Nanotechnology in Construction 3 Proceedings of the NICOM3
The 3rd International Symposium on Nanotechnology in Construction (NICOM 3) follows the highly successful NICOM 1 (Paisley, UK 2003) and NICOM 2 (Bilbao, Spain 2005) Symposia. The NICOM3 symposium was held in Prague, Czech Republic from May 31 to June 2,
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Zdenˇek Bittnar, Peter J.M. Bartos, Jiˇrí Nˇemeˇcek, Vít Šmilauer, Jan Zeman (Eds.)
Nanotechnology in Construction 3 Proceedings of the NICOM3
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Prof. Dr. Zdenˇek Bittnar Department of Mechanics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
Dr. Vít Šmilauer Department of Mechanics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
Prof. Dr. Peter J.M. Bartos ACM Centre, University of Paisley, Scotland
Dr. Jan Zeman Department of Mechanics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
Dr. Jiˇrí Nˇemeˇcek Department of Mechanics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic
ISBN 978-3-642-00979-2
e-ISBN 978-3-642-00980-8
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-00980-8 Library of Congress Control Number: Applied for c 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Typeset: Scientific Publishing Services Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India. Cover Design: WMXDesign GmbH, Heidelberg Printed in acid-free paper 987654321 springer.com
Preface
Preface Nanoscience has been with us ever since ‘features’ on nano-scale were first seen under a microscope. Nanotechnology came about much more recently, when first tools were developed for characterisation of the ‘nano-features’ and for their manipulation. Coming soon after the ‘dot-com’ IT bubble had burst, nanotechnology became the new holy grail for venture capitalists and focus of media. Fantastic developments affecting all aspects of life were proposed. However, it was clear that returns on investment in this case could not be instantaneous and the media hype was, perhaps, not as great as in the past (e.g. regarding superconductivity). First applications of nanotechnology in construction research occurred in mid1990s. There were few centres of such research; the novel nano-instrumentation was very expensive, often only custom-built. However, when first products exploiting nanotechnology entered construction market, need arose for a forum to review the research and evaluate its realistic potential. This led me to propose the Intl. Symposium on Nanotechnology in Construction (NICOM1), held in Paisley, Scotland in mid-2003
