I really love this channel more and more everyday. A year ago I learned about geopolymers when studying pyramids (whether they were used or not is a different conversation.) I started to learn about polymers about 4 months ago and learned that cellulose is a polymer. And I found this channel by looking for a DIY supercapacitor! If he had mentioned Roman Concrete he would have covered all the things I've been reading about over the last year essentially in one video. It is great to meet someone that knows a lot about so many things! I think one of the things that makes this channel great is that Robert doesn't just specialize in a tiny tiny area of expertise. He is able combine points of view from many different subjects and put them together into new ideas. Keep up the great work! I have no idea how you are able to pump out so many great videos on a day by day basis.
I agree - this is a wonderfully articulate and comprehensive overview of what can otherwise be a very complicated topic. A great contribution to Plastic-free July! Thank you for this and so many other insightful videos.
Agreed. He's a true Renaissance man in that regard--a pretty good synthesizer. This channel and Tech Ingredients are two of my favorite channels in that regard.
This was VERY kind of you to do, for those of us still struggling to put together a kiln from your video a month ago. Now I can make pottery in the oven and just pretend my kiln is finished!! 😋
there you go - I am going to do a video with an exact recipe - probably today - I was thinking of using cat littler lol - can you imagine it cat litter to art lol
@@ThinkingandTinkering that would be soooo apropos for me!! "Cats" are everywhere in my life. I'd assume it handles heat well? One project I was thinking of doing was to make custom/personalized holders for soldering irons. Looking forward to that video. 😊
Imagine a Power Plant on the ocean with a couple hundred big magnets with floats on the bottom moving in and out of massive corrosion resistant coils as the waves churn in the ocean, or lake for that matter. This isnt limited to the ocean however. It's only limited by your imagination. I can also see this scenario working in air with balloons of gases lifting and falling successively. Love your videos!
What’s amazing to me is: this exact combination of base materials (Al, Si, Mg) is the recipe for cordierite (often as aluminosilicate clay + talc + heat = mullite) …you just need to heat it to kiln temperatures. Cordierite is the refractory ceramic used in high-grade pizza stones and pottery/ceramic kiln shelves… because of its awesome resistance to thermal expansion and thermal shock - you can heat-cycle it without it cracking or shattering… and the mullite crystals grow stronger every time you fire it. …so Robert just demonstrated a way to make a high-temperature pottery kiln *without* already having high-temperature kiln (needed to fire the refractory brick.) His home-oven geopolymer brick would be strong enough to build the kiln from; once constructed, a rocket stove could be used to fire that kiln and turn the geopolymer to cordierite… and the possibilities are then endless.
I love watching your videos Rob, you've demented and taught me stuff that I really should have known already and stuff that I would never have learned in a million years, thanks 👍
..... nice, the product called Das was an Italian type of substance , sort of a clay/plasticine for children and art students , if I remember well it was a clay with perhaps a fifth asbestos strands ,thus it was very strong when it set and didn't appear to shrink much. In the day I used it as a filler for the dents on mufflers of my BSA motor bike along with high temperature paint that assisted the adhesion... ...The product you've outlined is a better alternative for young people .
I've used that aluminum sulfate + sodium silicate stuff to make a membrane for a battery before. Seems to hold a pH/ion gradient rather well, so you can have a strong base anode and an acidic cathode and get some surprisingly good voltage out of some common electrode materials. Other metal salts also seemed to work. It failed rather quickly, but I bet Rob could find a way to improve it :P. This was an awesome video that sparks a lot of inspiration. Thanks again.
Btw, I'm planning on using sodium silicate as a super capacitor separator. I plan to add some secret sauce to it though. Finely crushed up/powdered hydrophobic silica aerogel and some crystalline nanocellulose. Put in between two sheets of parchment paper, and rolled very thin, and then dried/heated in oven at low to medium temp. I want it to be very strong/durable while being very thin. And be hard for electrons to cross through (hence the aerogel powder and CNC combo). I'm curious how it would act as a matrix for the main parts as well, for a solid state battery? Chuck a bunch of graphite, graphitized CNC and say finely powdered magnesium for one side, and similar on the other, but with different metal or oxide?
