2 Oct 2012
Prof John Bensted has been honoured for his many research contributions at the 32nd annual Cement and Concrete Science Conference (CCSC) held in Belfast in the year of his 70th birthday.
Prof Bensted, who has been researching cement science for 45 years and has published over 500 technical papers and presentations, was presented with a mounted mineral, scawtite, from his many friends and colleagues in the cement science community. Scawtite is a calcium silicate carbonate hydrate found in hydrothermal setting and hardening, in the locality of Scawt Hill, Co Antrim.
CCSC, and a parallel event, the International Conference on the Durability of Concrete Structures (ISDCS - 2012) were hosted by the School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering, at Queen's College Belfast from 17-18 September 2012.
The two events were organised by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and supported by SCI and the Concrete Society. They attracted 160 delegates from Europe, Africa, Middle East, USA, Mexico, Australia and Thailand.
The plenary and keynote sessions included:
- Problems of incompatibility in plain and fly-ash (plus cementitious) mixtures
- Aspects of carbonation of reinforced concrete
- The carbon footprint of reinforced concrete
- Green concrete or red herring? The future of alkali-activated material
- Silicates in 6-coordination with oxygen/hydroxyl.
Following the conferences, many of the participants went on a tour to the Giants' Causeway. Numerous cementitious and related minerals occur in the highly scenic mountainous, ex volcanic coastline of Co Antrim, which made the journey very attractive. This visit suitably rounded off what was undoubtedly an excellent scientific and engineering programme.
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