Chemical admixtures for the optimization of the AAC production

Abstract

AbstractThe use of chemical admixtures for the improvement of the manufacturing process, as well as for the quality enhancement of elements and buildings, is a regular practice in standard high consistency concrete, both in ready‐mix and in precast applications, but is still quite limited in the production of autoclaved aerated concrete (ACC). This is partially due to the difficulty of replicating the manufacturing process in the laboratory, which includes expansion and setting in the precuring stage, followed by the autoclave treatment at elevated temperature and pressure. This work presents a structured approach to the design of specific chemical admixtures for ACC, which started with the identification of suitable laboratory equipment, and test methods for the simulation of the production process of AAC. This was then expanded with the screening and selection of different chemical formulations, to end with the development of chemical admixtures tailored for the ACC. The results show that, by using these specific admixtures, the producers of AAC can accelerate the production process, thereby increasing the output of the plant; alternatively, when the increase in productivity is not an objective, the same admixtures can be employed to achieve a significant optimization in the composition of the mix.