice under snow is kinda worse as you walk with confidence on the snow but the snow slips on the ice and... particularly dangerous for old folks like me btw: i'm from central SK in canada. the last few yrs it's been getting worse with freezing rain, snow melt in the middle of winter, snow over ice, etc - consequences of climate change
@@ControlProblem With respect, you've clearly not lived in a cold climate. The slickest surface possible is wet ice. The second slickest, but arguably just as dangerous, is snow on ice*. The water and snow act as a further lubricant on an already smooth and slick surface. The first is dangerous because any traction at all can become impossible. The second is dangerous because it's not something you can spot at first look. *Not to be confused with frozen snow.
@@ControlProblemNot sure if you live in a place with heavy winters, but as a Canadian it *is* absolutely dangerous (both for cars and for people) when you have a layer of ice under thin snow like that.
Of course - when winter sets in properly the phase change will merely delay the onset of frost - once it is properly chilled for the season, you will be back to shovelling... In regions where daytime temperatures rise to as high as 5 degrees - it all sounds good - delaying freezing until "late hours-pm" is nice..
In regions where the coldest winter night don't drop below 10 degrees... ... what is winter?
But it mostly snow when temperatures are near 0 rather than at -40. So this would help alot to prevent accumulation on most of snowy days and if you make sure to let water get out of the way you should nkt end up with icy walkway once temp do fall too low.
The pavement will also stay colder as weather goes above the 5c transition. This will transfer more energy into it than normal, resulting in less total ice...but only if your weather goes above that temp. Otherwise it's no better than cheaper 'dumb' rocks. I can imagine areas that pay for heated sidewalks using this. Maybe it could save electricity on the milder days.
So true. Like chemical batteries, thermal batteries (Phase Change Materials in this case) need to be "charged" before they can be used. If the PCM is being used for heating then it must be returned to it's "melted" state after it finally freezes solid. It the PCM is being used for cooling (i.e. ICE cube), it needs to be re-frozen after it has completely melted. A PCM absorbs or gives off heat the most while it changes phase. I had once read where they were experimenting with coconut oil in the Philippines to moderate temperature fluctuations in the home. During the night in regions where nighttime temperatures fell below the freezing temperature of coconut oil (roughly 86 F), the oil would charge (freeze) and be ready by morning for the coming afternoon heat where it would begin absorbing heat attempting to keep the home at 86F or below. Interesting idea but it took huge amounts of oil to be effective and all that oil would have to freeze each night which necessitated temperatures to be quite a bit lower than 86F. Not many places in the Philippines ever get that cool overnight.
While true, many regions on this planet don't have temperatures below the freezing point 24 hours a day. Same in colder regions, very early and very late in the winter. This material lowers the number of days one has to take care of snow, often to zero.
This is so interesting. What baffled me most were the paints that emit so well in the infrared that their temperature can be below the air temperature at daytime😢
Yes, I was about to mention this, but I think they call it a metamaterial rather than a smart material. I'm not sure that's a very well-defined distinction though.
theres a youtuber called 'nighthawkinlight' who has been developing his own, its cool stuff (pun intended) you point the painted surface at the sky and it sends the heat off at a specific ir wavelength through the atmosphere into space.
@@svinkuk2652 Tech Ingredients also did a video on it.
With the global warming some cooling concrete would be nice.
I think these paints don't really work, I tried, they don't emit more energy than they absorb, they just have a specific emission spectrum which confuses a radiation based thermometer. When you use a pt1000 sensor the material is still hotter than the surrounding air.
this reminds me of those guys who lived in scottland thousands of years ago who covered their houses in mounds of compost, being a big pile of dirt, it not only insulated them from the cold, but because its compost it gets warm from all the composting that the compost does, so it actively heated the houses. Absolutely brilliant, and you then also had lots of good dirt for your crops in the summer.
Scotland
@@stephencrowther524 scott can do it too
@@stephencrowther524 whoops
Does it reach snow temperatures in Scotland? Active composting (that produces a lot of heat) requires pretty huge piles (like, as tall as a person almost), and when it does cool off enough stops working entirely. Seems a little but suspect (especially considering how much speculation goes into archaeology).
That's great. Compost has a higher power density than the core of the sun, so the house should get pretty hot.
Dupont has been selling Energain, panels with a paraffin-based phase change material (PCM) for use inside buildings since at least 2011. It has a mixture with a phase change occurring from 18º~24º. It reduces heating and cooling costs in areas where the day/night temperature crosses the 18º~24º range.
