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Liteweight concrete
What Is liteweight concrete?
Liteweight concrete is a mixture made with lightweight coarse aggregates such as shale, clay, or slate, which give it its characteristic low density. It is being increasingly used to build sleek foundations, and has emerged as a viable alternative to regular concrete .
Liteweight aggregate concrete can be used for the construction of partition walls and panel walls in frame structures. It can be used to create general insulation of walls. It is also used to get surface rendered for external walls of small houses. It can be used for reinforced concrete.
Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) is a lightweight, precast, foam concrete building material suitable for producing concrete masonry unit (CMU) like blocks. Composed of quartz sand, calcined gypsum, lime, cement, water and aluminum powder, AAC products are cured under heat and pressure in an autoclave.
Structural liteweight concrete has an in-place density of 90 to 115 lb/ft³, whereas the density of regular weight concrete ranges from 140 to 150 lb/ft³. Nevertheless, a higher compressive strength of 7000 to 10,000 psi can be attained with lightweight concrete.
Advantages of light-weight Concrete
Reduced loading of wet concrete permits longer span to be poured un-propped. This save each labor and circle time for every floor.
Reduction of dead load, quicker building rates and lower pull and handling costs. The eight of the building in term of the hundreds transmitted by the foundations is a crucial think about design, specific for the case of tall buildings.
the employment of LWC has generally created its doable to proceed with the planning that otherwise would are abandoned as a result of excessive weight. In frame structures, wide savings in price is led to by victimization LWC for the development floors, partition and external cladding.
Most building materials adore clay bricks the pull load is proscribed not by volume however by weight. With appropriate style containers abundant larger volumes of LWC will haul economically.
A less obvious but notwithstanding vital characteristics of LWC is its comparatively low thermal conductivity, a property that improves with decreasing density in recent years, with the increasing cost and insufficiency of energy sources, a lot of attention has been given the at one time to the necessity for reducing fuel consumption whereas maintaining, and so improving, comfort conditions buildings.
The purpose is illustrated by incontrovertible fact that a a hundred twenty five millimeter thick solid wall of aerated concrete can provide thermal insulation regarding fourfold bigger than that of a 230 mm clay brick wall.
Types of Liteweight Concrete
1. Low-Density Concrete
These are used mainly for insulation purposes. With low unit weight, seldom exceeding 800 kg/m³, warmness insulation fee are high. Compressive energy are low, concerning from approximately 0.69 to 6.89 N/mm2.
2. Moderate Density Concrete
The use of those concrete calls for an honest diploma of compressive energy, and as a result, they fall approximately halfway among the structural and coffee density concrete. These are on occasion designed as ‘fill’ concrete. Compressive energy are about 6.89 to 17.24 N/mm² and insulation values are intermediate.
3. Structural Concrete
Concrete with complete structural performance includes aggregates that fall on the opposite stop of the dimensions and which can be normally made with increased shale, clay, slates, slag, and fly-ash. The minimum compressive energy is 17.24 N/mm².
Most structural LWC are able to generate concrete with compressive energy in an extra 34.47 N/mm².
Since the unit weight of structural LWC are drastically more than the ones of low-density concrete, insulation performance is lower. However, thermal insulation values for structural LWC are drastically higher than NWC.
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