The important features of my experiments followed a design of experiment first reported in Chemical Engineering News, September 10, 1990 issue, page 23. The process in 1990 as reported by Gonsalves and his co-workers produced evidence that it was entirely possible through laser or high voltage sintering to facilitate three-dimensional crosslinking and polycondensation reactions as described by Davidovits in 1994 that result in an “ultra-rapid” or “flash jewel” condensation of an “improved molecular specie from a clean energy plume. Pugh imagines that the nanosized silicon particles in White River Clay can be rapidly condensed onto a laser-heated melt “substrate” and sintered to a deposited layer. In an alternate configuration, the nanoparticles of the energy generated reactive powder ceramic may be dry elutriated into a bulk powder material. Pugh has developed process flow diagrams that indicate with presently available technology and modified off the shelf commercially available machinery, scale up is possible and Tulare County California White River Clay and other natural meta morphosis volcanic sediments, soils and clay minerals hold promise for the preparation of ceramic coatings and ceramic fibers for weaving into “new age” both rigid parts and flexible textiles.
A phrase adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes; the author complains frequently in the book about the monotony of life. The entire passage reads, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
Disruptive technology is an innovation that significantly alters how consumers, industries, or businesses operate. MetaCrete® as a disruptive technology will sweep away the systems or bad habits it replaces because it has attributes that are recognizably superior.
The trajectory of MetaCrete® is on this less travelled path:
- Meta Crete’s technological development or market plan puts a new product into the field of play for a construction materials market looking for a different quality and price to value than existing players are capable of matching.
- MetaCrete plans to capture consumers who are not covered by existing products. These consumers can be entirely new or existing consumers who are demanding fire-resistant replacement housing or new lower energy cost of design of materials that overtime measured in months not decades will turn the tide to lower Green House Gases, which will “save the world from runaway climate change”.
- The innovative technology or strategy of MetaCrete is to enter the marketplace with a quality of product or holistic system that matches or exceeds existing products and standards. MetaCrete as a new player in the concrete building material market will enjoy the greater profitability of the high-end or value sharing mainstream market. Affordable housing will be made possible by using advanced materials and leading-edge technologies that conserve more energy than they consume.
The field of preceramic polymers and polymer derived ceramics in general emerged from the requirements in aerospace industries for heat shield materials such as fiber reinforced ceramic / ceramic composite materials. The use of preceramic polymers allows for diverse processing techniques relative to conventional ceramic processing. For example, the spinning of fibres, casting of thin films and the molding of complex shapes. Commonly used preceramic polymers include polycarbosilanes and polysiloxanes (silicone family) which transform through pyrolysis to SiC and SiOC type ceramics respectively.
A low-cost method of creating complex 3D shapes of ceramics components is to use additive manufacturing (AM) using a two-step process of first printing the artifact in polymer and then converting it to ceramic using pyrolysis to form polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs). In such methods, by means of irradiation-driven cross-linking, liquid preceramic polymers transform into rigid thermoset polymers that preserve their shape through a polymer-to-ceramic transformation that takes place in pyrolysis. In this transformation, polymers transform into glassy ceramic products.
Mixtures of calcined lime and finely ground, active aluminosilicate materials were pioneered and developed as inorganic binders in the Ancient world. Architectural remains of the Minoan civilization on Crete have shown evidence of the combined use of slaked lime and additions of finely ground potsherds for waterproof renderings in baths, cisterns and aqueducts. Evidence of the deliberate use of volcanic materials such as volcanic ashes or tuffs by the ancient Greeks dates back to at least 500–400 BC, as uncovered at the ancient city of Kameiros, Rhodes. In subsequent centuries the practice spread to the mainland and was eventually adopted and further developed by the Romans. The Romans used volcanic pumices and tuffs found in neighboring territories, the most famous ones found in Pozzuoli (Naples), hence the name pozzolan. Preference was given to natural pozzolan sources such as German trass, but crushed ceramic waste was frequently used when natural deposits were not locally available. The exceptional lifetime and preservation conditions of some of the most famous Roman buildings such as the Pantheon or the Pont du Gard constructed using pozzolan-lime mortars and concrete testify both to the excellent workmanship achieved by Roman engineers and to the durable properties of the binders they used.
It has been said “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” is an example of insanity or foolishness. However, there is no evidence that this phrase was said by Albert Einstein, as it is often attributed to him. In fact, this phrase contradicts the quantum phenomenon of superposition, which Einstein himself studied.