But is it cheaper? (or could it be)
Wood, stone, pretty much everything is stronger than concrete. We use concrete because it's strong enough and cheap (and doesn't rot like wood, but a lot of things don't rot so that's not too novel).
Wood, stone, pretty much everything is stronger than concrete. We use concrete because it's strong enough and cheap (and doesn't rot like wood, but a lot of things don't rot so that's not too novel).
Hang on, compressive strength is very, very high. Tensile strength is much lower so that’s why we add rebar and mesh.
The real value proposition of concrete is that it’s made out of very common materials and can be produced in enormous quantities in most places in the world at low cost.
1. The article says its "cheap" for what that's worth.
2. This IS concrete. It's a mixture of sand as aggregate and plastic as a cement AKA binding agent.
Unless you get an alkali silica reaction (aka concrete cancer).