Awesome stuff, this could be even usefull in 3d printing buildings or other structures. It might not be a direct alternative for concrete or cement, but It can be used in places where you dont have acces to riversand (eg dessert).
Now this is interesting for my idea of making a ceramic jelly role super capacitor. Kiln temps destroy the plates but maybe using carbon fiber Matt and cooking it with the geo polymer and both the plate and separator get processed at the same time.
Thanks Robert, that's awesome... I'm working with geopolymer as a binder for hemp Crete... I have made waterglass, and am hoping to include our local flyash... also working with sorel cement, based on MgO, MgCl2, its great as binder for hemp or anything organic like paper, saw dust, cloth, clay (clay+sorel sets like rock, without heating) I really appreciate your videos, wouldn't miss one, , and when we build out organic hempcrete home/s, I plan to be off grid, make batteries, also include graphene, keep it up, and thanks again
Oh wow, I learned something big in this video and you got me wondering what happens to the fire blanket if we add a little graphene into the mix. Nice demo's mate. Loved it
I am sorry about this but I moderate this channel - your post bordered on the rude and offensive - I do block commenters and remove posts that are too offensive and it was borderline as to do this to yours and block you from posting. I encourage positive comments and the framing of criticism tin a positive way - for example you might have said - interesting idea but would that cause the fire blanket to be more likely to encourage fire or at least reduce it's effectiveness - something like that - David said something to support your negative comment so he was removed and blocked - I understand you were only joking but please help encourage a supportive atmosphere here - it would be appreciated, Rob
@@ThinkingandTinkering Thank you Robert, and I tend to agree a lot with what you just said. We need to help each other in thought, not the other way around.
Very interesting. I wonder if you could expand on this and explain how an alooomiuominioium oxide grinding wheel becomes hard enuf to abrade steel. My science is not good enuf to understand research papers and ' how it's made' videos are not deep enuf... you mix these things together and it works. Cheers Rob 🍺
@Heads Mess 👍 Thx mate, I can pretty much get my head around all that, figured it had to be something along those lines. Probly learnt about it during my time in the rabbit hole of metallurgy and heat treating but info retention is not what it used to be 😬 just keep the stuff I need for my purposes (knifemaker) or use good old 'trial and error' Weird, cos geometry always made perfect logical sense. Math/chemistry tho... nope. got thru quadratic equations but lost it with ? surds ? 🤔 On reflection, I tend to approach many things from a geometric point of view. Either way I'll slowly need to relearn a lot as I figure out the new, to me, toys of machining... lathe and mill. Anyways, I'm rambling 😁. Thx for the info, back to beer and power tools 🍺
I was just reading about geopolymers today for the first time, what a coincidence you make a video about it too. When I started watching your video, I almost commented you should look into them lol
I have a sample of a geopolymer sitting beside me right now! Neat trick to get better strength is to use potassium rather than sodium. Potassium hydroxide + silica gives potassium silicate which can be used similar to as shown in the video with a slight increase in strength. It actually is carbon negative because carbon dioxide from the air combines to form carbonates in the material. The holy grail would be a near room temperature geopolymer with a cure time of 1-30 days. At those values, it can give concrete a good run!
Robert, I’ll second the reference to Davidovits, I have his book “Geopolymer: Chemistry & Applications, 5 Ed” 28 chapters of endless ideas for research and experimentation. Neat applications like room temperature setting. One of my targets is to add a bit of graphene to see if it adds strength like you did with the concrete.
Great video Rob! Have you by chance ever seen Professor Davidavits work at the Geo-Polymer Institute in France? He and his team have been doing some brilliant work on this subject, specifically, proving the Egyptian pyramid stones & South American stone works are actually Geo Polymers just like you demonstrated here. I think you'll find some of his discoveries fascinating. I've heard people say that the Pyramids generate energy fields and have often wondered if it might be so, if the Geo-polymers were mixed with and layered with varying amounts of graphene or other graphitized carbons to form a giant stone Peltier plate/ capacitor/ battery of sorts. Thanks again for inspiring creative thought! :)
It's been verified and written about in peer reviewed journals that the Great Pyramid somehow does focus and channel EM energy to a degree that is likely beyond random chance. Fascinating stuff. I have long felt a strong connection to ancient Egypt. Edgar Cayce's information about same is quite interesting.