My question on this is "is there a similarity between these materials and the (if I understand the mechanics correctly) principle of a Heat Pipe where wicking in a controlled environment uses latent heat (of evaporation/condensation) to draw significant energy from ambient temperature differences (say, between river water and a space to be heated in an adjacent building. ?? Heat pipes definitely work - I was wondering if your Energain used similar physics ??
I knew this was climate vaporware! Use an old idea not many now about to get investment money and then disappear!
@@causewaykayak No it does not. It is used as a simple thermal mass. It is paraffin inside a 5mm panel that is placed inside a building to act as thermal mass. It was originally sold as being a better thermal than concrete. It does not move between the interior and exterior of the building directly. It is just used for storage that is optimized for temperatures crossing the 18º~24. Many companies are making similar products. I think the main challenges are cost and safety.
@@ryuuguu01 Thank You. That was a very clear and full explanation. Good of you to trouble replying. 👍🏼
Cracks and pot-holes are commonly caused by the added salt, not just the water. Salts penetrate and leave deposits below the surface, which expand when they get wet afterwards. My driveway has some small divots on the concrete where the tires rest, from salt residue on the tires. The environmental heating concrete will need the test of time, like every one of the solar roads and sidewalks, before we spend significant resources on them.
Plus all the salt sticks to the underside of your car, causing rust. Less salt, less car damage.
@@yurisonovab3892 Our county seldom uses salt, but a few times was enough. They mainly use sand, of which we have a free abundance of.
@@yurisonovab3892 Cybertrucks do not rust. The "rust" the press so quickly reported on is really rail dust - tiny flecks of steel from railroad tracks and train wheels that stuck to the truck and rusted. People have seen the exact same type of rust spots on new run-of-the-mill vehicles.
@@FLPhotoCatcher sir, this is a wendy's
@@yurisonovab3892 That doesn't stop people from throwing banana misinfo at each passing vehicle, or random video.
Sounds like an amazing way to create a sheet of clear ice for everyone to fall on in the morning.
So, the snow must change its phase when the paraffin does..
Even water changing into ice releases heat. The wax hardening simply releases it's heat to prevent the water from freezing, at least till all the wax has hardened. It's like how you could put a paper cup filled with water over a bunsen burner and it wouldn't burn till all the water has boiled away. In truth, this only delays the formation of ice and the accumulation of snow in hopes that the driveway would remain clear long enough to heat up when the sun shines upon it again as bare concrete has a lower albedo than a snow covered driveway so it absorbs more solar heat if exposed.
Make the topmost eight inch of concrete jet black with a semi-conducting angular black pigment (micronized titanium carbide, ceramic mixed metal ferrites). Add sunlight..
@@uncleal Yeah, colouring the pavement black only works till it's covered with snow. You'd still be relying on the thermal mass storage of heat and embedding paraffin would still increase that thermal mass storage of heat so just making the pavement black would still benefit from this phase change approach.
Hmm. 6 to 8 hours. But nights during winter are far longer than that and if the snow melts during the first half of the night and later freezes again because the concrete doesn't gives of heat anymore, then this melted water will freeze and create an even smoother surface than snow. Or am I wrong?
No you're right. Not only that, but Ice is very difficult to remove compared to fluffy snow.
You've got a point :) I think this stuff may be useful in borderline areas that get a little snow and just below freezing temps for their winters. But in colder areas like where I live I'm afraid we've got to keep shoveling.
You are very right... thats what we in cold countries fear the most. Snow on the roads is fine, but if it melts and then refreeze ur screwed.. ur gonna skid right off the road. And if u have it on walkways ur gonna have alot of ppl with broken hips! I can see the lawsuits already! This is a stupid idea that won't work... and they probably know it! But we will see some fine animation that reference this paper and they will get alot of investment from stupid ppl and firms and then the money goes bye-bye and no product ever gets sold. Just like all other climate vaporware!
I expect a slight incline may help with that, where a layer of thawed water serves as a lubricant for the snow on top, and the whole thing slides off to the sides, keeping the main accesses clear. This obviously only helps where the snowfall is moderate and temperatures in the daytime go above 5°C to regenerate the phase changing material, so your mileage may, and will, vary.
@@xlerb2286if it's cold enough to get snow that will stay on the ground as snow, then the nights are also longer than 6-8 hrs. And this shit is expensive I bet. It's much cheaper for cities to just keep using sand as they have always done. Also safer!
