Self-Healing and Smart Cementitious Construction Materials

Dear Colleagues,

The continuously growing world population and wide-spread industrialization increase the need for sustainable infrastructure. The construction industry currently is responsible for an important part of the environmental impacts related to the use of natural resources and energy, the production of waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. To minimize these impacts, our civil engineering structures need to become more long-lasting and smart. Since concrete is the most used construction material, increasing the durability of concrete structures is an important goal in this respect. To obtain such enhanced durability and sustainability, in the last decade several smart admixtures have been developed to impart self-responsiveness to this material, including self-sensing, self-curing, and self-healing. Carbon nanofibers and nanotubes have been used to make the concrete self-sensing and report when damage is about to occur or has occurred already. Layered double hydroxides can capture aggressive agents intruding into the concrete and can release corrosion inhibitors to prevent damage. Superabsorbent polymers have been developed to provoke internal curing and hence can mitigate autogenous shrinkage cracks; they can also self-seal cracks from intruding liquids and stimulate self-healing through the deposition of calcium carbonate and binder hydration products. Micro- and macro-capsules containing mineral or polymeric healing agents can provide autonomic self-healing properties. In this Special Issue, the recent advances in the development of these smart admixtures are discussed. The compatibility of the smart admixtures with other concrete components and the effects on fresh and hardened concrete properties are considered. Modelling of the hydration reactions and microstructure formation in the novel durable concrete, of the activation of smart properties, of the service life in specific environments, and of environmental impacts, is of importance as well. Evaluation of the resistance to extreme conditions is also included, with consideration of extreme thermal gradients, ice impact and abrasion, corrosion, freeze–thaw actions, deep-sea conditions, mechanical fatigue, and acid attack.

All these topics are considered in the ‘’Conference on Durable Concrete for Infrastructure under Severe Conditions—Smart Admixtures, Self-Responsiveness and Nano-Additions’’, organized in Ghent, 10–11 September 2019, by the partners of the European H2020 project Lorcenis. This Special Issue collects the most interesting contributions of this conference, together with additional articles from other experts in the field.

Prof. Nele De Belie
Prof. Dr. Ing. Kim Van Tittelboom
Dr. Ir. Didier Snoeck
Dr. Ir. Maria Adelaide Pereira Gomes de Araújo
Guest Editors

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