1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to methods of making and using paving materials and, more specifically, a novel porous, ceramic paving material.
2. Description of the State of the Art
Human development has taken away much of our natural areas. The prevalence of impermeable paving on developed land has led to a decrease in groundwater recharge and an increased risk of contamination, as runoff from rain washes surface pollutants directly into our waterways. Furthermore, this high flow rate of runoff can also result in an increase in erosion.
To combat this problem, traditional pavers have been installed with gaps for water to seep through, but this creates safety and accessibility issues as well as the need for an additional material, such as grass or sand, to fill the gaps. Traditional pavers are also often made from a concrete-based material and, unfortunately, concrete suffers degradation from rainwater, since rainwater is often acidic. As a result, a porous concrete that is permeable to rainwater is destined to fail under such conditions, and society is forced to use substantially impermeable concrete systems instead and suffer the consequences.
Accordingly, an improved paving material that is not only strong enough to serve as a paving material in a range of applications, but is also permeable to aqueous fluids and resistant to chemical degradation, can provide a benefit to society by allowing our land to get the rainwater it needs and creating less pollution and erosion from run-off problems that exist with currently used materials.