Good start, but unlikely to ever work in Canada.
Me thinks this "C-ment" is gonna have get a lot more clever to work in Canunuckistain . In the meantime I'll put my hopes on "GLOBAL WARMING' to save my back.
Typical snowfall in Canada is at least 10 inches thick, eh?
Hey, out here in Lala land southern BC coast, we are still part of Canada.
It's too warm now in Canada, in all the places that count.
@@mewletter no doot
Hello Sabine, yes i do also have a sidewalk-cleaning schedule and i hate it with passion. It's combined with the Kehrwoche. (for those who don't know: kehrwoche means that one apartments is responsible to broom around the house (footpath around the house and/or stairs). Kehrwoche is still okay, as you can arrange that. However with snow, you are required to clean it, after it stopped snowing. However im Single, and Im working strange shifts. So when I work from 12pm to 10am i can't clean the snow before 11am. For the brooming itself, yes i can find time to do it once a week.
Is this sidewalk cleaning duty a German self-mortification? Usually, there is a service hired to do this.
@@hws888 the land owner is responsible for the clean sidewalk. Now he has 2 options: hire a service for that or passing the responsibility to the inhabitants of the house. However if he hires a service, the landlord is allowed to pass the costs for it, to his tenants. So this means, if you rent a flat where you don't clean the sidewalk yourself the extra costs for the flat will increase. Just the snow thing is really annoying, as this might occur daily, while brooming is just once a week (every few weeks, depending on the number of flats..
Around 20 years ago I read about paraffin infused gypsum board/plasterboard/sheetrock/wallboard (depending on where you live) which would absorb heat during the hot afternoon (thus cooling the home) and releasing it at night (warming the home) and basically stabilizing the temperature. The temperature at which the phase change occurred was a comfortable room temperature of around 22c. Again, 20 years ago. I was excited about it at the time and looked forward to upgrading my home with this stuff some day but I've never seen it for sale and it would surely still be expensive.
cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/55819/file-14736951-pdf/docs/energain_flyer.pdf
You can improve this drastically by replacing some of the calcium with strontium 90. Even works in areas where it's always below zero.
In The Netherlands we have nearly all our highways and some provincial roads paved with what we call ZOAB (zeer open asfalt-beton) which is a mixture of very porous concrete and asphalt. This reduces the amount of spray induced by vehicles when the surface is wet, by very significant amounts. We've had this for several decades and it makes a huge difference in the visibility during wet weather. I can imagine this concrete will to have a significant positive effect. Surprised to see it only developing now.
Somehow this seems like a recipe to end up with a surface slick as a waxed surfboard, defeating the intended purpose of preventing slips and falls
This parrafin is inside to concrete, not on top of it.
You could mitigate any weakening of the concrete from the addition of parrafin by adding graphene to it as well. A small percentage can increase the strength of the concrete by upwards of 30%.
I work for a company that manufactures graphene. We sometimes get 50%.
@@daxtonbrown I tried to err on the low side, but 50% is amazing! I'm interested in getting into graphene production myself, I'm working on replicating Rice Labs' flash synthesis. Do you mind me asking which process your employer uses?
Smart materials in sidewalks. I can hear the game show pitch now... "Are you smarter than a sidewalk?"
"Well, no, but who cares."
With concrete replacing green surfaces everywhere, which is already one of the major causes of global warming, do we really need that kind of "smartness"....
"And it's not what you think!"
No, I can’t compete with that 😂
I've met people who are thicker than butyl.
Sabine, years ago I was watching Dave Garroway on the Today Show (yes, I'm that old) and he reported that he had his sidewalk and driveway replaced with new ones with heating pipes embedded. He could just turn on the steam and have a nice snow-free driveway for his morning commute. The next day, he had to turn it off and shoo all the strays off of his nice warm driveway! Advantages and disadvantages!
Heated concrete inside and outside are pretty common in newer homes now.
@@markthebldr6834 I want a venn diagram of people complaining my car isn't electric and people that won't pick up a shovel, instead choosing to have heated concrete.
