Investigation in manufacturing self-healing cementitious materials using microbial technology

Small cracks are inherent in cementitious-based structures. This causes deterioration of buildings, reducing the bearing capacity of structures due to the invasion of harmful substances as well as corrosion of reinforcement in cementitious material. Therefore, the cementitious material needs to be restored and these voids filled. Self-healing cementitious material has been strongly developed for long time in the world. However, this technology has not been popular in Vietnam. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to find the appropriate mix-design for creating self-healing cementitious material in Vietnam conditions. Experimental results show that the mixture including bacillus subtilis and calcium lactate can be used for creating the self-healing cementitious materials. Mixing directly the mixture in the cement is selected to manufacture the self-healing cementitious materials. It seems that the width of crack affects more on healing ability than the length of crack.