Achi news desk-
SAIT students in the Civil Engineering Technology program believe they have created the right mix of concrete and graphene to combat the city’s growing pavement problem, due to freeze-thaw cycles.
“It was yesterday, what? 20 C. It’s probably going to snow tonight or tomorrow. That’s really affecting our pavements, with the soil base underneath, causing all the cracks and breaks this,” said student Derrick Leung, who started the project with three. of his classmates.
“So with graphene, it’s supposed to make it more durable, more flexible than conventional crushed concrete.”
Graphene is extracted from graphite and contains pure carbon, which is strong, flexible and has high resistance.
Leung, together with Tony Ly, Pinyo Sirisetanan and Chi Kin Wong, began researching the benefits of graphene in concrete before doing a lab test.
The hope is to save money and reduce the city’s carbon footprint.
As part of their capstone project, the students poured two concrete slabs in February, one with graphene and one without, to compare the differences.
It turns out the one with graphene makes the concrete stronger.
“We applied our theory to potentially make them stronger. The increase in strength could also reduce the amount of cement used, so sustainability components were added on top of that.”
Ly says the group has worked with several industry partners, including the City of Calgary, on what is expected each time pavement is poured.
“There are a lot of sidewalks in the City of Calgary, so even if you save, it’s not the exact numbers, but even if you save five percent on costs, and you multiply it by all the paving we do in Calgary, that adds up,” he said.
“That is very similar to public money that could be used in other aspects.”
SAIT students Derrick Leung, Tony Ly, Pinyo Sirisetanan and Chi Kin Wong believe they have created the right mix of concrete and graphene to combat Calgary’s cracked pavement. Rick Duchscher is the Connector Lead in the Connector Lab at SAIT, where the students did much of the work on the project.
“It’s a lot like a library where we’re not tied to any specific program or course,” said Duchscher.
“If a student has an assignment or a project that they need some help with, they’ll come here and we’ll help them connect with all kinds of different resources.”
The City of Calgary spends between $12 million and $15 million on the repair and replacement of concrete infrastructure as part of the city’s annual paving programs.
“The city continues to work with SAIT students on the potential commercial use of graphene on the city’s sidewalks,” read a statement from Chris McGeachy with the city’s mobility department.
“The city continues to evaluate the viability, performance and cost effectiveness of this project, which currently resides at SAIT. We look forward to continuing to provide industry expertise as we work with these students.”
The city says it has not yet made a decision to introduce graphene into future concrete mixes, but says there are benefits.
“The overall aim of the project is to reduce carbon through concrete mix design, and at the same time, make pavements more resilient to climate change,” said McGeachy.
“In recent years, the city has also increased the use of green (low carbon) cement, aligning with construction industry standards to adopt sustainable materials that provide equivalent or better performance while reducing impacts environmental.”
The students will present their project on April 26.