I remember, once, that the Fraunhofer Institute in Freiburg/Breisgau (Germany) announced the invention of an enthalpy-driven coffee pot, which would keep its content at ideal drinking temperature level for half an hour or so (by dedicated paraffin inside the double-walls). Market start "next year". About 15 year ago. Never ever heard again about that. Now and then you can read about other smart applications of phase changing processes. But if you check the prices and the physical and chemical properties of those materials, you know why they are still in the labs and not out in the market: too expensive and/or too difficult to encase for more than a few years and/or too poisonous and/or too inflammable and/or impossible to recycle when encased and so on. Typical application for most of these: mockup-ups at science fairs, where technologically challenged local politicians hand out prices to middle-schoolers for intriguing inventions that could "save the world climate".
Could this "save the world climate" though, even theoretically? Isn't storing sunlight on earth basically the driving force behind climate change?
I like how it is told that it is designed to handle 2 inches of snow (which in reality will be something like 0.25 inches of snow) and in video cuts 10+ inches of snow is shown.
This sounds like something that happens once. Once the phase changes, it's no longer able to "reactivate" until it's warmed enough by sunlight or geothermal heat. Here in NY the ground sometimes freezes in November and thaws in March. It would make the sidewalks safe for Grandma's thanksgiving dinner, and then you'd have to shovel it the rest of the season.
"Boss, I'll be late to work today. My driveway is downloading a software update."
This isn't a device, it's phase change such as water turning into ice which actually releases heat. They just added paraffin wax into the concrete which just gives off heat when the temperature drops as the wax hardens. This is just material properties. No software or updates involved anymore than with an icecube tray. Not everything requires a computer...
That's more like a hardware upgrade, I guess. 😄
@@johnwang9914 not yet... they will find a way to make it e-pavment
@@johnwang9914 Yet. This isn't a device that requires updates and subscription to operate, yet. It's just a matter of time.
@@RaydeusMXit's got to be patented by now
Thank you for the video.
Nice idea, in theory. But, the enthalpy of fusion for water is much higher than that of paraffin, so, even under ideal conditions the paraffin can't make even close to it's own mass of snow melt, once, before it needs to be "recharged" again, and that requires providing the same amount of heat to it, beyond what's required to heat it to it's melting point. And that won't happen fast without really high temperatures. On top of that, it will release it's heat whenever the temperature is below the melting point, whether there's snow there to melt or not. In practice, it would probably not come close to melt it's own mass of snow during an entire winter in normal conditions. Most parts of the world that gets snow has all the ground thermal energy required to melt the snow from selected areas like streets and sidewalks, very close to the surface. In form of ground water, deep lake water, and other sources. Using a closed loop with a working fluid that evaporates by the heat provided and travels up in the system as a gas and the condenses to release the heat, and returns back down to the heat source as a liquid, gravity could transport the heat for free. It would even be possible to turn a tiny part of the heat energy into power that way, by turning it into a Rankine cycle. Extremely low efficiency due to the very small temperature difference, but not necessarily insignificant amount of power. If the same ground water based system is used to provide free cooling in the summer by pumping up liquid working fluid in the summer, the temperature of the ground water can be increased beyond it's "natural" temperature, and besides free cooling a tiny part of the heat energy transferred could again be turned into power, if considered worthwhile. As you would have to fight gravity that way, and power is typically abundant in form of solar power when you need a lot of cooling, the tiny amount net power possible to extract when putting heat back down would probably not be very valuable. The possibility to make the "recharging process" self powered can be an interesting advantage. There you go, practically free snow removal, on demand power generation in winter, and summertime cooling as a free bonus, in one system. No exotic materials or technologies, no scientific speculative breakthrough yet to happen required, just some very well proven and understood technologies applied in the right ways.
You mentioned that self cleaning paint that also cleans the air, I watched a report about Manila and their use of a paint that absorbs CO2. They paint high traffic areas like main roads and bridges with the stuff. It was making a small by noticeable difference in the CO2 levels.
Remember that when it has been cold enough to switch the phase of the material, the same heating effect now becomes a cooling effect for when weather warms up again. This means this surface is now prone to icing up in moister weather after a cold night. The very same effect that causes "black ice", one of the most dangerous road conditions.
Wouldn't it only do that at the place change temp for the parafin? So it might take longer to heat up but would still be above freezing while doing so?
heh had a 360 and into a ditch onto the roof when it was 5c out on black ice. Since concrete for sidewalks is deliberate roughed up for traction all those pores hold water very well.
I don't think this works this way it needs to be +5C to absorb temperature not 0C the paper says. Actually I think it works better against sudden surface ice because it kicks in on heating at 0C
Except it only starts absorbing energy at 5°C or higher, so it won't cool until the temperature is significantly above freezing, right?
