The quality of building materials is one of the people's concerns when it comes to building houses or office buildings. If the building material is not good, the building can crack quickly and some even collapse until it causes a fatal accident. Even if there are no cracks on the surface, poor building materials and full of gaps also often cause water absorption which later makes the room mushrooming and musty.

If the concrete has cracked, most will usually be patched with additional cement. But that is a fragile sign. Now this is a new discovery that can end all the anxiety. A Dutch scientist managed to make concrete that could 'cure' the cracks themselves. Without the need for cement fillings, cracked concrete can grow on its own to fill the empty gap.

1. This magical concrete discovery originated from anxiety because concrete often cracked at a young age

You may often be anxious to see concrete that starts to crack, even almost collapsing. Maybe that anxiety was felt by some researchers from The Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. A professor named Henk Jonkers found that there was material that could be used to overcome this fracture problem.

Besides damaging the concrete, it is also often the biggest source of expenditure for building maintenance costs. So if Jonkers' invention is already widespread, there will be lots of people who can use this technology. There is no need to worry that the building will crack or collapse if the technology of self-healing concrete or concrete that can heal itself can really be improved.

2. This concrete is the result of combining natural elements and building materials, the composition of which is very diverse

As reported by CNN, Jonkers and his research team found that there is a natural material in the form of bacteria that can naturally fill cracks in concrete material. Jonkers chose bacillus bacteria to produce spores because these bacteria can last long without food or oxygen. In order for the bacteria to continue to grow in concrete, the researchers included a food supply in the form of calcium lactate in the form of small capsules. The capsule will be mixed in a wet concrete mixture. It's not enough just to mix bacteria in the concrete mixture, Jonkers also needs to add adhesive elements such as limestone.

3. The composition contained in this concrete reacts when exposed to water, the reaction is similar to fungi that develop in tempeh

The way it works is quite simple. If you ever see the process of making tempeh, this is something like that. When the concrete starts to crack, the water will enter to fill between cracks. The flow of water will encourage capsules mixed in it to break apart and remove bacteria and calcium lactate. The bacteria that comes out of the capsule begins to germinate. Mixed with calcium lactate as a food source, bacteria will continue to grow to close the cracks with the consistency of a kind of hardened limestone.

4. In addition to concrete, it turns out there is asphalt that is resistant to cracking with the same concept

Not only concrete, but another professor from The Delft University of Technology also succeeded in developing the ‘self-healing‘ method on asphalt. Professor Erik developed the method of self-healing on asphalt by adapting the workings of induction heating. Only with the addition of steel fiber material, it turns out that asphalt can "cure" yourself. Through heat from asphalt, the steel fiber will melt and occupy empty space such as cracks on the asphalt road. Erik's asphalt has even been tested for several meters of road in the Netherlands and the results are not disappointing.

Indonesia is not only just a spectator, you know. Since 2015 Biocomposite Engineering and Eco structure (Keltian) Research Group - LIPI Biomaterial Research Center has examined what bacteria in Indonesia are suitable for patching and bonding concrete cracks. Yes, it's pretty bad if you can develop magic concrete like the Dutch researchers, the cost of building maintenance can go down ...