Preparation and characterization of super low density foamed concrete from Portland cement and admixtures

• Published in: Construction & building materials Vol. 72; pp. 256 - 261
• Main Authors: Pan, Zhihua, Li, Hengzhi, Liu, Weiqing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15-12-2014; Elsevier B.V
• Subjects: Additives; Analysis; Cement; Foamed concrete; Portland cement; Super low density; Thermal insulation; United States; Super low density; Foamed concrete; Portland cement; Thermal insulation
• ISSN: 0950-0618
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.08.078

•Preparation of super low density foamed concrete, SFC, with dry density 150–300kg/m3, was investigated.•Portland cement was used as binding material instead of rapid setting or hardening special cement.•Chemically foaming process was adopted for SFC preparation.•Modification of several properties related to engineering application of SFC was attempted and discussed.
Foamed concrete with its super low density of between 150kg/m3 and 300kg/m3 was prepared by means of chemically foaming and so called mixing and foaming process in laboratory. Conventional Portland cement was selected as the main binding material instead of rapid hardening special cement such as sulfoaluminate cement. Chemical and physical admixtures were properly introduced for the regulation of the rheological property and hardening speed of the fresh cement mixture slurry as well as the physical properties of the hardened foamed concrete. The resultant foamed concrete with its curing age of 28d thus obtained presents its compressive strength between 0.33MPa and 1.1MPa, water absorption between 6.6% and 8.3% and thermal conductivity between 0.05W/mK and 0.07W/mK.