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Foam concrete with porous mineral and organic additives

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2015 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 71 012016
(http://iopscience.iop.org/1757-899X/71/1/012016)
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TSUAB2014
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 71 (2015) 012016

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1757-899X/71/1/012016

Foam concrete with porous mineral and organic additives

Kudiakov1, I Prischepa1 and M Tolchennickov1
Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building, Department of Building
Materials and Technologies, Tomsk, 634003, Russia
1

E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract. The article presents results of studies of structural heat insulating foam concrete with
porous mineral and organic additives. By mixing additives with the concrete the speed of the
initial structure formation increases. The additives of ash loss and thermal-modified peat
TMT 600 provide a stable increase of strength by compression and bending of foam concrete.
In the dried foam concrete with the addition of TMT and ash loss thermal conductivity
decreases by 20% and 7% respectively. The regularities of changes in the thermal conductivity
at various moisture of foam concrete have been investigated.

1. Introduction
In the main areas of economic and social development of Russia including construction industry a lot
of attention is paid to the acceleration of scientific and technical progress. Energy saving and resource
conservation through the development and implementation of energy efficient building materials for
building envelopes are especially important [1].
In the construction sector significant part of energy consumption includes the energy cost of
building materials production, their transportation, construction of objects, and further operation of
buildings [2]. For heat-efficient house it is necessary to find materials and products of the new
generation to apply in building envelopes and in bearing structures. The criteria for the effectiveness
of such materials should be their high thermal properties, enhanced reliability and durability, ease of
technology solutions, the low level of production costs in the manufacture of products. Therefore
development and improvement of the production of heat insulating foam concrete of a higher level of
quality and steady properties is crucial problem to be solved. The application of natural hardening
foam in buildings will improve the energy efficiency of building due to its higher thermal resistance of
the walls and by decreasing energy intensity of building envelopes [3].
In order to improve the competitive ability of natural hardening foam, that is, the improvement of
its quality and the reduction of its cost, it is necessary to focus on reduction of thermal conductivity of
concrete as much as possible at the stage of the selection of raw materials, the design of composition
and preparation of raw material mixture, forming of the products by providing the required
compressive and flexural strength. Preparation of foam concrete with low thermal conductivity and
density is achieved by mixing the cement paste with porous foam or the introduction of fine-grained
additives, as well as by the acceleration of setting time of cement which will fix the structure in the
same condition in which it was formed in the process of mixing and molding. Solving the problem of
stabilization of foam concrete mixture with porous mineral and organic additives will provide a new
competitive and efficient heat insulating material based on cement binder.

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1

TSUAB2014
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 71 (2015) 012016

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1757-899X/71/1/012016

The purpose of research performed was to develop concrete compositions and processing methods
of manufacturing of structural heat insulating non-autoclave foam with low thermal conductivity and
improved levels of quality through the use of porous mineral and organic additives.
The main goal of this paper is to investigate the influence of porous mineral and organic additives
on the technological properties, structure of foam concrete mix, as well as the technical and
operational characteristics of the hardened foam.
2. Materials and methods
For studies of foam the following raw materials were used: Portland cement from Topkinsky plant
M500 D0 (GOST 30515-97), CEM I 4,5 B (GOST 31108-2003), quartz sand with Mach -1.44
(GOST 8736-93), ash loss CHP-5, Novosibirsk (GOST 25818-91), thermal-modified peat additive
TMT600 developed by the staff of the Departments of Chemistry and Building Materials and
Technologies of Tomsk State University of Architecture and Building [4]. Thermal-modified peat
additive comprises thermally steady organic mineral complexes providing reinforcing and structure
forming effect in the cement stone. Thermal-modified peat additive is chemically active and promotes
the formation of new compounds in the structuring process of cement paste that leads to an increase in
strength of cement stone. As the mixing water tap water was used that corresponds to the requirements
of GOST 23732-2011. According to the results of preliminary studies [5] for the preparation of higher
quality foam it can be recommended to use synthetic foaming agent Benoteh PB-C, satisfying the
requirements of GOST 24211-2003 and technical condition 2481-010-58771162-2007. Foaming agent
Benoteh PB-C has a high foaming ability, foam stability and steady properties when incorporated into
cement slurry and increases the speed of structure formation.
Laboratory studies of foam were carried out in the laboratories of the Department Building
Materials and Technologies in TSUAB. Preparation of foam concrete mix was carried out by one-step
process in the laboratory using foam concrete mixer PBS with the volume of 10 liters. Foaming agent
was injected into the foam concrete mixer with the mixing water. Plastic strength of foam concrete
mix was determined by using conical Rebinder plastometer. Molded foam samples were kept up in
wet conditions until the standard test. Testing and evaluation of the quality of foam was conducted in
accordance with GOST 25485-89 d. The average foam density was determined in accordance with
GOST 12730.1-78. Foam test in determining the compressive strength and flexural strength was
carried out on a hydraulic press by loading to failure in accordance with GOST 10180-2012, and
thermal conductivity - in accordance with GOST 7076-99.
3. Results and discussion
Experimental evaluation of the influence of porous mineral and organic additives on the intensity of
interactions between structural elements that occur immediately after mixing of the components was
carried out according to the magnitude of the plastic strength of the concrete mix. Change of the
plastic strength at an early stage of structure formation is an important technological characteristic of
the concrete mix, allowing evaluating the formability (remolding effort) at a certain time interval of
the cycle of manufacturing of products [6]. According to this criterion, it is possible to set the
optimum time for removal of form of the molded products (prefabrication) or structures (monolithic
construction), that, in practice will help to coordinate the timing when carrying out concrete works.
The results of determination of the plastic strength of foam concrete mix with thermally modified
peat additive and ash loss are presented in Figure 1.
The results show that the higher rates of plastic strength are formed in the foam with porous
mineral and organic additives in the initial setting periods of hardening. So after 45 minutes of
hardening of the concrete mix with additives plastic strength is increased up to 56 % in comparison
with foam concrete mixture without additives, and after 3 hours of hardening up to 65 %. Thus, the
results of tests concluded the possibility of using additives TMT600 and ash loss to accelerate the
initial structuring of foam concrete mix that can accelerate manufacturing process of products and
increase the smoothness of foam structure by means of demixing reduction.

