Self-Healing Concrete: Background, Development, and Market Prospects

Abstract

The effects of weathering and human activities cause the breakdown of porous structures, such as concrete. Studies have been conducted to address this situation involving the development of self-healing processes that can be employed to seal cracks in concretes in an eco-sustainable manner. This paper addresses the composition and technical norms of concrete, chemical and biological (especially bacteria of the genus Bacillus) healing agents, microencapsulation technologies, calcium carbonate biomineralization processes in concrete, the relation between solubility curves and the crystallization process, crystallization mechanisms and methods, microscopic and macroscopic techniques employed for the characterization of self-healing concrete, and state of the art in periodicals and patents. All these topics are essential to establishing planning for the synthesis and/or characterization of self-healing concretes and reductions in the consumption of cement and production of CO2.