Construction

3-D printed ceramics could provide buildings with airflow, evaporative cooling

By Faye Oney / March 27, 2018

Inspired by Arabic lace screens, a team of faculty and staff from Iowa State University’s architecture department have created a 3-D-printed ceramic façade that can be used as part of a mechanical system to control the amount of light, privacy, airflow, and cooling in a building.

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Video: Tile Grid Shell transforms ceramic tiles into 3-D structure

By Faye Oney / March 14, 2018

Proving that it is possible to create a three-dimensional structure out of two-dimensional ceramic tiles, a group at Harvard Graduate School of Design built an 8-foot-tall structure that covers 145 square feet of interior space. Watch the video to see how they fabricated Tile Grid Shell.

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Permeable concrete prevents water runoff while solving carbon fiber waste problem

By Faye Oney / March 2, 2018

Researchers have developed a type of permeable concrete that solves two problems: flooding from water pooling during heavy rains and recycling of an industrial waste product that previously had no reuse applications.

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Video: Clearly cool—incredible engineering behind big air jumps and glass snowboards

By April Gocha / February 21, 2018

As we celebrate National Engineer’s Week, let’s dive into the complex engineering of the snowboarding big air jump and see how one snowboarding company engineered a special snowboard entirely out of glass.

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New strategies aim to give wood the strength to replace concrete in construction

By April Gocha / February 9, 2018

Despite its material strength, concrete’s weakness is its huge carbon footprint. New methods are emerging to process wood into a high-performance structural building material that could someday take concrete’s place in buildings and beyond.

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Smart window technology uses magnetic nanoparticles suspended in fluid to control light, heat

By Faye Oney / February 2, 2018

Most current energy-saving window technology requires electricity to power the windows. But a research team has devised a fluidic window that uses magnetic nanoparticles to control the window to capture solar energy.

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Tobermorite combines with white graphene to make heat- and radiation-resistant ceramic

By Faye Oney / January 26, 2018

Researchers have created a high-performance ceramic composite that is strong, durable, and resistant to heat and radiation. The findings could be useful in industries that require highly functional and durable ceramic materials—such as nuclear power plants, aerospace, and oil and gas industries.

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Video: Self-healing concrete uses fungal spores to fix cracks with calcium carbonate

By April Gocha / January 24, 2018

Using a fungus called Trichoderma reesei, researchers at Binghamton University in New York are developing a self-healing concrete formulation that incorporates fungal spores that remain dormant until a crack forms.

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Aerobricks combine aerogel with brick to form energy-saving, super insulating building material

By April Gocha / January 23, 2018

Researchers at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have developed better insulating building materials called “Aerobricks”—bricks with internal cavities filled with aerogel granules.

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Video: Solidia Technologies cement cuts emissions and enables concrete that soaks up carbon dioxide too

By April Gocha / January 10, 2018

Solidia Technologies is founded on the concept of using eco-friendly processing techniques to drastically lower the carbon footprint of concrete—watch this video to see how the company makes its carbon-dioxide-absorbing concrete blocks.

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