Novel Repair Mortar developed at HKUST Receives Gold Medal with Jury Commendation at Geneva Exhibition of Inventions

A rapid repairing mortar for efficient maintenance of ageing buildings, developed by Prof. Christopher Leung at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of HKUST, in collaboration with researchers at NAMI and practicing engineers at Chun Wo Construction Company, was awarded Gold Medal with Jury Commendation at the 2021 Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions. The mortar was reinforced with steel fibers and formulated to achieve rheological and bond properties suitable for structural repair.  With the tensile load carrying capacity of steel fibers compensating for the loss due to severe steel corrosion, the use of this novel repair mortar eliminates the need of lapping a new steel reinforcing bar, and the associated removal of sound concrete on both sides of the corroded region to provide the required load transfer length. Significant savings in repair cost and time can hence be acheived.  Meanwhile, there is also significant reduction in noise and dust generated during the repair operation. The first applicant of this award, Dr. Honggang Zhu of NAMI, received his PhD from HKUST in 2009, under the co-supervision of Prof. Leung and Prof. Jang-kyo Kim, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.