@@Fiercesoulking The radiating effects of the ground/concrete makes it lower than ambient air when influx is low. If this phase-change is close to 0c for example 4c (which is the warning temperature for roads) then staying at this temperature while changing phase would still increase the time in the morning before the surface is considered safe.
I loved my into to materials science when I got my BS/EL degree...it was like playing with things. i burnt too much of my hair with a soldering iron in some of my major core classes.....
First order transition phase change - volume change, too. Empty steel coffee ca , fill with molten paraffin (supermarket canning section). Near term it cools, solidifies (crystallizes!, opaque) and shrinks. *Thermodynamics proposes, kinetics disposes* Return in a month or two. ZOWIE! Paraffin has a huge *equilibrium* volume change across phase transition. Make a concrete rigid against internal pressure. No problem! The phase-change material will not phase change if it cannot expand. TANSTAAFL, but...piezothermic filler! Walk on and defrost. Hire student loan scofflaws to constantly tread the walkways to amortize debt. When the Enviro-whiner bleeds there is no blood shed.
you are very good at what you do here. thank you.
This whole video made me appreciate my time in my Material Science course even more than I already do
That concrete sounds interesting, depending on the "heat storage capacity". Did I understand that it would be enough to release heat for 8 hours but then need to recharge the next day? It's fairly common in parts of the UK for the temperature to remain below zero (or at least below 5) for a week at a time in winter so it would not be useful there.
Quietly replacing Albert mug to Sabine smart mug? Sign me in! 🎉🎉🎉
"I think we underestimate material science because, let's be honest, it sounds kind of boring." Haha, on point! But these smart materials are exactly what I'd expect to see if we ever encountered a very advanced alien civilization, which of course is not boring at all.
I can see this being useful in climates that don't spend much time below freezing and typically get snowfall in the day. Very interesting stuff. You have a lovely channel, Sabine! My concern with this concrete is that by creating a surface of water in longer cold snaps, you create a much denser and more dangerous layer of ice on the pavement. This technology sort of backfires when the freeze and snowfall periods are long enough. In these instances, the thaw would actually take longer I think, too (could be wrong). Anecdotally, I'd take 6" of snow on a freezing night over 0.5" of rain in the same surface temperatures. Honestly, Philadelphia is a great place to develop this technology. The climate there is almost perfectly opposed the "best case" for this kind of compound - which makes it a great place to expand the technology's horizons!
Concrete that lasts longer and doesn't have to be repaired as much... I wonder what the road construction unions will think of this...
Judging how common potholes are, especially in sub-urban areas and streets in USA, not much.
they will order more shovels to lean on to study the problem in depth over the 3 hr coffee time
@@mewletter I live close to the Palisades Parkway in NY (& NJ), which looks like a B-52 carpet bombing practice range every spring. I wonder if road construction companies might also complain about less work and less income due to the new material. Who knows, but I hope they're okay with it.
@@victorkrawchuk9141 If you get potholes every year, despite of repairs, they do something wrong. A refurbished or newly build street should be without potholes for some 30 years. Maybe I'm a bit spoiled by German streets, which are usually very well done, due to strict regulations and norms.
@@traumflug The Palisades Parkway is actually a 60km major highway that connects the George Washington Bridge between New York City and New Jersey to the northerly suburbs west of the Hudson River, so it gets a lot of traffic. Still, I agree that it probably shouldn't need significant pothole repairs every spring. But perhaps somewhere in this situation lies the fundamental issue I was initially referring to. Construction companies want guarantees of constant periodic work, and public pressure from voters to reduce taxes as much as possible results in the lowest bids being selected involving the lowest grade materials. Common ground is found in cheap work that is done on a yearly predictable cycle, and a better concrete that lasts longer with less repairs might cause some consternation in this regard. In the long term tax money is wasted, but few people are capable of thinking beyond a 9-month business cycle.
On the "self healing " concrete. The Romans invented that two thousand years ago. It uses larger granules of lyme which dissolve to fill cracks when they occur, rather then more man made polymers to contribute to pollution
The self-cleaning paint has been available since 1999 in Europe and 2005 in the US. Lotusan developed this, saying it was based on the self-cleaning characteristic of plant leaves and flowers, in particular lotus plants. I first ran across it at a Bioneers conference in the early 2000s during a talk on biomimicry. It's sold under the names StoColor Lotusan and Südwest Lotusan, and possible some others. Kinda pricey though.
interesting - Thanks Sabine - cheers
Thank you.
