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I am curious whether this will become an option, especially for longer lasting structures. Could pre-stressed graphene or another high tensile strength material by used to reinforce granite block construction?

Potentially relevant values:

Thermal Expansion Coeffiecients:
granite 7.9−8.4⋅10−6 m/mK,
graphene: it has a negative thermal expansion value

Compressive Strengths:
concrete: ~40 MPa
granite: ~200 MPa

Tensile Strengths: Rebar: 420 MPa
Graphene: 130.5 GPa

Please note I am not certain of these values.

Dev Slocum
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2 Answers2

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I think so. The simplest example I can think of is this: You take a beam of granite and glue (potentially pre-stressed) graphene to the side that will be under tension in your building. If the beam spans between two coloumns, you would reinforce the underside. If it cantilevers out of a wall, the top.

Now there's several questions here that I can't answer:

  • will you need to pre-stress the graphene?
  • Can you actually securely glue graphene to granite?
  • Is there any case where such a construction is superior to reinforced concrete?
mart
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I think you're better off using a carbon fiber wrapped into a rod and impregnated with epoxy. That's more practical and cost effective than graphene.

TechDroid
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