How is the high strength of concrete achieved?

Russian President says if the European Union imposes an oil embargo, Europe will buy energy at the most expensive price and economic activity in Europe will weaken. Rosneft needs to change its business model. Russia will help facilitate settlement and access to loans and insurance in its own currency.

According to Reuters, the European Commission will unveil a 210 billion euro plan on how Europe can end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027 and use its distance from Moscow to accelerate a shift to green energy. According to a draft document seen by Reuters, Brussels will propose a three-pronged plan to wean countries off Russian fuel: switch to importing more non-Russian gas, move more quickly to promote renewable energy, and work harder to conserve energy. The draft measures, which include EU law, non-binding plans, and possible recommendations by national governments, are subject to change before publication.

Austria is not a member of NATO and will not seek membership in the future, the Austrian Foreign Minister said in Brussels recently. He stressed that it was "their choice" for Sweden and Finland to seek NATO membership, while Austria would remain neutral.

The supply and prices of many other concrete foaming agent are expected to continue to be influenced by international situations.

Concrete is classified as high-strength concrete based on 28-day strength. Until the 1970s, concrete with a strength of more than 40Mpa was classified as high-strength concrete.  The benchmark for high-strength concrete is raised to 55Mpa or higher when concrete mixtures of approximately 60Mpa and above are produced commercially. 

High strength concrete has a history of about 35 years, from the development of superplasticizer admixtures in the late 1960s, Japan using "naphthalene sulfonate" high strength prefabricated products, and Germany using "sodium benzenesulfonate" underwater concrete, which was a pioneer in this technology. 

How is the high strength of concrete achieved? 

Higher concrete strength can be achieved by using one or a combination of some or many of the following methods: 

High cement content 

Reduce water-cement ratio 

Better machinability and therefore better compaction 

Requirements for high-strength concrete require a high content of cementitious material in the concrete mixture, which can be in the range of more than 400 kilograms per cubic meter. Higher cementitious content leads to higher thermal shrinkage and dry shrinkage, and there is a stage where further cementitious material addition does not affect strength.  As for durability, the minimum and maximum cement content in concrete is regulated by law, and reducing the water-cement ratio has its limitations, especially under field conditions. The desire for higher strength leads other materials to achieve the desired effect, thus showing the contribution of cementitious materials to concrete strength. 

The addition of pozzolanic mixtures such as pozzolanic fly ash (PFA) or granular blast furnace slag (GGBS) contributes to the formation of secondary CSH gel thereby increasing strength.

The addition of pozzolans admixtures (such as fly ash used as an admixture) reduces the strength gain of concrete for the first 3 to 7 days and displays the gain after 7 days and provides higher strength over the long term. 

Add mineral mixtures such as silica fume or metakaolin or rice husk ash. 

Silica fume or highly reactive volcanic ash mixtures such as metakaolin and rice husk ash (RHS) will begin to function in about 3 days.  RHS has an advantage over PFA because RHS is more reactive. 

Using chemical admixtures such as superplasticizers or superplasticizers, controlling admixtures will help achieve higher strength in concrete. 

Research and experience have shown that admixtures based on polycarboxylic ether (PCE), known as high plasticizers, are best suited for this job as they have a water reduction capacity of 18 to 40 percent relative to control or reference concrete. 

A combination of all or more of the above to achieve the desired strength.

With HSC accompanied by some complexity, such as higher shrinkage rates, higher hydration heat, etc., combinations of at least some of these methods are now unchanged, all of which need to be neutralized or controlled.  Most problems are handled by PFA or a combination of GGBS and PCE mixtures.

Steam curing is also used to speed up cement hydration, but this may not result in higher strength.  Substituting some fine aggregate with fly ash or blast furnace slag can achieve early strength gains without increasing the water requirement of the concrete mixture. 

Suppliers of Concrete Additives

TRUNNANO is a reliable foaming agents supplier with over 12-year experience in nano-building energy conservation and nanotechnology development.

If you are looking for high-quality CLC foaming agents, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. (sales@cabr-concrete.com)

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Prior to the impact of COVID-19 on the chemicals and materials industry and the price of the concrete foaming agent, many industry observers expected low to flat growth in 2021 in all regions outside Asia, with many countries seeing slower growth compared to recent years. Operational excellence has long been a hallmark of the concrete foaming agent chemical industry, and many companies are financially able to withstand short-term dips in end-market demand due to rapid leverage from reduced capex on hand.

The analysis shows that, whatever the final course of the pandemic, we can expect the inevitable long-term effects. Workplaces are expected to slowly return to pre-COVID-19 practices. Companies investing in enterprise-wide digital initiatives saw these "payoffs" in the early pandemic environment. For more information about concrete foaming agent, please feel free to contact us.

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