Once you have established a basic understanding of a easy concrete mix you can begin to learn more about new concrete technologies and the true limitations of this thinkable, construction material - hint, there are not many!
By changing the volume and type of aggregates that you use in your cement mix you can create many different types of concrete excellent to different applications. In normal the goal of substituting aggregates is to have the concrete remain consistently strong as a fulfilled, product. Some examples of concrete industrialized techniques are:
1) Color or dye in the concrete
2) Lightweight concrete
3) High force concrete
4) Decorative concrete
Even all of these options are just the tip of the iceberg for what concrete is capable of. The extreme limitations of current concrete technology being researched and industrialized are transparent (translucent actually) concrete which will show a silhouette through concrete that is meters thick! Limitations of concrete force is self supporting concrete which does not want the mechanical assistance of steel grid work. Concrete force used to be quantum is Psi however mPa or mega Pascals is the current unit of compressive concrete force referring to the amount of force the concrete can ensure before failure.
Coloured Concrete
You can add powder or liquid pigments to your concrete to perform involving and dynamic colors. Common colors would be brown, red, dark grey, tan and other similar earth tones. To get more vibrant concrete colors you can use pure white Portland cement in place of regular cement, as well as pure white sand instead of regular sand. This white mortar mix will react well to more vibrant colors and pigments. The amount of pigment or dye that you use will depend entirely on the brand that you choose. The best formula is to buy from a specialty concrete provide store which will have a far best option of ability concrete color additives than your local hardware provide store.
Lightweight Concrete
You can replace all or part of the sand in a 3:1 mortar mix with compound materials that are much lighter in nature than sand. The succeed will be a concrete that is much lighter, but also vastly weaker than a 3:1 sand mortar. There are many applications for lightweight concrete with many of them being decorative such as planter pots or garden statues. The most Common lightweight compound material substitutions for manufacture concrete are:
Vermiculite - which is a mineral and often sold as "pool base" in larger quantities from pool stores which will make a relatively strong, but compressible concrete. The insulation value of vermiculite is very high, more than ten times as high as sand, so vermiculite concrete mixes are often used for sound dampening and insulating.
Peat Moss - Using peat partially in place of sand will succeed in a concrete that is much weaker than original 3:1 mortar and even much weaker than vermiculite concrete. The texture of the concrete is somewhat earthy and finishing and information work con be slightly difficult by comparison with other mixes.
Saw Dust - This is another easily ready and cheap compound substitutions used to perform a lightweight concrete. In addition to providing a rough and inconsistent texture to the concrete, the wood ingrained will often stain and discolour creating an involving and unique pattern. Too much sawdust can make the concrete unacceptably weak very quickly - more so than vermiculite and peat moss.
Perlite - This is ordinarily used for gardening and is recognisable in that it is completely white and very similar in texture to styrofoam beads. The main advantage of this compound option is the fact that it is white. It has a similar uncut feel as vermiculite however the concrete produced with vermiculite is much easier to work and finish than concrete made with perlite.
Usually you can replace up to two of your three buckets of sand with an alternative aggregate. Vermiculite can be mixed with level cement without sand and still remain strong sufficient to suit any tasks such as swimming pool floors. The other aggregates will yield a concrete that will break under its own weight.
High force Concrete
The current force for concrete is measured in mPa with the median sidewalk concrete being 10-15 mPa where as foundations for homes usually start at 20-25 mPa. High rise industrial concrete is closer to 35 mPa as is swimming pool construction concrete.
The strengthening of concrete over and above what a 3:1 mortar mix will yield requires engineering and testing. If you order concrete from a ready mix or bath plant you can specify certainly how strong you want the concrete to be. If you are mixing it yourself and want to make the concrete as strong as reasonably potential there are a few things that you can do.
Glass Fibres - Glass fibres and fibreglass are two different additives which you can put into your concrete to help make it cohesively stronger as well as minimize hairline cracking in the concrete while the curing process.
Water Reducer - is a liquid that you can put into the concrete in place of water. The water reducer will growth the viscosity and workability of the cement dramatically without affecting the fulfilled, force negatively. The more water that you put in concrete the weaker the fulfilled, product will be. In place of water reducer you can also use the absolute minimum water potential to get the concrete workable to make it as strong as possible.
Powder Additives - Combinations of very dense powders such as silica fume and fly ash can potentially help to make concrete stronger by filling in some of the puny spaces left in regular concrete by the larger sized aggregates. These tiny aggregates are risky to work with because the airborne particles are small sufficient to damage your lungs should you breathe them. Most of these powder additives will be hard to locate for the median Diy enthusiast.
Decorative Concrete
In place of sand you can also add just about any other substance such as glass or coloured beads, pieces of plastic or metal, rubber or whatever else you can think of. Most ordinarily you would use this concrete to create an exposed compound where loose compound is imbedded into the top of partially cured concrete. Exposed compound with small coloured stones is very Common and you likely have seen this before. Exposed compound with marbles and microchips is less Common to be sure - but not any less possible.
With some basic practice you can learn to create thinkable, things such as statues, pool decks, synthetic rocks, ponds, waterfalls and decorative art.
Diy Concrete Mixing - advanced Mix Ingredients & Techniques
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