Concrete created by two University of Nebraska professors can be heated to melt snow and ice without chemicals or mechanical clearing. Acceptance has been slow since it was developed and successfully demonstrated on a Nebraska highway bridge several years ago, but it has been used on a parking garage’s ramps in China, and the Federal Aviation Administration now is evaluating it for possible use on an airport in the northern U.S.
The recipe sounds simple: Mix steel fibers, steel shavings and carbon particles into regular concrete to make it electrically conductive, says the co-creator, Christopher Tuan. “You hook up the concrete to a power source, and the current going through will heat up the concrete. The heat propagates to the surface, preventing the ice formation,” he notes.