An innovative form of concrete that incorporates graphene and reduces the need for steel reinforcement has been used in a suspended slab on a commercial project for the first time.
The Concretene product, developed by Nationwide Engineering and The University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) has been used to create a 54m x 14m mezzanine floor, which will become a roller disco at the Escape to Freight Island attraction in the Manchester Mayfield regeneration scheme at a former railway depot.
Concretene uses 2D material graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, to improve the mechanical performance of concrete, allowing for reductions in the amount of material used and the need for steel reinforcement, which its producers claim can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 30% as well as making it cheaper.
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