The volume and specific gravity of reinforced concrete - what to use when evaluating the material?
In construction, the weight of the material is used everywhere. Where the knowledge of its value is most often required: when calculating purchases and delivering the required number of components, determining the possible load on the enclosing structures of formwork, design density and heat loss of the resulting monolith, etc. How to be?
In this case, the volumetric weight of reinforced concrete is used, a parameter determined as a result of calculating its weight by a certain volume. And here the characteristics of the fillers, the formation of pores, the degree of bubble filling of the volume, etc., come into force. As you know, a cubic meter of high-quality reinforced concrete can weigh more than two and a half tons. These extra strong compounds, made with crushed stone and special fillers, are used for laying responsible foundations, hoods, etc.
At the same time, light compounds having more than eighty percent of the bubble filling of their volume structure may have a cubic meter weight of less than five hundred kilograms. Such especially light materials are more suitable for the implementation of thermal insulation designs.
Weight of reinforced concrete products - what fillers affect this parameter?
Having considered the extreme weight variations of materials at the beginning, it should be noted that for light compositions, ordinary perlites are various perlites, expanded clay and, of course, sand. This ingredient is a must for all kinds of solutions. For light materials, it takes up to six hundred kilograms.
It is possible to perform porous structures without the use of expanded clay fillers, such as foam concrete or aerated concrete, with a lower percentage of bubbles than in particularly light compositions. In general, in this group the weight of reinforced concrete products ranges from more than five hundred to one ton of eight hundred kilograms per cubic meter. It is in this group of materials that lightweight building blocks are manufactured.
Aggregates in the form of gravel or gravel are used for heavy compositions. The weight of 1 m3 of reinforced concrete with such fillers will be from one ton of eight hundred kilograms to two and a half tons. The main part is made of rubble( up to 1.3 tons), sand( up to 0.75 tons), cement( up to 0.45 tons) and water up to two hundred liters.
By the way, with the complexity of determining the specific gravity of the material, it is easily found by the specific gravity of the constituent ingredients. Combining these weight parts, without the weight of evaporating water, we get two and a half tons per cubic meter. The use of such compositions, considered to be classical, is extremely wide and varied.
Speaking about the strength of compounds, it should be noted that the weight of a cube of reinforced concrete does not directly determine this characteristic. Rather, the brand of used cement exerts a greater influence, while the weight of the cubic meter of the resulting material depends on the filler( the strength is affected by its density).
In compositions of particularly heavy concretes, metal scraps, barites, magnetites and hematites are often included. The weight of one cubic meter of these compounds is from two and a half to three tons. These materials are used in particularly critical areas of armored hockey carts, other protective objects, and well prevent the spread of radioactive radiation.
Weight of reinforced concrete - what else changes this indicator?
An important factor affecting the final strength of materials is the correctness of the calculation of solutions. According to the density of solutions, specialists note rigid, plastic and cast compositions. Their calculation is determined by the properties of the final materials necessary for the work, depends and begins, first of all, with the proportions of water and cement.
Volumes of water so that the mass of reinforced concrete has a given strength can not be taken less than necessary, but the excess can lead to the formation of voids and pores that adversely affect this important characteristic.
The next, no less important stage, affecting the amount of water, is the future fractionality of the fillers, their dimensions and the ratio with the cement. In terms of 1 m3 of reinforced concrete, the weight can be determined approximately by the constituents, as discussed above. However, the calculation should take the characteristics of the water used. But the profitability and density( and in many respects also the strength) of the resulting material, in general, will depend on the proportion of large and small fillers in the composition of the mixture.
As a rule, water volumes are corrected and expressed in terms of the share of cement. It should also be taken into account that practical density rarely corresponds to absolute value due to the presence of a certain number of water residues in the pores of the material and its evaporation when it is hardened( which lasts up to a month).