About Lightweight Foam Concrete You Should Know

What is lightweight foam concrete and how to make foam concrete?

Lightweight foam concrete comes into being through a series of complex operations. First, through the foaming system of the foaming machine, the foaming agent is fully foamed mechanically, foaming agent and foam slurry mixing with water during the time. And then finish the cast-in-situ construction or mold forming through the foaming machine pumping system. Finally, through the natural curing, a new lightweight thermal insulation material contains a lot of closed porosity is formed. Lightweight foam concrete belongs to the bubble insulation material. Its prominent characteristic is that it forms the closed foam hole in the concrete interior, which brings it light quality and the heat preservation heat insulation.

What is the relationship between lightweight foam concrete and aerated concrete?

Lightweight concrete is a special type of aerated concrete. Its pore structure and material properties are close to common aerated concrete, the main difference between them existing only in the shape of pores and aeration means.

What are the characteristics of lightweight concrete?

1. Light weight: lightweight foam concrete has a low density. And its density grade is generally 300-1800kg/m3. The most common-used lightweight foam concrete is of the density between 300-1200 kg/m3.

2. Good thermal insulation performance: because lightweight concrete contains a large number of closed small pores, it has good thermal performance. In other words, it has good thermal insulation performance, which ordinary concrete does not have. Generally, the density of lightweight concrete is in the range of 300-1200 kg/m3, thermal conductivity between 0.08-0.3w/(m·K), and the thermal resistance is about 10-20 times of ordinary concrete.

3, Sound insulation and fire resistance: lightweight foam concrete is a kind of porous material, so it is also a good sound insulation material. In the building floor and highway sound insulation board, the top floor of the underground building can use this material as sound insulation layer. Lightweight foam concrete is also an inorganic material. It will not burn, therefore it has good fire resistance, which often is used in the building so that it can improve the fire performance of the building.

4. Good overall performance: it can be on-site pouring construction, and can be closely combined with the main project.

5. Low elastic shock absorption: the porosity of lightweight concrete makes it have a low elastic modulus, so that it has a good impact load absorption and dispersion.

6. Strong waterproof performance: cast-in-place lightweight foam concrete has a low water absorption rate, relatively independent closed bubbles and good integrity, so that it has a certain waterproof performance.

7. Great durability: it can be used for a long time the same as the main project life.

8, production and processing convenience: lightweight concrete not only can be produced in the factory into a variety of products, but also can be on-site construction, directly cast into the roof, ground and wall.

9. Good environmental protection performance: the materials needed for lightweight concrete are cement and foaming agent, which is neutral and free of harmful substances such as benzene and formaldehyde, avoiding environmental pollution and fire risk.

10. Convenient construction: just by using a cement foam machine, you can achieve automatic operation, and can pump to achieve a vertical height of 200 meters long-distance transportation. The workload is 150-300 cubic per working day.

What are the applications of lightweight foam concrete?

1.It can be used as a retaining wall. The lightweight foam concrete is primarily used as a the rock wall in a harbor. Using light backfill material behind shore wall can reduce vertical load and lateral load of shore wall.

2.It can be used to build sports grounds and field tracks.

3.It can be used as a sandwich component. In the precast reinforced concrete components, lightweight foam concrete can be used as the inner core, so that it has a good performance of light weight, high strength and heat insulation. The density is usually 400-600kg /m³.

4. It can be used in the field of pipeline backfill. Underground waste oil tank, pipeline (containing crude oil, chemicals), sewage pipe and other holes are easy to lead to fire or collapse, the use of foam concrete backfill can forestall those future problems. besides, its cost is also very low. The density of foam concrete depends on the diameter of the pipe and the water table, and  usually the density is 600-1100kg/m³. .

5.It is often used for lean concrete filling in the layer. Due to the use of flexible hose, foam concrete has a great degree of work and adaptability, so it is often used for lean concrete filling. If the insulation requirement is not high, the density is 1200kg/m³. The average thickness of lean concrete filling is 0.05m. For high insulation requirements, the density is 500kg/m³. And its average thickness is 0.1-0.2m.

6.It is often used in roof slope. Foamed concrete is used for roof slope, which has the advantages of light weight, fast construction speed and low price. The slope is generally 10mm/m, the thickness is 0.03-0.2m, and the density is 800-1200kg /m³.

7.It is used to support for the bottom end of the storage tank. Pouring steps of foamed concrete on the bottom of the bottom of the steel storage tank (with crude oil and chemicals) can form a convex foundation if necessary, so as to ensure that the support of the entire bottom of the tank is in the optimal stress state during welding. This continuous support can make the tank adopt the bottom of the thin plate tank. Convex foundations are also easy to clean. The density of foamed concrete is 800-1000kg\m³ .

8.It can be used for landscaping. The bulk density of foamed concrete is 600-1000kg/m³ , which can be used for garden rockery, dustbin, table stool and so on.

9.It can be used in the field of national defence (modern warfare uses information and advanced mobile devices as the attack tool). The foam cement can be used in military engineering. For example,when the airport has been damaged by the enemy bombing, foam concrete can be used to make important implement immediately repair.

10. Other uses: Foam concrete can also be used for firewall insulation filling, sound insulation floor filling, tunnel liner backfilling. Besides, it can be used in the field of the isolation of power and water pipelines.

Cie-China.org is the leading foam concrete additives provider providing concrete foaming agent, superplasticizer,foam concrete strength enhancer for lightweight concrete, CLC blocks. If you are looking for foaming agent, please feel free to contact us.