MIT professor's Roman-inspired additive could extend concrete life by 50%

On Switzerland's N13 motorway, DMAT concrete repair mortar has been used to provide self-healing in the presence of small cracks. The material comes from DMAT, a startup co-founded by MIT associate professor Admir Masic, which says its Roman-inspired additive can extend concrete structures' lifespan by 50% and cut emissions to 40% of traditional concrete.

The idea began with a question raised by ancient buildings. In a 2023 study, Masic and collaborators found that calcium reservoirs inside Roman concrete dissolve and recrystallize when cracks appear, filling the openings. DMAT's modern recipe keeps calcium-rich lime clasts throughout the mix, turning a feature once treated as a manufacturing flaw into part of the material's repair mechanism.

Masic partnered with Italian entrepreneur Paolo Sabatini in 2021 to commercialize the research. DMAT has since developed proprietary technology on top of what was licensed from MIT and worked with company laboratories to secure safety and performance certifications in the European Union. Its additives are mixed into concrete and mortar by manufacturers, while its ready-mix bagged mortars target structural restoration.

The technology is no longer confined to a laboratory. DMAT says its concrete has been used in underground water tanks, road barriers and paving projects across Italy and Switzerland, with repair mortar applied on the N13 motorway in the Grisons region. The company also plans to expand into the United States. Its approach differs from self-healing concretes based on bacteria or polymers, which the company describes as more expensive and less familiar to construction professionals.

So what changes in practice? Concrete manufacturers can mix the material into concrete and mortar within existing industry practices, with the company claiming longer-lasting concrete and lower emissions. That matters in an industry responsible for approximately 5%–8% of global CO2 emissions. The durability and emissions figures remain DMAT's claims, reported by MIT News; the supplied reporting cites no independent trial or full commercial rollout.