Accredited Business Consolidators Corp (fka ACDU)

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Maybe this is why our man is in Spain






Geopolymer concretes have also been tested under some extreme circumstances, leading Van Deventer to believe they are just as strong as ordinary concrete. CSIC, Spain's largest public research organisation, has tested them as railway sleepers or crossties, the cross braces that support the rails on a railway track. They passed "with high marks", says materials scientist Angel Palomo of the Eduardo Torroja Institute in Madrid, part of the CSIC. "From an engineering point of view a sleeper is a very complex element, which is also subjected to very aggressive mechanical conditions and weather extremes," he says. "The material is good enough for sleepers, so it will be good enough for many building parts."

Whether they are as durable as standard concrete is less clear but there are encouraging signs. Zeobond has tested geopolymers including E-Crete, at very high temperatures and pressures, and for resistance to acids, for short periods of time. Although geopolymer concretes perform well, the tests don't exactly mimic what happens when concrete is put under strain for decades, says van Deventer.