Assistant Professor Mija Hubler is a recipient of a three year, $548,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award for her proposal 鈥�.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;
Major advances are being made in the study of living building materials that can be grown in the laboratory and could replace concrete, a significant driver of CO2 emissions in the construction industry
鈥淭his research is about creating a mechanical model for living building material,鈥� Hubler said. 鈥淭he model will enable the design of structures and the engineering of living building material to achieve the desired performance needed for structural applications.鈥�
NSF CAREER awards support early career faculty who are dedicated to research and education. Hubler is using this project to integrate her education and research goals through the study of mechanics in civil infrastructure materials, as well as to improve the recruitment and retention of female and non-traditional students in research and innovation career tracks.
鈥淭hese activities can help meet a growing workforce demand and support cross-disciplinary innovation for infrastructure materials,鈥� Hubler said. 鈥淚 hope to grow interest in research careers from a broad audience in this area in part by working with Colorado Mesa University to engage students there in working with living building materials.鈥�
Hubler said that using living building materials for structural applications will help replace concrete as the main building material used in construction today.
鈥淟iving building material does not require cement, which is the binding ingredient of concrete that drives its large carbon footprint,鈥� Hubler said. 鈥淚t is much more crack resistant than concrete and enables material recycling.鈥�
Alternatives to concrete are of interest to civil engineers and the construction industry to address both building durability concerns and CO2 impact. Although past new construction materials have been rejected due to lacking the mechanical properties and behavior of traditional materials, Hubler said living building materials show major promise.
鈥淚 have been inspired to better understand what features of the material control the mechanics to engineer new materials to better meet expectations, and also to develop mechanical models of new construction materials to enable them to be adopted into design practices,鈥� Hubler said.
Hubler believes that the model her group will develop will also be applicable to other novel materials, including reinforced metal foams and stabilized soils. She anticipates developing a practical model for living building materials within the next two years, with a five-year goal of using the model to design a full-scale beam composed of living material.
Hubler is a faculty member at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering and the Materials Science and Engineering Program and serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Infrastructure, Energy and Space Testing. Six faculty members within the College of Engineering and Applied Science received CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation in 2022.
Assistant Professor Mija Hubler is a recipient of a three year, $548,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award for her proposal 鈥淢echanical Modeling of Living Building Materials for Structural Applications.鈥�
Assistant Professor Mija Hubler
Melvin E. and Virginia M. Clark Professor Al Weimer
Assistant Professor Mija Hubler and Melvin E. and Virginia M. Clark Professor Al Weimer are collaborating on linked Department of Energy-funded projects to capture and repurpose carbon products from fuel sources into materials for concrete bricks. They hope to reduce pollution while also making stronger, more resilient building materials that require less maintenance and repairs over time.
The collaboration began in 2019, when the researchers received a Research and Innovation Office seed grant for their 鈥淓xtremely Durable Concrete using Methane Decarbonization Nanofiber Byproducts鈥� project. Based on the results of their initial study, they applied for two separate but related Department of Energy grants the following year.
鈥淥ur initial collaboration was motivated by the need to produce a byproduct to financially enable hydrogen for the transportation industry,鈥� Hubler said. 鈥淲e had previously shown there were benefits of adding solid carbon to concrete. We saw the potential to benefit concrete for infrastructure applications at the same time.鈥�
The DOE approved 鈥�鈥� through the Office of Energy and Renewable Energy and 鈥�鈥� through the National Energy Technology Laboratory in 2020. The projects鈥� combined funding totals $4 million.
鈥淒epending on the optimal percent of carbon nano-product being sequestered with addition to cement and concrete, it is possible to replace as much as 25% of the hydrogen used in the U.S. that is made by greenhouse gas-generating steam methane reforming,鈥� Weimer said. 鈥淭his will have a dramatic impact on reducing CO2 emissions.鈥�
The 鈥淓xtremely Durable Concrete鈥� project seeks to displace hydrogen production by steam methane reforming with a low-cost and scalable chemical vapor deposition process that produces value-added carbon nano-products. The 鈥淢odular Processing of Flare Gas for Carbon Nanoproducts鈥� project will create a modular process to react methane to a value-added carbon nano-product that holds the potential to convert vented or flared natural gas into a commercially viable product.
In both cases, these carbon products can be incorporated into concrete.
鈥淭he value-added carbon nano-product 鈥榮equesters鈥� carbon from methane as a solid,鈥� Hubler said. 鈥淭he addition of the carbon nanofiber product to concrete increases the service life of concrete structures. This reduces the need for repair and reconstruction of concrete infrastructure.鈥�
This materials science project is a joint effort between Team Weimer, housed in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and the Hubler Research Group of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering.
鈥淭he collaboration means we learn a lot about material science research across these fields,鈥� Hubler said. 鈥淲e have a joint research team of students and postdocs across both projects and departments. Additionally, consultation from our industry partners and ensures the applicability of our efforts.鈥�
Weimer has been a member of the MSE Program since its founding. Hubler is joining the program this fall.
鈥淪ince my research projects entail studies of materials innovation for structural applications, I hope my joining the MSE Program will enable the subset of my students who pursue materials development to take classes directly related to their research and be part of a student cohort of other materials researchers,鈥� Hubler said.
She pointed toward the benefits of materials research for both the natural and built environments.
鈥淏eyond the basic drive for improved cost and performance, structural materials such as concrete are facing a crisis due to their carbon footprint,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are the most produced materials in the world and their manufacture has a direct impact on the future climate. As a result, there is a need and urgency to reinvent the structural materials we build with today. The field of new structural materials is exciting and beyond traditional concepts incorporating smart, living, healing and computationally designed materials.鈥�
Assistant Professor Mija Hubler and Melvin E. and Virginia M. Clark Professor Al Weimer are collaborating on linked Department of Energy-funded projects to capture and repurpose carbon products from fuel sources into materials for concrete bricks. They hope to reduce pollution while also making stronger, more resilient building materials that require less maintenance and repairs over time.