CONCRETE - THE ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL MATERIAL OF THE 21ST-CENTURY

Portland cement concrete is presented as the most widely used, yet most ignored-by the materials science and engineering community-advanced industrial material. The complexity and the time, temperature, and humidity dependence of its structure and properties are described. Concrete can be produced anywhere in the world at reasonable strengths, but concrete structures are failing, not because of lack of intrinsic strength, but largely because of their exposure to increasingly hostile environments. Current research efforts in understanding the structure-property relationships and in increasing the durability of concrete are reviewed.