The effect of carrots increases cement adhesion

Carrots are known to be a crunchy and delicious food, but carrots can also make cement more sticky and cut carbon dioxide emissions for the construction industry.

A group of researchers at British Lancaster University used a family food mixer to mix physical particles from vegetable roots with concrete to see if they could create a more powerful product and Good for the environment.

Carrots can also make cement more sticky.

- created by combining conventional cement with nano platelets extracted from carrots released by the food industry - capable of resisting cracks up to 80% higher than products usually, common, normal.

Professor Mohamed Saafi of Lancaster University's Engineering Department said: 'Synthetic materials not only outperform existing cement products in terms of mechanical properties and microstructures, but also use calcium. smaller shoots'.

'This significantly reduces energy consumption and CO2 emissions associated with cement production.'

The team said the addition of carrots helps prevent most cracks in concrete. It also means that we will need less cement, thus reducing global carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) production.

According to estimates by the International Energy Agency, cement increases 7% of global CO2 emissions.

In recent studies, scientists found that the addition of carrot nano platelets resulted in savings of 40 kg of cement per cubic meter of concrete.

Saafi shared with Reuters: 'We found that you can increase the adhesion of concrete to 80% by using a small amount of this new material'.

The researchers also added: 'Our preliminary results show that adding about half a kilogram of carrot nanomaterials will reduce about 10kg of cement per cubic meter of concrete'.

The team also tried sugar beets to create cement mixes, and with all vegetables collected from food waste.

The new material has 80% higher resistance to cracks than conventional products.

They will continue to test mixtures with their trading partners, such as a Scottish company that makes vegetable-based paints.

Researchers are also investigating how to equip existing concrete structures with new materials to make them stronger without having to start over.

So far, they are considering the use of thin fibers taken from plant materials that can be added to reinforcing steel.

These fibers will be more flexible than substitutes like carbon fiber, which means they will have a better protective effect against stronger potential damage forces.

During a two-year project, they will continue to investigate the material's ability and seek to incorporate it into the construction industry.