Barsoum's radio interview from February:
[www.materials.drexel.edu]

Barsoum's Presentation (400 slides, 1 hour long)(pretty good presentation):
[media.irt.drexel.edu]

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This debate is old... and no new information is in this article. Barsoum is a better presenter than Davidovits/Morris.

Davidovits theory used the Pozzolan of Kaolin Clay as the secret ingredient. Barsoum shows there is no Alluminum, hence Davidovits chemistry is discredited.

The binder/pozzolan has still not been worked out, so this theory does not seem ready for scientific scrutiny, in my opinion. Lots of neat looking pictures though.
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Barsoum presents diatamaceous earth as the pozzolon. It is a weak pozzolan. Maybe it is an additive (it is a common additive to modern cement).

The Magnesium source has not been identified yet. Carnalite, Dolomite have been suggested by Barsoum/Davidovits. I'm betting on Asbestos as the magnesium source(another common additive to cement)(Asbestos is a pozzolan).

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Barsoum seems very certain about Diatomaceous earth in his paper. Diatomaceous earth usually has a high opal-a content. It may also be the source of the 1% Alluminum. Here is an article on diatomaceous earth in concrete:
[www.springerlink.com]

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HallOfMaat has a long history with this topic. Some outstanding questions have been asked here in the past. Some of Davidovits theory has been discredited here in the past. Without help, he was never going to prove his theory. Barsoum seems more intelligent, though, in my opinion.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2007 11:46PM by rich.