@@justinw1765 You might enjoy looking into the Bosnian pyramids then , if you haven't already. They have some, truly incredible finds and discoveries being made regularly , including repeated , independent, quantitatively verifiable evidence of significant EM generation emanating from the structure.
@@Killianwsh Indeed interesting. My spouse visited them a couple or so years back. Cheers (and apologies for the very late response, I don't remember seeing a notification for your reply).
In 11 minutes and 17 seconds - you've pretty much solved the mystery of how the ancient Artisans made all those lovely statues surroundimg old buildings :D - I believe geopolymers were far more widely used in ancient times than mordern archeologists are willing to admit. Kudos Robert!
Hi Robert, The Colossi of Memnon, built circa 1350 BCE, and weigh in at around 720 tons each. These statues were said to have been “baked in the sun”. I can’t locate the direct quote from the chief builder, but I’m sure you would find his description of how he built them interesting.
Brilliant! I was just looking to make some polymer clay! A few years ago I met an artist who made beautiful glass like jewelry which I want to replicate, I am assuming it was some kind of polymer clay... Any ideas on getting it to look glass like (shiny, transparent)? Thanks mate! PS I would like to take an online course with you! Then again I kind of am... Perhaps packaging up some videos organized well? Just an idea, you are doing awsome work. I think kids should skip school to watch your videos.
IMO you would do it with the base materials from the first demo but adding a mineral to color it and then heating it to a much higher temperature likely 800 c or higher maybe in an arc furnace at 3000 c.
Very good information Rob. Could you mention what temperature this material can take before breaking apart as I'm looking for a molding material that you could pour metals with.
Magnesium oxyde acts as a mineral supplement for horses. Some of the known benefits are maintaining proper muscle function, avoiding muscle cramping, enabling muscle relaxation, etc. Magnesium is a naturally occurring mineral found in the horse's body and it seems that it is impossible to give them too much because the body naturally excrete any surplus into urine and feces.
Sodium ethyl silicate allows one to paint wall paintings that are nearer to a fresco than a mechanical painting. Brilliant stuff to use on plaster walls.
Thoth teaching the Egyptians about artificial stone! (Btw 2 weeks ago they found Egyptians had obsidian based solar cells . The conjecture is they used them for electroplating)
I have been trying to research weather or not sodium silicate would be good for putting a hard clear coat on mugs. Do you know if it is food safe or if it can be placed in the microwave or dishwasher?
@7:30, I found what the equestrian center would use the Magnesium Oxide for. It's used as a vitamin/mineral supplement for horses - it helps maintain proper insulin levels, keeps blood vessels normally dilated, and improves muscle and heart function. From what I've found, it seems to be the cheapest way to buy Magnesium Oxide retail. A 10 lbs bag on Amazon currently runs $37. (Uckele Magnesium Oxide Horse Supplement).
Perfect timing, more or less! My clay is just about the right consistency after sitting on the window sill for the last month or when ever you r video on it was.
About 9:30 you discuss properties like being able to slow dissolve in water even though “fired”, is there anything that could be done to the mix to impart permanence after firing? The reason, I am a ceramicist and have been pondering how to reduce costs. Not firing sounds interesting. Could one mix small stones into the mix as well? Thinking out loud.🙏
Dissolving in water sounds a bit annoying. Any ideas on a composition that would set into something insoluble? Or some kind of glaze that can be fired at a low temperature?
I have 2 questions, 1:(what ratio would I use for this mix if I wanted to try it?)2:(how long did you actually bake it for?)Also, I'm curious will this work for conductive carbon graphite ceramic? Any help would be very much obliged.🙂
There is an interesting method using silicates from wood fiber and then a slow freezing process to make long ice crystals and then freeze-drying that to remove the water leaving an aerogel.
That's super, thank you! Would it be possible to source these compounds in nature without needing to buy processed material? Obviously clay is easy enough to get but could the sodium silicate and magnesium oxide be sourced in particular kinds of rocks or other places?
