Up-scaling of lightweight multi-functional concrete and ceramic materials

Motivation
During the last decades, a trend towards the use of lightweight materials in construction and infrastructure, as well as for the aerospace, automotive and defense industry, has been observed. Lightweight durable components are easy to transport, handle and install and demand less operational energy substantially reducing their environmental footprint as well as the relative costs. Among other materials, concrete and ceramics are the focus of interest due to their wide range of applications and their durability.

LightCoce project
The LightCoce project responds to the demand and necessity of innovation process acceleration in the area of lightweight materials and structures by offering within the consortium complex services including materials and components development, characterization, modeling, functionalization, certification, production upscaling and quality control, as well as, market-related services like LCA, LCC and innovation management. RISE pilot line will allow the design, development and optimization of materials, elements and pilot production of cellular lightweight concrete (CLC) and/or lightweight composite elements.

To establish effective collaboration and validate the consortium potential, RISE will work on two test cases. The first test case will be the development of a lightweight traffic sound barrier able to absorb at least 40 % of the traffic noise (reducing the sound reflection and decreasing noise pollution on another side of the road), with 50 % less weight compared to concrete walls available on the market. The sound absorption will be achieved by optimizing the pore structure of the CLC. The CLC will be combined with a thin shell of high-performance concrete (HPC) reinforced with non-corrosive textile for structural enhancement and additional sound dispersion. The second test case will be related to the redesign of the load-bearing sandwich wall panel, by making it 40 % lighter with outer shell thickness reduction due to the use of non-ferrous textile reinforcement. In addition, the aggregate will be partially replaced by the construction demolition waste aggregate to reduce the environmental footprint. Finally, the currently used plastic insulation (expanded polystyrene and polyurethane) will be replaced with non-flammable mineral CLC. 

New functionalities
The materials used for the test cases will also be given new functionalities like self-sensing and easy-to-clean, with nano-particles addition. The multi-walled carbon nanotubes will be used to reduce the concretes electrical resistance and therefore enable damage and stress detection by monitoring the resistivity changes. The self-sensing might be used in the future as a sensorless structure health monitoring tool, lowering maintenance costs. The titanium dioxide (TiO₂) will be used in the project to create photocatalytic and easy-to-clean surfaces remaining snow-white over the years and cleaning the air from pollutions exhausted from car traffic.

Open call for companies to develop new lightweight materials and components
In the last stage of the project (autumn 2021), the concrete and ceramic pilot lines will announce an open call for market actors in the area of the lightweight materials to develop, functionalize or upscale their products and grant fast access to the market. If your company has an idea concerning the development of lightweight materials, feel free to contact us. LightCoce can make your ideas become reality.