TSUAB2014
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 71 (2015) 012016

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1757-899X/71/1/012016

Figure 1. Plastic strength of concrete mixtures with additives.

Figures 2 and 3 show the results of a study of compressive strength and bending strength of
branded foam at an average density of D700 with the addition of peat TMT600 and ash loss at the age
of 14 and 28 days.

Figure 2. Kinetics of a set of bending strength of Figure 3. Kinetics of a set of compressive

foam samples.
strength f samples of foam.
Analyzing the results (see Figures 2 and 3) one can see that when using ash loss in the age of 14
and 28 days the compressive and bending strength is raised up to 23 and 35 %, 10 and 12 %,
respectively. In foam concrete with the addition of peat TMT 600 the compressive strength and
bending strength is raised to 24 and 38 % and 15-20 % respectively.
For foam, used for the manufacture of building envelopes, thermal conductivity is of great
importance. Products from foam are adapted to difficult climatic and economic conditions in Russia,
namely, they have low thermal conductivity and high durability [7]. Thermal conductivity of porous
materials, which are the foam concrete, is strongly influenced by the density of the material, type, size
and location of pores and humidity [8]. Humidity has great influence on the value of the thermal
conductivity. In Tomsk region, the average annual air humidity is in the range of 70-90 %.
Studies of the effect of moisture on the thermal conductivity of foam concrete have been
conducted. To obtain foam with certain moisture, samples were kept in a desiccator over aqueous
potassium hydroxide solution of various concentrations: 40 % potassium hydroxide solution
(=70 %); potassium hydroxide solution 30 % (=80 %); potassium hydroxide solution 10 %
(=93 %); water (=100 %) [9].
Thermal conductivity of foam concrete with additives 600 and ash loss (Table 1) at 0 %, 20%
and 7 % moisture is less respectively than the one without foam additives. This is due to the fact that
the addition of TMT 600 and ash loss contribute to consolidation of cement stone structure in
interporous partitions and provide increased micro porosity [10]. At 70 % moisture the thermal
conductivity of foam with ash loss and 600 TMT is decreased to 30-32 % and at 90 % humidity to 25-

TSUAB2014
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 71 (2015) 012016

IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1757-899X/71/1/012016

30 % compared with foamed concrete without additives.

Table 1. Thermal conductivity of foam concrete with the addition of peat and fly ash loss.
Thermal conductivity
Humidity, %
0 % W/mC
70 % W/mC
80 % W/mC
90 % W/mC
Foam concrete
0,14
0,2
0,23
0,24
Foam concrete with TMT 600
0,12
0,124
0,15
0,16
Foam concrete with fly ash
0,13
0,134
0,14
0,174
Using the obtained data the technological regulations of manufacturing of foam concrete mixes for
prefabricated products have been developed.
4. Conclusion
Foam concrete with modifying mineral and organic additives have higher plastic strength by early
structure formation, more homogeneous structure, compressive and bending rigidity and lower thermal
conductivity in comparison with conventional foam concrete and can be recommended for use in the
construction of thermal-efficient buildings.
Acknowledgement
The research performed with the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the
Russian Federation within Governmental Decree No.218 of Measures of state support for cooperation
of Russian higher education institutions and organizations, for implementation of complex projects of
high-tech production, integrated project No. 02.G25.31.0022, Production technologies of energyand resource-efficient housing of economy class based on the universal framed prefabricated
architectural and construction system.
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