Student Came Up With A 'Rubber Road' Idea — Invention Self-Repairs From Rain Damage
Aug 13, 2020 by apost team
The rain and other elements can cause some harsh troubles for roads. Vehicles driving on top of roads also cause wear-and-tear trouble. A brilliant young man from Mexico came up with a unique idea to preserve roads. He figured out a way to let the roads perform a bit of self-preservation. Israel Antonio Briseño Carmona came up with the idea of making roads out of rubber.
The civil engineering student attends the Autonomous University of Coahuila, and he figured something out no else could. Rubber might not deteriorate as quickly as traditional roads when it rains. Rubber might be the surprisingly better substitute material.
Why does Israel feel rubber makes a good substitute? The young man pointed out that water filters down into roads, and the water can create faults and imperfects. Cars travel over these "fault sections" and drive tremendous weight down on them. So, the roads end up collapsing. Rubber, intriguingly, can deteriorate, but it also recovers. Thus, rubber might be a material that presents a level of "self-maintenance."
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Israel dabbled with various materials until choosing a rubber. He took rubber from recycled tires and turn it into "Paflec," the name Israel gave to his new concept. How does it work? As explained in his James Dyson Award feature, the rubber has some additives in it. When rainwater hits the rubber, the material turns putty-like. Eventually, the substance repairs itself. That means the road regenerates itself.
The concept of rubber roads provides an environmentally friendly potential alternative. The idea, if workable, could save municipalities untold amounts of money. Fixing roads drain funds. Streets that fix themselves may also pay for themselves. Imagine if rubber roads started appearing across the globe. The total savings could run into the billions of dollars.
Will the idea catch on right away? Maybe, but the process may be a little slow to implement on a grand scale.
It might take a great deal of time before the world sees its current roads replaced with rubber ones. Even brilliant ideas take time to catch on with the public. Solar power isn't a new concept, but it was only recently that many homes feature installed panels. Changing over to something new and different brings forth uncertainty, so innovations and even improvements may take time to become "the norm."
Also, expertise plays a road in all kinds of construction jobs. Road contractors would need to learn how to create new streets out of rubber. The learning curve could take a lot of time. Again, progress might move slowly. Great, innovative, cost-saving ideas, however, do tend to move forward.
That's not to say Israel's work hasn't received immediate attention. He did win the James Dyson Award for Mexico. An "international design award," the James Dyson Award focuses on highlighting innovators who come up with problem-solving ideas. Stories like these are incredibly inspiring, as they give a glimpse into what the future may bring. In this case, the future may bring much better roads thanks to Israel Antonio Briseño Carmona.
Do you know someone who loves to read about science and the environment? Maybe the story of this brilliant civil engineering student and his new product would intrigue them. Let them know about it.