Thanks for the privacy tip. Awesome...
Thanks Sabine - Great To Know 🙂👍 -70SomethingGuy
In the overview shot it looks like they have a lamp shining strongly on the middle and left slab. I wonder if they left that on all night, possibly contaminating the results
the ramp that leads to my garage has electical cables embedded, they work just for melting a supeficial ice layer, but if there is a lot of snow we avoid salt (corrosive!), and we use a smart material that runs on carbohydrates and a little (unfortunatly very little) animal fat, creates much Carbodioxide and some salty water drops in the process, and needs hi-tech hardware named "shovel"
I don't know, I've seen a lot of these types of machines and smart is not the word I would have used to describe them.
I want that concrete additive now! 😊
Cool update! ❄🥶
Material science is one of the most impactful and important fields for society.
And definitely one of the (if not the) most underappreciated.
Thanks for the information. This could be great, if it is a non-toxic material that will either not affect the concrete strength overall or if it improves it or diminishes cracks it would be even better. Just a note tho -- This is a "1 time" temperature cycle effect. It will only work the for about 6 hours, and then it will run out of heat. So, it would need to warm up again to the melting temperature. Still, it could prove to be very helpful for warmer climates where there is only occasional temperature dips below freezing. It might also still work well with warmers as a way to store the energy on a daily basis during the day when solar kicks in.
I live in So Cal, where the only purpose of snow is recreation. It's really the best way to deal with the stuff.
I moved from So Cal to rural New England a couple years back. Snow is a pain, but it's also fun.
Self healing concrete… we’ve had coquina for hundreds of years! I’m from northern Florida so a lot of us learned about how the Spanish used it to build forts, and the coquina was especially adept at absorbing cannon ball fire. It was essentially indestructible.
The problem I see is once winter sets in, the temp almost never rises to 5C, thereby negating the concrete heating itself up. If the Sun were involved, this too only helps those with a southern exposure. My neighbor to my south has their yard filled with trees, the sun rarely shines on my property in winter. Notwithstanding this last El Nino effect, the temp of my concrete doesn’t rise above 0 all winter long.
Had to smile when Albert was wearing his beanie!
When you think about it in the summer the ground naturally stays cooler and in the winter the ground is warmer. A catalyst for phase changes are really buried right under our feet.
I tested some phase change insulation. The concept is valid, but it didn't produce a good enough result to justify it's cost. The paraffin has to be tuned to specific temperature ranges to work. If it's too cold in the day, it won't work at night. If it gets too hot, it will degrade. If the snow falls late at night on a sidewalk, it will insulate the concrete and will not absorb heat until cleared. This material might work in mild climates, but it would not work well in a cold, snowy climate. Rich people run solar hydronic heating systems to clear their walkways and driveway.
Sounds like it might be useful in some areas, but not useful in a lot of areas where it gets down to 0 degrees or colder for long periods of time, or where they get a lot of snow. I lived in Rochester, New York and we got way more than 2" of snow at times. And temperatures below zero for long periods. So I don't think the city would be able to get rid of the plows or salt trucks.
I'm doing graphene material science. Graphene has to be included at about 1% in a bulk binder. So I'm looking at a wide variety of materials as binder. are some amazing materials coming.
Temps stay below freezing in most of the US for months which means that this will work for the first few days at best.
So, I'm not sure how well that would work in Canada, and I wonder if the strength of the Crete is compromised atoll. If you said it wasn't then no worries. Another exciting and informative video. Thanks, Sabina. Peace ✌️ 😎 from Canada, eh.
"We salt and sand and sweep and swear..." Well said.
I like shoveling snow. It's good exercise, environmental safe and kinda Zen.. 👊🙏
In principle yes, but it depends on the length of your driveway and your time reserves.
Depends, not so comfortable at five in the morning
Phase change materials (PCM) for thermal control are not new and have been used for thermal control techniques since the early years of the 1960s. Several Apollo missions carried components that used PCMs to stabilize their temperatures. In my career in lasers and electro-optics, I remember using PCMs in the thermal control subsystems of some laser systems going back to the 1990s. It's nice to see PCMs starting to be used in smart materials for thermal control in applications that may directly improve more people's lives.
