时差N小时:自我复原的混凝土

Have you ever been driving down a pothole filledstreet, thinking, "I wish the city, someone, anyonewould fix the roads!" Soon, roads and streets may beable to fix themselves.

你曾经开车走过满是坑洼是街道，并想着“我希望这个城市的有些人会修理这条路!”也许很快，路和街道就能自行进行修理了。

Researchers at the University of Michigan havedeveloped a type of concrete that heals itself whenit cracks. Regular concrete is like ceramic when itbreaks. It really breaks, opening a wide chasm thatrequires serious mending.

如今，密歇根大学的研究人员研发出了一种破裂后可以自行修复的混凝土。普通的混凝土被打碎时就像陶瓷一样。破裂严重时会撕开一个大口，需要认真修补。

Self healing concrete behaves more like metal.It bends without breaking thanks to specialfibers holding it together. Bending or stressing the new concrete creates hairline fracturesinstead of gaping holes. All it takes to mend the tiny fissures is exposure to water and carbondioxide. Chemicals in the concrete mix with water and carbon dioxide to form a healing scar.

自我治愈的混凝土表现得更像金属。因为有一种特殊的纤维支撑所以将这种混凝土弯曲之后仍然不会破裂。弯曲或者挤压这种新型的混凝土会产生发丝那么细的裂缝而不是漏洞。要修复细小的裂纹只需让其接触到水和二氧化碳。然后混凝土结合水和二氧化碳就会发生化学反应，填充裂痕。

In the lab, the concrete was able to heal itself back to nearly full strength after a slab wasstretched to three times its normal size. Self healing concrete could help cut costs forrebuilding not only new roads but also bridges and other structures that use the material.

在实验中，混凝土板被拉伸至原尺寸的三倍时，混凝土就能够完全恢复。自愈混凝土能够帮助消减重建的成本，不论是新修的道路还是桥梁以及其它使用混凝土的结构。

You won't find self healing concrete on roads just yet. The researchers are working onbringing it to market in the next few years. And when it's ready for widespread use, selfhealing concrete could make potholes a thing of the past.

不过，你还不能在街上找到自愈混凝土。接下来几年，研究人员将致力于将这种混凝土推向市场。一旦被广泛应用，自愈混凝土会让凹坑变成历史。