Polymerisation —hesitation

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32777, 30 November 1971, Page 17

Polymerisation —hesitation

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, November 28. Polymerisation can quadruple the strength of ordinary concrete and make a newspaper strong enough to build bridges with, says a scientist from the Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, New York.

However, American firms seemed reluctant to market the new, longlasting product.

Dr Meyer Steinberg, supervisor of radiation processing at the laboratory said that the laboratory had developed three new kinds of super strong concrete and new materials —from sand paper, sewage and garbage by polymerisation. Polymerisation, Dr Steinberg said, was a chemical reaction which greatly strengthened a material, by changing the way its molecules were bound. As a demonstration he took an Bin by lOin piece of what appeared to be plywood, dropped it on the floor and said it was made from a November 11, 1971 copy of the “New York Times.” “Some of our structural people want to make bridges out of it,” he said. Twice the cost

The paper had been “polymerised” under pressure into

a material of unusual strength. The scientist said concrete that had been polymerised was four times normal strength, absorbed much less water, would last 20 times longer “in a climate like that of New York” and was more resistant to the acids that eat away sewer pipes. It cost about twice as much as normal concrete to make, he added. The strengthened concrete can be used for highways, buildings, railway foundations, the strengthening of mines and a multitude of other uses.

Use in Italy, S. Africa Dr Steinberg said that polymerised concrete, which received a patent this year, was not yet on the American market. But a South African company has developed products from polymerised concrete to replace porcelain in bathrooms and some Italians are making nuts and bolts out of it. He said that American firms seemed reluctant to market the product but that he did not know why.