Oh wow, wow.I want that changing color stuff.I can use it for my NIST Traceable work I perform. The heating stickers work very well...as well.😅
Fascinating indeed! Thanks, Sabine! 😃 They should replace part of a sidewalk and see what happens. Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Flammable Concrete. I Like It. :D
Gut Danke
I've been looking for those new kinds of concrete recently. Paraffin isn't really new; it needs a melting point near freezing, but without causing expansion damage, like water does. Steel reinforced concrete has a limited liFespan: once it's throughoutly carbonated, the steel will inevitably corrode. Much faster when exposed to damaging substances, like chlorides (salt). Ancient Roman concrete, Opus Caementicium, has self-healing properties through non-carbonated chunks of lime, Ca(OH)2, or quicklime, CaO. New "self healing" concrete achieves this through bacteria. But it seems the only way for really durable concrete it to replace steel by non-corroding materials, such as glass or carbon fiber, or even basalt. Which most people know as liquid lava, or huge, hexagonal stone columns.
Thank for the discount will buy when possible hope dollar drops
You always lifts my spirit. You a doing a great service to mankind instead of being a professor taking a grant or job to chase a Scientific unicorn
Reminds me of heating wax to create controlled motion and force in an actuator application. The wax expands, much like water expands when going from liquid to solid, except the wax is heated creating usable force and motion for applications like locking. Worked at company doing research back in the 90's for DARPA.
Wax-motors, the basis of most thermostats in cars.
I fond the idea of running water through concrete to be interesting. 1. It can heat the concrete when needed. 2. It can also cool the concrete during hot summers. This is a growing problem as an increasing amount of people are getting burned when falling on the ground.
Fun fact: self-healing concrete was used all the way back in Ancient Rome. That along with dichroic glass really makes you wonder how much the Ancient Romans really knew about material science.
Less than us. Detailed analysis of the roman concrete has proven that the reason for the self-healing property was that pockets of one of the materials were left within the mix due to incomplete mixing at time of pour. It is likely that the original builders had no idea that the mix was incomplete, as there is no way to tell by eye or feel, and therefore likely that the self-healing aspect was entirely accidental. None of the builders would have lived long enough for it to matter, and they did no detailed studies the way we do today. And yes, modern concrete is massively superior to roman. The idea that it's somehow beyond anything we can make today is a total myth.
@@icedreamer9629 Newer studies have invalidated the 'poor mixture' idea and show that the Romans used quicklime (modern concrete uses slaked lime) which they activated by heating up the concrete during mixing, changing its chemical composition and that is what forms the crystals that allow it to self heal. Experiments using this technique have proven its validity. Of course the Romans may not have known that the heating process created the self healing property but simply did it because it reduces the curing time for the concrete allowing for faster construction. Remember that the Romans had experience using concrete for centuries and they developed the type of concrete being discussed here @ 2bc, after the Greeks had been using concrete since @ 1000bc and had developed concrete that could cure underwater by @ 600bc. That is plenty of time for experimentation to improve the quality of the product.
Today's researchers still didn't figure out why Roman concrete is so sturdy that it still exists today...while today's concrete...well...
@@icedreamer9629So many inventions were and are and will be accidental.
I think electroactive polymers are absolutely amazing, they're basically "artificial muscles" acting like linear motors. But being polymers, they can be embedded to not just act linearly, but also as an circular diaphragm (iris), to fold/unfold origami-like structures, or to apply tensions in complex 3D(-printed) structures. And in reverse, they can be used as sensors, like somatosensory nerves. Ongoing experiments/research involving EAPs is still rather simplistic, but most of the limits are about manufacturing complexities, which makes me very excited about the future of the technology.
Definitely should be a feature of the future in all new science fiction movies, comics and books. The downside is the city of Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood will stop posting videos of cars sliding down the hills, taking out parked cars as well as other cars trying to make it down the street. Like a bowling ball rolling a strike.
this may be could be strategically used in the Midwest, our temp fluctuations expand and contract stuff and it's a real challenge. Thx
For the algorithm. Love your work.
I was extremely excited until the only 2 inches of snow.
Could be used in buildings to reduce heating bills. However, if the material needs to go above a certain temperature to reset then if the temperature remains at -5°c for several days, then it will not be effective beyond the initial 6-8 hours.
Yeah. Pie in the sky. I remember back in the early 70s when Dupont had a whole paving system based on shredding old tires to build roads. They built about a half mile, and that was it. Or how about the cheap fire retardant house paint, or the non asbestos gloves that could handle molten metal, or a hundred other products. Very little ever makes it to a store shelf.
