A method for making a carbonated precast concrete product, includes: obtaining a mixture including at least one binder material, an aggregate, and water; molding the mixture into a molded intermediate; demolding the molded intermediate to obtain a demolded intermediate, the demolded intermediate having a first water-to-binder ratio; conditioning the demolded intermediate to provide a conditioned article having a second water-to-binder ratio less than the first water-to-binder ratio of the demolded intermediate; and curing the conditioned article using carbon dioxide at a pressure ranging from an atmospheric pressure to a pressure greater than the atmospheric pressure by at most 10% of the atmospheric pressure. Curing the conditioned article may be done within an expandable enclosure.

Calcium silicate-based cements and concretes are disclosed, which result in concrete compositions that have an increased durability. A cement product includes a plurality of particles of a carbonatable calcium silicate cement and a hydrophobic organic acid, or a salt thereof, or a silane, or a polysiloxane.

An apparatus for delivering a wet concrete mix to a product mold, where the apparatus comprises a hopper configured to retain a fresh concrete mix, a source of treated water having a concentration of nanobubbles of a gas at least double a natural concentration of nanobubbles of the gas within a natural state of the water, a water transport coupling the source of treated water with the hopper, a valve interposed within the water transport for selectively releasing the treated water into the hopper, and a mixer in communication with the hopper for mixing the treated water with the fresh concrete mix to yield an infused wet concrete.

A nanobubble-infused liquid is mixed into a dry concrete mix to form an infused wet concrete, where the nanobubble-infused liquid includes a concentration of nanobubbles of a gas at least double a natural concentration of nanobubbles of the gas within a natural state of the liquid. The nanobubble-infused liquid is preferably liquid water infused with a desired concentration of carbon-dioxide (CO.sub.2) nanobubbles sized within a certain prescribed range. The infused wet concrete is then transported to the mold of a concrete products forming machine to form a molded product that has enhanced qualities including increased carbon capture within the resulting concrete product, improved curing times, increased flowability, self-healing, and improved release from the product mold.

A method of manufacturing ceramic composite material comprises forming a combination of flowable metal oxide precursor (102), which is water-insoluble, and electroceramic powder (104) for covering surfaces of the electroceramic particles (500) with the metal oxide precursor (102), the electroceramic powder (104). A major fraction of the particles (500) has particle diameters within a range 50 μm to 200 μm, and a minor fraction of the particles has diameters smaller than the lower limit of said range, the major fraction having a variety of particle diameters. Then pressure 100 MPa to 500 MPa is applied to said combination, and said combination is exposed, under the pressure, to a heat treatment, which has a maximum temperature within 100° C. to 500° C. for a predefined period for forming the ceramic composite material.

Concrete made using the protocol described herein converts more of the available calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH).sub.2) into calcium carbonate (CaCO.sub.3) and distributes it more thoroughly throughout the concrete mixture by converting it into calcium bicarbonate (Ca(HCO.sub.3).sub.2) by adjusting the pH of the hydrating liquid and then deliberately adjusting the pH of the hydrating liquid again when precipitation of the CaCO.sub.3 from the hydration liquid is desired to more uniformly coat the materials used in a concrete mix. This process creates more CaCO.sub.3 in concrete than current methods on the market and that has been demonstrated to increase the structural and chemical properties of the concrete.

A method for forming cement-based cementitious material includes: pouring a cement paste into a mold; applying an electrical current to the cement paste to perform an electro-osmotic reaction; and transferring the reacted cement paste into a water tank for curing, thereby obtaining a functionally graded cement-based cementitious material. A pair of electrodes is placed in the mold and connected to an external power source. The compressive strength of the functionally graded cement-based cementitious material in the middle is lower than that at either of both ends.

A method for manufacturing hydraulically hardening building materials, includes the steps of: providing concrete demolition waste with a maximum particle size of up to 150 mm as a starting material, mixing the starting material with water to form a feedstock slurry, introducing carbon dioxide or a precursor thereof into the feedstock slurry to form carbonated concrete fines in an amount from 1 to 100 wt.-% of the hardened binder contained in the starting material and to detach the concrete fines from the aggregate contained in the starting material to form a product slurry, and mixing the product slurry with a cement forming the building material, and use of the obtainable building material for manufacturing building structures as well as method for manufacturing a supplementary cementitious material slurry.

Provided are a method for preparing a gel composite material with a piezoelectric property, and the gel composite material and use thereof, which belongs to the field of intelligent road traffic. In the method, titanium-containing blast furnace slag and metal oxides (PbO and ZrO.sub.2) are sufficiently and uniformly mixed, an obtained mixture is calcined under a certain thermal system, on the theoretical basis of mineral-phase reconstruction-synergistic regulation of all valuable components, and the mixture is cooled to a room temperature with a furnace to obtain the gel composite material with a piezoelectric property.

A method for forming a high temperature coating includes forming a pre-sintered ceramic coating on a ceramic composite substrate. The pre-sintered ceramic coating includes a plurality of ceramic particles. The method further includes sintering at least a portion of the pre-sintered ceramic coating by heating the portion of the pre-sintered ceramic coating to a sintering temperature of the plurality of ceramic particles using joule heating. The sintering temperature is greater than about 1000 degrees Celsius (° C.).