US: 2,000-year-old Roman concrete secret could make buildings last 50 percent longer
Roman concrete structures have survived for two thousand years while modern buildings crack within decades, and one MIT-founded startup thinks it has finally cracked why. DMAT has turned findings from a university lab into a commercial concrete additive already reinforcing bridges and water tanks across Europe.
MIT associate professor Admir Masic co-founded DMAT in 2021 after years spent studying what gave ancient Roman concrete its legendary durability. The company's additive now increases concrete lifespan by 50 percent while cutting CO2 emissions to 40 percent of traditional concrete, according to MIT News.
A 2,000-year-old chemistry trick
Masic's research uncovered how Roman builders achieved self-healing concrete without any modern chemistry . A 2023 study he co-authored found that when ancient Roman concrete cracks, calcium reservoirs embedded inside it dissolve and recrystallize to seal the new openings automatically.
Building on that discovery, Masic's team developed formulations that deliberately retain calcium-rich lime clasts throughout the concrete mix. That approach deviates from standard practice, which treats such clasts as a manufacturing flaw. A year of sample testing showed the technique improved both mechanical performance and durability across different concrete types.
From lab to job
Masic partnered with Italian entrepreneur Paolo Sabatini to commercialize the research shortly after the 2023 paper's publication. DMAT has since built out its own proprietary technology on top of what was licensed from MIT. The company worked alongside its own laboratories to secure safety and performance certifications across the European Union.
Sabatini, who serves as DMAT's CEO, said the company views concrete as an ecosystem rather than a single material. That ecosystem involves transportation, pricing, and certification requirements alongside raw performance. He said achieving broad adoption meant designing a product that fits within the construction industry's existing practices rather than asking companies to change how they operate.
Already reinforcing European infrastructure
DMAT's additive has already gone into underground water tanks, road barriers, and paving projects across Italy and Switzerland. Concrete repair mortar made with the technology has been applied to Switzerland's N13 motorway, a strategic route through the Grisons region, providing self-healing protection against small cracks.
DMAT sells its additives to both developers and concrete manufacturers , who mix them in during production. The company has more recently introduced ready-mix bagged mortars specifically for structural restoration work, expanding beyond its original additive-only offering.
Cheaper than bacteria-based rivals
Other self-healing concrete technologies rely on bacteria or polymer additives. Both tend to cost more and remain less familiar to construction industry professionals. DMAT's founders spent years refining their formula specifically to achieve self-healing using materials the industry already recognizes.
That familiarity, combined with a competitive price point, positions DMAT to scale in an industry where scale matters enormously. Concrete remains the most produced material on Earth, responsible for roughly 5 to 8 percent of global CO2 emissions. The company plans to expand into the US market soon. That move would extend a technology first developed nearly two millennia ago into one of the world's largest and most carbon-intensive industries.