Magnesium oxide provides a readily absorbable source of magnesium that can also help neutralize excess stomach acid. Magnesium supplementation is often used to help calm horses who suffer from anxiety and nervousness. I have long wanted to use sodium silicate along with a mineral fiber as the structure for a rocket stove. A mix of sodium silicate and pearlite could be used as the insulator between the structural components. Rocket stoves need an insulator surrounding the combustion chamber to assist the gasification of the fuel. The stove really needs a mineral-reinforced polymer with terrific heat resistance to serve as the combustion chamber liner. It needs to be really tough. I think it could be formed around a sacrificial PVC form that would burn away on the first use. Such a form would be easy to fabricate.
Go morning, here in california. I am really in tune with your channel, at the right time. Question, so can water glass be premixed into a clay refractory, adding water ofcoarse? Also can the same be use to regidize a ceramic blanket? 3000°f
yes me too - but here we are just doing general stuff remember a few recipes etc - this is a good book Davidovits - Geopolymer: Chemistry & Applications, 5 Ed - but a little expensive.
Technically if you can get hold of some pure calcium oxide, with some great care, you can mix this in such a manner that it might self react and develop enough heat to self polymerize, and being how calcium crystals form, SHOULD make the whole mixture insoluble... Admittedly, I have never attempted this, but since most calcium based silicate is used in some product sealants, I was thinking maybe it could also be used to create a more solid, water resistant, if not water proof product. As a product of sealants[edit] It is used as a sealant in roads or on the shells of fresh eggs: when sodium silicate is applied as a sealant to cured concreteor egg shells, it chemically reacts with calcium hydroxide or calcium carbonate to form calcium silicate hydrate, sealing micropores with a relatively impermeable material.[11][12] As a component of cement[edit] It also occurs in cements, where it is known as belite or in cement chemist notation C2S.[13]
@Robert Murray-Smith Thank you very much for the video. Really helpful video. I have a quick question and a request. Q: Roughly, what are the proportions that you have used of Magnesium oxide, Sodium silicate, and clay? S: Is that possible to make "Liquid Clay"(Not slip clay) using the usual clay(like you showed) which we can pour into a mold and dry very fast?
Interesting and useful material! Just the other day I was thinking about making my own custom-shaped crucibles for specialized uses. I guess crucibles made of this material can be used at in the temperature range of 600 to 800°C?
what would be the ratio for a red mud with sodium-silicate to be plasticized enough for a coating over a fabric to be fire-proof or fire-retardant? do I need to praise you for an answer?
lol - not in the least - but you probably won't like the answer - ah well it would have been the same praise or not - basically have a look on google scholar - i remember reading a few papers on red mud geopolymers but i can no longer remeber the titles - so i would have to search for them - but as you want the answer the searching will do you good too
I've been working on a blacksmith forge and this gave me a lot to think over, wonder if the sand + sodium silicate mix would be improved by spraying aluminium sulphide
@@ThinkingandTinkering I did it, can't believe it worked, went a different route, reacted aluminuim with sodium hydroxide to make aluminium hydroxide then reacted with sodium silicate, used the goop as refractory cement for the blacksmith forge, thanks so much for the video
Dissolves in water? Seems that makes it ineligible as a concrete replacement. What's the magic ingredient to make it water resistant? For example, what if I wanted to make a vase?
so is the finished product a ceramic? also, be curious to know what sort of hardness that rock was (ie could you make custom bricks for retaining walls or something, or is it purely decrative)
Love You Bobby. Show us how to extract the Al from clay. Just thinking. Could this be integrated with carbon, to enhance hho production? Thanks in addverce Mr. Wizard.
Another fascinating video on alternative materials. Thanks for sharing. Is there a (preferably universal) substance one can mix into different bio-polymers and maybe geo-polymers that render them waterproof?
@@Barskor1 ......but then it becomes an unavoidable ten or eight hour heating cooling cycle to avoid cracking. So might as well used ordinary potters clay in the first place .
there are loads of things - the best thing to do is have a read on google scholar - all I am doing here is showing the simple stuff - more complex stuff is really for you to research and try - there is no universal 'thing' but you will find something that works for you in your circumstances with what is available to you - but you do need to look for it
I can't help but wonder if the recipe for this material Rob has presented here is the same as that was used to create the "perfectly cut stone blocks" of antiquity as Rob hypothesized. Could the ancients have found these chemicals? They certainly had clay.
