Thursday, January 10, 2019

Cellular concrete - construction material of the 21st century



In the 21st century, only solutions that guarantee the right quality and measurable economic benefits will deserve attention in every field of technology. This trend also applies to the building materials industry, in particular to wall materials.

In the 21st century, only solutions that guarantee the right quality and measurable economic benefits will deserve attention in every field of technology. This trend also applies to the building materials industry, in particular to wall materials.

Cellular concrete is a material commonly known and used in the construction of single- and multi-family houses, industrial and service construction. It has a number of excellent properties, thanks to which it is the best material for building walls. It combines the features of construction and insulation material. In order to reconcile these two features, cellular concrete must be distinguished by adequate strength with a very favorable thermal conductivity coefficient. The 70-year period of using cellular concrete in the world and the 50-year-old in Poland testifies to its good durability. Cellular concrete does not age, it is resistant to chemical and biological corrosion.

H + H Polska as a leader in the market of cellular concrete in Poland began its activity on the Polish market a few years ago by buying factories in Warsaw, Puławy, Gorzkowice, Lidzbark and Skawina. And with this strong accent he marked his presence on the Polish market and gained the reputation of a reliable and reliable business partner. From the very beginning, the company focused on the production and sale of high-quality cellular concrete blocks, which resulted in the modernization of plants and adaptation of the material to European standards. H + H Polska has been a producer of cellular concrete in the following densities: 400, 500, 550 and 600.

From July 2009 at the Gorzkowice plant, blocks in densities of 350 and 700 are available. In 2009, the production of Termorex gray blocks in TLMB accuracy, ie blocks with the highest dimensional accuracy, was started and currently Termorex blocks 400, which are the nearest time will be available for sale. H + H Polska Sp. z o. o. as the only producer in Europe will produce gray blocks with a density of 400.

Blocks in light densities, in turn, make single-layer walls, and all this is possible due to a reasonable compromise between strength and thermal insulation, which is why cellular concrete is one of the few building materials that allows homogeneous walls to be erected without the need for additional insulation.

Table 1. U heat transfer coefficient values ​​for single-layer walls made of H + H cellular concrete.

As can be seen from the table of cellular concrete walls presented above, H + H meets the requirements for U≤0. 3 [W / m2K] for 350, 400, 500 blocks, thanks to which the investor can choose and apply the material he needs without having to perform additional building insulation.

This solution deserves special attention due to:

• A favorable microclimate in the room associated with the migration of moisture,

• The ability to accumulate thermal energy regardless of the season and conditions outside,

• Easiness and speed of erecting walls, eliminating the possibility of assembly errors, which often happens in the case of sandwich walls.

• Lower wall construction costs.

From the point of view of ergonomics and labor consumption, elements of aerated concrete TLMB varieties 350 and 400 are characterized by large dimensions of blocks with a relatively small weight, which increases the progress of masonry work. Not without significance is the fact that most of the masonry work is done by hand and the weight of the parts being moved plays a significant role. Thanks to the larger dimensions with a correspondingly low weight, we save time and money when building a building. Dimensions of TLMB cores are given in Table 2.

Table 2. Dimensions of blocks and tiles produced in H + H plants

Thanks to the use of state-of-the-art technologies and the continuous development of its products, H + H Polska Sp. z o. o. has the option of offering products of the highest quality. Blocks 700 varieties produced at the plant in Gorzkowice designated PP6-0. 70 are characterized by the highest compressive strength of all offered H + H products. As a result, the walls are made with a higher load capacity, which allows the construction of higher buildings (Table 3).

Table 3. Compressive strength of H + H cellular concrete blocks

These blocks, however, have worse thermal properties, therefore it is necessary in this case to insulate the building.

To make single-layer walls H + H offers blocks in densities 350 produced in the plant in Gorzkowice, and blocks in density 400 produced in the plant in Skawina. These blocks do not have such a high compressive strength, but they have the lowest heat conductivity coefficient λ from all masonry materials available on our market (table 4).

Table 4. Thermal conductivity coefficient λ of aerated concrete H + H