Roman Cement, lasting over 2,000 years-- and Reef Life Nano-Materials Matrices have a LOT in Common. The Romans used a mixture of volcanic ash, lime, seawater and volcanic rock to make concrete piers, breakwaters, and harbors. It is uncertain when Roman concrete, opus caementicium was developed, but it was clearly in widespread and customary use from about 150 BC; some scholars believe it was developed a century before that. Researchers think the seawater reacts with the volcanic material to make new minerals that reinforce the concrete as it ages.
Reef Life structures are created from Advanced Versions of Roman Cements for strength, biodiversity in marine growth capabilities & sustainability
Reef Life's marine concretes with nanomaterials uses calcium silicates, different pozzolanic aggregates and can include diverse ash, lime and other reactive compounds to build crack resistance, hydrophobicity, and use far less standard portland cement, yet having higher strengths.
Our original company, Vicon Eco Systems was built upon cements for infrastructure "Topside" and Reef Life's Marine Matrices for Underwater Metropolis construction from coral reef habitats to fish houses to seawalls and coastal protection systems designed with endurance, practicality and very futuristic science, with results from the Romans!
Rising sea levels today and in our near future, will lead many coastal cities to invest in seawalls and other structures to ward off the advance of the tides. It makes little sense to build them out of concrete if they won’t last long enough to fulfill their purpose and if making cement contributes significantly to the process that causes rising sea levels in the first place. Thus the impetus for Reef Life Scientists to create the marine construction compounds.
Ocean News & Technology Magazine wrote a story on Reef Life Roman Cement Durabilities
Story on Reef Life Ocean Innovations:
Roman Construction in the 1st century BC, Sebastos Harbor ranked as the largest artificial harbor built in the open sea, enclosing around 100,000 m2. King Herod built the two jetties of the harbor between 22 and 15 BC, and in 10/9 BC he dedicated the city and harbor to Caesar (sebastos is Greek for Augustus).
The pace of construction was impressive considering size and complexity. The breakwaters were made of lime and pozzolana, a type of volcanic ash, set into an underwater concrete. Herod imported over 24,000 m3 pozzolana from Pozzuoli, Italy, to construct the two breakwaters: the 500 meter long on the south and the 275 meter long on the north. A shipment of this size would have required at least 44 shiploads of 400 tons each. Herod also had 12,000 m3 of kurkar quarried to make rubble and 12,000 m3 of slaked lime mixed with the pozzolana.
Aluminium substituted tobermorite is understood to be a key ingredient in the longevity of ancient undersea Roman concrete.The volcanic ash that Romans used for construction of sea walls contained phillipsite, and that an interaction with sea water actually caused the crystalline structures in the mortar to expand and strengthen, making that material substantially more durable than modern concrete when exposed to sea water.
Further Research into Reef Life Advanced Materials Matrices:
Ocean News & Technology Magazine wrote a story on Reef Life Roman Cement Durabilities
ECO Environment Coastal & Offshore
2017 Unmanned Vehicle Buyers Guide
Submarine Cable Newsfeed/Radar Screen Reports