Protecting Infrastructure
Year 2022 This mechanoluminescence can illuminate the mystery of stress in infrastructure, so that there may be an easier method to measure aging infrastructure.
In Japan as well as other developed countries the social infrastructure constructed during rapid economic growth periods is rapidly aging. Accidents involving an aging infrastructure have become more common. Concrete, which is a major component of infrastructure, has deteriorated over time. This reduces the useful life to about 50 years. Concrete cracks over time due to chemical reactions within the concrete and external forces. So-called moving cracks, which are caused by constant force application and progressing slowly due to this, are especially dangerous. Finding these cracks can be a time-consuming and difficult task. Nao Terasaki and his team at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology have created a material that glows to help reveal cracks.
Source:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/scienceview/20220222/2015274/