Problem is usually price. If such a paving system costs 50% more, it has no chance to win tenders.
Very interesting video... and no, I don't find material science boring, some really cool stuff out there! 😎 🇦🇺
the issue with this concrete is that it's good only good if you have temperatures greater than 5 degrees during the day and below 5 degrees at night. While this would be useful in warmer places that see snow only once or twice a year, in colder places such as most of northern europe and the northern US where snow is actually an issue, this would only be useful for the first few snows of the year. The snowstorms that really block people's paths and cause you to have to shovel it every day are in much colder weather (usually)
This reminds me of something I read about log houses that tend to keep the inside cool when it is hot outside, and warm when it is cold outside. The effect was attributed to sap in the logs exhibiting this same sort of "phase change material" property, releasing heat when it solidifies and absorbing heat when it melts. It seems like a concept of possibly much wider application than heating sidewalks.
Thanks :)
I love material science it’s definitely not boring. :)
The sidewalks outside My apartment building, like all buildings in New York City, are cleared by the building superintendents. Shop owners must clean sidewalks in front of shops. Local ordinances require this, and probably makes insurance companies happy also.
Dr Sabine, I’m sure you have no shortage of video ideas, but I’d love to know more about how this material works. I mean, plain concrete heats up during the day and radiates it back out when it gets cold at night (this is roughly the description of the paraffin as I understood it from the video). So, what’s different about the wax? What is it about the phase change that makes the wax behave differently from concrete (or any other material, for that matter)? And what is the difference in behavior, specifically? Yeah, it releases heat, but why in the specific manner that makes it different from concrete? ❤️ your vids, thanks!
Distinction is the phase change. This stores a lot of additional energy. One needs the same amount of energy to heat up water/ice from -1°C to +1°C as to heat it up from +1°C to 82°C. Same for these parafins.
Heating concrete yes please. ❤
Michigan is working on it too.
Is there a logic error? The principle will work when temperature drops once and will keep the concrete "warm" until all paraffin has changed structure. There will be no effect afterwards for how long ever temperatures stay cold (below regeneration temperature). Aside from the limit to the paraffin capacity, it reads like a clever and innovative idea.
combine this with that "thirsty concrete" thing, and you can even prevent ice from forming on top after the concrete has released all its stored energy. it won't stop more snow from collecting on top, but ice is objectively more dangerous.
i can see another benefit of this concrete: when the temperature drops below ten every pavment freezes into a perfectLY smootth ice track :)
In 1971 the batteries and electronics of the moon rover were cooled, using phase changing wax.
cool concept but in practice....that's going to lead to ice patches on said concrete in most places that get snow. i guess in those very specific areas it works but what happens when temp zones change? it's going to become useless as time marches on. if you dread shoveling snow by hand then get a battery powered snow shovel, if you only have a little bit to do that's plenty enough to get the job done quickly and effectively. we get heavy snow quite often and it makes short work of the areas where the snowblower can't easily go. nighthawkinlight has a recipe for infrared cooling paint, that's pretty cool. i don't think this concrete is as practical as that paint is though.
I think there could be a metamaterial based on photonic crystals, where the index of refraction depends on the angle of incidence of light, then it can be tuned in such a way that the light gets, well, straightened out, effectively colminating diffuse light into a tight beam, something ordinary lenses can't do. However ordinary lenses will be able to work with the results of these crystals. It would be a boon for solar power, and help avoid any tracking systems as well as being just effective on cloudy days as sunny days. Do any of the mathematical models of photonic crystals around calculating the structure of such a material yet?
5:01 Yay stock footage from Novosibirsk, the city where this self-heating concrete won't work, because it can get as low as -45C in winter, and doesn't even get above freezing for several months :)
Interestingly Roman Concrete is self-healing, and now it’s been worked out why. It’s down to crystals in the mix, which if infiltrated with water, convert into another material - saw a note about it somewhere. Maybe try googling for ‘self healing concrete’.
All concrete will melt small amounts of snow in the first year or so because of the reaction as it cures. Assuming their concrete is newly poured, this will need to be repeated in 12 or more months to truly test it.
“People in more boring countries” 😂😂😂 you’re brutal 🔥
In my youth I never thought materials science was boring, it always sounded too difficult 😥! Now it’s my favorite 😍!!! And chemistry 🧪 to, but of course, chemistry 🧪 is always the most difficult BY FAR!😮 YOU HAVE TO KNOW GERMAN to even keep up on it!