Self-healing concrete by use of microorganisms

Jianyun Wang
Supervisors: Nele De Belie, Willy Verstraete I. INTRODUCTION Concrete is the most popular construction material. But its low tensile strength makes it prone to cracking, which will decrease the service life of concrete structures. Now selfhealing of cracks has become a hot topic because it is more economical, convenient and smart, with a great potential in practical applications. A promising self-healing material, bio-CaCO3, precipitated by bacteria, is being investigated to heal concrete cracks in this research. II. METHODOLOGY A. Bacterium Bacillus sphaericus (B.S) and Bacillus cohnii (B.C) are used in the experiments. B.S is a ureolytic strain which is able to precipitate CaCO3 by decomposition of urea into ammonium (NH4+) and carbonate (CO32-). B.C is a kind of alkaliphilic bacterium. It produces CO32- by degrading organic matter (like acetate). If there are Ca2+ ions around, CaCO3 will form. B. Carriers used to immobilize bacteria Carriers are used to protect bacteria from the high pH environment inside concrete. Silica sol-gel (SG), Polyurethane (PU) and porous aggregates were tried to immobilize the bacteria. The formation of CaCO3 inside the carriers was verified by Themogravimetric analysis (TGA), as shown in Fig.1

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(a) SG+Bacteria (b) PU+Bacteria Figure.1 TGA graphs from samples of SG and PU with immobilized bacteria C. Self-healing in specimens For self-healing by using SG and PU immobilized bacteria, glass tubes were used to hold the healing agents (Fig.2, DM consists of urea and Ca2+). Glass tubes (filled with healing agents) were incorporated in cement specimens during the process of casting. When using porous aggregates as the carrier, they were first vacuum saturated with bacteria and nutrients, then were added to cement mixtures as sand replacement.
A: SG-BS B: SG-BSA C: PU-BS D: PU-BSA Silica-sol + Bacteria DM Silica-sol + Dead Bacteria DM Component A of PU Component B of PU+DM Bacteria Component A of PU Component B of PU+DM Dead Bacteria

Figure.2 Glass tubes with healing agents The self-healing efficiency is evaluated by the decrease of water permeability of concrete after crack healing. Microscopy is also used to characterize the precipitation III. CONCLUSIONS Bacterially induced CaCO3 precipitation is a promising, environment friendly and economical material for healing concrete cracks.

Jianyun.Wang is with the Structural Engineering Department, Ghent University (UGent), Gent, Belgium. E-mail: jianyun.wang@UGent.be