Three students from the Higher College of Technology for students in Dubai reached a mixture of quartz concrete extracted from the mountains, which is more powerful than ordinary concrete, as it holds more than four times what it holds regular.
The student Rashid Al-Hashimi explained the way to extract the quartz concrete by taking quantities of mountain gravel, then grinding a portion of it until it turns into sand, to replace the sand used in ordinary concrete, then adding to it a basic component that helps to strengthen the concrete and its strong adhesion, and this component is a material Micro Steel Fibers, in this way the quartz concrete is environmentally friendly, and increases the shelf life of the building or bridge used to construct it. He pointed to the participation of his colleagues, Fahd Al Ali and Khaled Mostafawi in the implementation of the Quartz concrete project, which depends on natural materials from the mountains, adding: “It took us a year to study the project between studying and examining many different experiences until we reached the current result of concrete, and many conducted it From experiences ». Al-Hashemi pointed out that the quartz concrete is distinguished by being lightweight and stronger than ordinary concrete, in addition to carrying more than four times what ordinary concrete carries, explaining that the ground sand from mountain gravel is better than ordinary sand, because it fills the voids in construction, which preserves Iron used from rust, so buildings that use Quartz concrete are safer.
On the reason for the idea of the project, Al Hashemi said: “We targeted to contribute to preserving the environment in the UAE by finding a way to develop building materials to be environmentally friendly.” He pointed out that they participated in the project in a competition organized by the Higher Colleges of Technology during last December, and they won the center The first in this competition.