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Caltech

Materials Science Research Lecture

Wednesday, January 13, 2021
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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Online Event
What Can Ancient Materials Teach Us About Designing Sustainable Materials Today?
Admir Masic, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Archaeological Materials, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

Webinar Link:

https://caltech.zoom.us/j/95708772987

Webinar ID: 957 0877 2987

Abstract:

We designate as paleo- or antiquity-inspired systems, systems inspired by ancient materials that naturally bear, or can be synthesized with extraordinary, long-term (mechanical, structural, or chemical) resilience. Understanding their intrinsic properties may therefore point toward ways of synthesizing innovative, new materials, or more sustainable ways of manufacturing existing ones. Production of concrete, the most widely used building material in the modern world, is associated with significant greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, modern concrete is highly prone to degradation in as little as a century. Consequences of these processes motivate the exploration of more durable solutions. Ancient Roman concrete has proven durable over millennia, a characteristic associated with an intrinsic self-healing mechanism. Heterogeneous at almost all length scales and exhibiting multiple crystalline and amorphous phases, ancient and modern cements are difficult to characterize. The new high throughput, multiscale characterization approaches create the foundation for a general framework to study antiquity-inspired materials. This talk weaves together history, ancient materials technologies, and modern science and engineering, to describe how we can harness the remarkable properties of the ancient Roman concrete in designing sustainable modern solutions.

More about the Speaker:

Admir Masic is the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Professor in the Department of CEE, Department of MSE Faculty Fellow in Archaeological Materials, and Faculty Director of the MIT Refugee Action Hub (MIT ReACT) at MIT. His lab develops multiscale characterization methodologies to investigate complex hierarchically organized biological and archeological materials. The aim is to understand relationships between chemistry, structure, and function in high performance biological, archeological, and construction materials at molecular, nano-, and microscales in order to inform the design of sustainable materials in the areas of construction, energy, and the environment.

For more information, please contact Jennifer Blankenship by email at [email protected].