In the winter time, roads tend to freeze over which means that driving on them can be pretty slippery and dangerous. Typically what is done is people need to go around pouring chemicals on the road in order to de-ice them, which is not only time-consuming, but can also result in a hefty bill as this needs to be repeated.However, a University of Nebraska engineering professor by the name of Chris Tuan might have come up with a better solution: electrified concrete. This is basically concrete which has been designed to conduct electricity, and when electricity is being sent through the concrete, ice will melt away from it in minutes.
How it works is Tuan mixed conductive concrete which is a blend of steel shavings and carbon particles, thus allowing to conduct electricity and generate heat that will melt the ice. Tuan is currently demonstrating his work to the FAA with a testing phase that will run until March 2016, in which if successful, will see the FAA ramp up testing by integrating the mixture into the tarmac of an airport.
According to him, “To my surprise, they don’t want to use it for the runways. What they need is the tarmac around the gated areas cleared, because they have so many carts to unload—luggage service, food service, trash service, fuel service—that all need to get into those areas. They said that if we can heat that kind of tarmac, then there would be (far fewer) weather-related delays. We’re very optimistic.”
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