ERC grant: What’s the strength of sustainable concrete?
News - 17 June 2025 - Webredactie
Innovations in sustainable concrete are progressing rapidly. Standard tests to determine the strength of concrete are no longer sufficient. Erik Schlangen advocates for a new approach to characterising the properties of green concrete, so that future concrete structures can be designed safely and reliably. For this, he has been awarded an ERC Advanced grant.
The basic components of concrete are gravel and cement—aggregates and binder. Currently, a lot of efforts are being made to search for alternatives, aiming to reduce the use of virgin raw materials by for example replacing gravel with recycled concrete. Particular attention is being paid to replacing Portland cement, the biggest polluter in the construction industry. Cement production requires extremely high temperatures, which release large amounts of CO₂.
Erik Schlangen, professor in Experimental Micromechanics at TU Delft, has long been focussed on making concrete more sustainable. His work centres on the properties of innovative concrete types, such as self-healing or 3D-printed concrete.
for the full article visit the TU-Delft website
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