Revolutionary construction material developed at XJTLU

Having reached a funding agreement with construction company Innostrux in April 2017, academics at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University are making good progress with research into sustainable construction material fibre-reinforced concrete.

Martin Schmeisser, managing director of project consultancy company Cathaytec Asia (HK) Ltd., and David Brady, chairman of the board and president of Innostrux Ltd., met with Professor Chee Seong Chin, Dr Karol Sikora, Dr Jun Xia and Dr Charles Loo of the Department of Civil Engineering at XJTLU (pictured above, left to right).

David Brady commented that he was ‘extremely excited’ to join the discussion at XJTLU, and that the newly developed fibre-reinforcing material for concrete has the potential to be ‘the best of its kind in the world’.

Professor Chee Seong Chin, dean of Learning and Teaching, director of the Institute for Sustainable Materials and Environment, and head of the XJTLU-Innostrux Centre for Advanced Fibre-Reinforced Concrete Technology, gave an overview of the University and ISME and summarised XJTLU’s collaboration with Innostrux so far.

He also announced that the XJTLU-Innostrux Centre for Advanced Fibre-Reinforced Concrete Technology will soon be located in the International Research Centre on XJTLU’s South Campus.

The meeting gave Hua Yang, chairman of the board, Ashford Formula, president of Green Building Association, Lianhua Hu, director, and Zhanghong Yu, deputy director of the Science and Technology Bureau, Intellectual Property Office, Seismological Bureau, Rudong, Nantong (pictured above, left to right) the opportunity to ask questions concerning the applications of the newly developed fibre-reinforcing material for concrete.

Dr Ominda Nanayakkara of the Department of Civil Engineering, also present at the meeting, fielded a question from Lianhua Hu concerning how fibres can strengthen concrete structures in coastal areas in particular.

Martin Schmeisser gave a presentation about the development of a pilot machine to produce the newly developed fibre-reinforcing material, revealing that the machine will feature cloud-based application software and remote control functionality and have an estimated production capacity of two tonnes of steel fibres per day.

He also stated his enthusiasm for the ongoing research collaboration, noting that the project is making good progress and that the newly developed fibre-reinforcing material is ‘revolutionary’ for the construction industry.

For more information about the Department of Civil Engineering at XJTLU visit its official webpage.

story and photos by Danny Abbasi