HIGH PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY FOR AGGRESSIVE ENVIRONMENTS
Concrete is a constantly evolving material and the advent of new technology is constantly raising performance levels. In today’s world, the trends in the construction industry demand a quick and practical response: increased efficiency in site material handling, increasingly robust performance, quicker maintenance turnaround times and increased durability, greater attention to the aesthetics of materials, reducing noise pollution for neighbouring areas, and sustainable development. All of these challenges must be managed and total construction costs must be reduced. In such a framework of economic scales, the cost of materials is secondary to the actual reduction of total construction costs through better performance properties.
The specific properties of calcium aluminate achieve these goals in construction trends. Their durability in aggressive environments and their maintenance turnaround time all contribute to the reduction of construction costs in areas such as materials protection, repairs or maintenance.
Because their constituents and their production processes are different from Portland cement, calcium aluminate cements (also called CAC or aluminous cements) actually achieve exceptional performance ratings, which are often beyond the reach of current Portland cement technology. Calcium aluminate cements fill all the requirements expected from conventional cements thanks to the following properties:
- Rapid hardening: Up to 20 MPa of compression resistance achieved in under 3 hours.
- Controlled wet-edge time: Open time of several hours according to the formula and additives used,
- Very high resistance to wear caused by abrasion, erosion, pitting and impacts,
- Resistance to high temperatures (1100°C) and to thermal shock caused by high and low temperatures,
- Hardening even in cold weather (as low as -10°C and lower under certain conditions),
- Exceptional resistance to biogenic corrosion (sewage systems) and to diluted acids: pH>4, even 3.5 when using ALAG® synthetic aggregates.
The first calcium aluminate cement CIMENT FONDU® was patented in 1908 by the firm P&A Pavin de Lafarge, followed by an available line of cements, aggregates and techniques for specialized cements which have been in use for decades on construction sites requiring properties which have been beyond the capacities of Portland cements. Kerneos is constantly developing CAC cement technology in order to provide a complete line of available products for “surface concrete” and “rapid concrete”.
Surface concrete
Wherever infrastructure is exposed to harsh conditions under certain operating environments - especially in heavy industries such as steel mills, petro-chemical or aluminum plants – CAC concrete provides a protective surface which increases the durability of the physical plant:
- Surface concrete protection against high temperature and thermal shocks,
- Surface concrete protection against mechanical wear caused by abrasion and impacts,
- Surface concrete protection against hydraulic infrastructure subject to abrasion, erosion and impacts,
- Surface concrete protection against corrosion caused by diluted acids (pH>4)in industrial environments
- Surface concrete protection against biogenic corrosion in sewage systems.
Rapid concrete
Whether it is for new construction or for carrying out repairs, maintenance turnaround time is a significant variable which can reach critical proportions. The achievement of rapid resistance times for CAC concretes allows for maintenance turnaround times measured in just hours following its application:
- Night-time repair work on highway slabs with maintenance turnaround times of only 3 hours following the application of concrete,
- Repairs on airport runways and docking bays,
- Industrial infrastructure repairs with minimum impact on operations,
- Repairs of bridge joint closures,
- Ultra-rapid turnaround time for tunnels and mines.
FROM BINDERS TO CONCRETES: A COMPLETE LINE OF PRODUCTS
In order to meet the demands of its clients, Kerneos has been pursuing innovation with a large range of binders, aggregates and technical solutions which are designed to meet the needs of high performance special concrete technology in applications such as surfaces/lining, repair or construction requiring short hand-over times. This line of products has evolved into four large families of products.
1) Binders
Kerneos offers a line of calcium aluminate cement products covering a wide range of chemical and mineralogical constituents which reflect a great variety of parameters in terms of reactivity, flow rates and colour, in addition to resistance properties to physical and chemical stress.
The choice of a binder for specialized concrete depends on the given technical specifications. Even though CIMENT FONDU® is always in high demand, the SECAR® line of products is a valuable complement (SECAR®51 et SECAR®71) wherever specific flow rates or different colours are required. When such a measure is justified, tailor-made binders may be developed.
2) Synthetic aggregates
ALAG® synthetic aggregates are added to luminous concrete formulas in order to respond to the most extreme abrasion, corrosion and thermal shocks. The extra hard ALAG® line of synthetic aggregate products has an exceptional chemical affinity with aluminous cements and makes it possible to produce vey high performance concrete.
3) Pre-mixed mortar and concrete
FONDAG® and FONDUCRETE® products offer easy-to-use procedures and safe results thanks to ready-use high performance mortars and concrete only requiring the admixture of water.
4) Technological solutions for Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC)
The most recent Kerneos products are the “worksite technical systems” which equip Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) Producers with innovative solutions for the industrial use of calcium aluminate cement. These systems come from the combination of work-specific binders, appropriate additives and an on-site work system which leads to the desired results.
The objective is to obtain calcium aluminate concrete which is compatible with the industrial ready-mix practices, while also including the application qualities of CAC concrete. This means for example that the concrete will have sufficient wet-edge time, and a flow rate which permits large volumes and reliable results. The direct clients are the concrete producers looking for a wider line of products.
To know more
To know more about Kerneos’ offer for Technical concrete applications
Download our brochures:
- CIMENT FONDU® brochure (PDF - 1 087 ko)
- ALAG® brochure (PDF - 1 156 ko)
- FONDAG® brochure (PDF - 2 103 ko)
