Just read about a 2,000 year old Roman concrete recipe that's stronger than ours

I was looking up old building methods online and found a study from the University of Utah. It said Roman concrete used volcanic ash and quicklime, and it actually gets stronger in seawater over centuries. Our modern stuff breaks down fast in salt water. Some experts think we should copy the recipe, but others say it's too slow to make for today's projects. What do you think, should we try to bring back ancient tech?

4 comments

4 Comments

laura_chen412mo ago

Seriously, who has centuries to wait for concrete to cure these days? Even if it's stronger, @king.eric, our projects need to be done next year, not next millennium. Maybe it's cool for history, but not for real life.

jakewhite2mo ago

Actually the study was from MIT... but yeah, that concrete recipe is wild.

king.eric2mo ago

@jakewhite, what was the main thing they found? The MIT study, I mean. Was it just about the mix, or did they test how strong it got?

kim.nina2d ago

Yeah I've been messing around with that Roman recipe myself actually... @king.eric the MIT study was about how they mixed it hot, the quicklime reacting with the volcanic ash creates these little lime clasts that fill cracks as they form. I tried a small batch for a planter base near my garage where water pools and after a year it's holding up way better than the regular stuff I used next to it. The catch is you gotta find the right volcanic ash and the mixing is tricky, but for small projects where waterproofing matters I'm totally sold on it.