Primitive Technology: Iron Bacteria Cement (no fire/water insoluble)
Added 2023-03-02 22:03:03 +0000 UTCI developed a cement made from iron bacteria that sets hard and doesn't dissolve in water once it dries and requires no fire at any stage of it's processing. I got the idea when I read that bog ore, a type of solid mineral, is formed by iron bacteria in swamps. So I experimented by forming the bacteria into 3 small pots. I then air dried the pots (not fired) and put them in water for 24 hours. The pots did not dissolve and had become mineralized. I'm not sure about the chemical reasoning behind this but suspect that water soluble iron 2 oxide is present in the bacteria and when air gets to it, it is oxidized to insoluble iron 3 oxide which is a solid. The material then binds to itself and forms an insoluble material. It has a potential use as a mortar where iron bacteria is in large amounts and fire wood is scarce.
Much appreciated.
Comments
I haven't but I don't think it's very strong under tension. I do think though it would have enough strength in compression to hold the weight of bricks or stone and so has the potential to be used as a mortar. A beginning test would be to add 3 parts sand to 1 part bacteria and see if it could be made into bricks or stick rocks together. Thanks.
Primitive Technology
2023-03-03 20:27:59 +0000 UTCHave you performed any sort of strength testing on it? i.e. how does it perform under compression or tension?
Steve Maynard
2023-03-03 20:20:55 +0000 UTCIf that was the case then the crucible would have the same melting point as the ore inside it because iron bacteria is basically ore. In India however they are able to rase the melting point of regular earthenware clay by adding lots of organic material to it so that the iron in the clay becomes reduced and no longer acts as a flux to melt the clay. Such crucibles can be used for crucible iron melts but are only good for 1 or 2 uses. Organic material would have to be added to the bacteria cement if it was to be used a crucible so it wouldn't melt.
Primitive Technology
2023-03-03 20:09:32 +0000 UTCI had a vague memory of pot like this somewhere. I saw something similar to this on one of those Pakistani manufacturing YouTubes. There was a outfit that made foundry crucibles. The clay the used look similar to what you produced with the bacteria. These pots came out of the molds they were very hard. Than they were fired. You might try firing one of the cups yoy made just tk see what happens.
Kenneth Crips
2023-03-03 18:11:58 +0000 UTC
