Technical Note 22

BASF CONSTRUCTION CHEMICALS

ABRASION TESTING OF CEMENTITIOUS FLOORS

BASF Construction Chemicals offices in ASEAN Singapore Tel :+65-6861-6766 Fax :+65-6861-3186 Malaysia Tel :+60-3-3344-3388 Fax :+60-3-3344-2288 Indonesia Tel :+62-21-893-4339 Fax : +62-21-893-4342 Thailand Tel :+66-3845-3020 Fax :+66-3845-3029 Vietnam Tel :+84-650-743-100 Fax :+84-650-743-200 Philippines Tel : +63-2-632-9995 Fax : +63-2-632-9996

Mar 2007

Technical Note 22

Technical Note No 22 ABRASION TESTING OF CEMENTITIOUS FLOORS There are many types of abrasion testers available and the methodology of testing differs markedly between the different tests. After much research two tests were chosen to give the best ability to determine the RELATIVE abrasion resistance of various types of cementitious toppings and floor hardeners. A modified version of ASTM C 131, Los Angeles Abrasion Test or LA Rattler and ASTM C779 Procedure A were chosen as they give the best comparative results and show the differences in performance that could be expected under severe conditions. The Los Angeles test or LA Rattler is a measure of degradation of mineral aggregates of standard gradings resulting from a combination of actions including abrasion or attrition, impact, and grinding in a rotating steel drum containing a specified number of steel spheres. The L.A. Abrasion test is widely used as an indicator of the relative quality or competence of mineral aggregates.

The modifications adopted for evaluation of our dry shake materials utilises a cube of the basic material. Thus different concretes and dry shakes can be tested to see their relative impact resistance. 50mm cubes of the material to be tested are produced, allowed to stay in the mould for 1 day and then water cured for 28 days. The samples are allowed to air dry and then are weighed prior to the test and then put into a tumbler with a single side attached blade. This blade picks up the cubes and the steel balls and forces them to drop to the bottom of the barrel and be impacted by the steel balls and the other cubes. Three (3) cubes of each material are used per test and 9 solid steel balls are added as well. The barrel is mechanically rotated for a total of 2000 revolutions and at 500 revolution intervals stopped and the cubes weighed. Thus the progression of the weight loss gives some comparative data on the deterioration under impact. The loss in weight is used to determine the relative level of impact resistance and can differentiate between different levels of impact resistance.

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Technical Note 22

In this test Mastertop 100 performs better than a standard 33MPa concrete (approximately 70% weight loss). The loss in the case of the Mastertop 100 is about 45-50% of the weight with the Mastertop 200 being in the region of 30%. The loss for Mastertop 210 and 230 is about the same as the Mastertop 200. However this indicates the ultimate impact resistance and does not mean that a Mastertop 200 floor would perform the same as a 210 or 230 floor in severe areas such as waste transfer stations and tracked vehicle workshops. ASTM C779 comprises three tests that measure the relative abrasion resistance of horizontal concrete surfaces. Procedure A Rotating Discs, Procedure B Rotating Dressing Wheels and Procedure C Rotating Balls. These tests (although destructive) could be used on site or in the laboratory and can be used to differentiate between different concrete mixtures, toppings, floor hardeners and finishing techniques.

ASTM C779 Procedure A was chosen as our standard as this is the most useful for the testing of concrete mixes and toppings. Procedure A uses #60 grit Silicon Carbide that is slid and scuffed along the surface by a series of revolving disks. The revolving disks over time cut a circular channel in the sample and the test is run for periods of 30 minutes, 60 minutes and 90 minutes. This allows a determination of the effect of surface treatment and to see the progression of wear over time. The test sample (generally 300mm square) is placed in the jig and levelled and the disks rotated for 5 minutes to remove any imperfections from the surface. This is taken as the starting point and the disks are allowed to rotate at constant speed and weight. At the end of the time period the silicon carbide and the ground product are removed from the depression and the depth measured.

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Technical Note 22

The test is then restarted for an additional 30 minutes and the procedure repeated. The depth of wear is taken from at least three positions around the ring and the average calculated. The use of the depth of wear allows many types of materials to be tested (coatings, toppings, floor hardeners finishing techniques, curing regimes etc). There are other methods used for abrasion testing that may not be suitable for our range of cementitious floor toppings and hardeners. The Taber method is often quoted especially for concrete coatings and this relies on the collection of material removed by the rotating wheel. This method can be misleading when applied to a metallic floor hardener as the density (and thus the weight) of the material measured is high and thus may give an equivalent weight to a topping even though the actual physical depth of the abrasion was less. Taber is a very useful method for determining relative abrasion resistance between thin and thick coatings. Another method often used is the Bohme method which uses a driven hard rubber wheel on a standard sized block. This method relies on the volume of material removed to give a reading. As the rotating wheel moves in a somewhat random pattern the volume is used to determine the out come. This method is unsuitable for Iron based floors as the iron floor will abrade the wheel and the resultant volume is not a reliable indicator of comparative performance. The ASTM 779 Test allows a differentiation between the Mastertop series of toppings and floor hardeners. With this test we can show that Mastertop 100 has twice the abrasion resistance of plain concrete (33MPa) and that Mastertop 105 has five times the abrasion resistance plain (33MPa) concrete and more than twice that of Mastertop 100. Mastertop 200 (along with Mastertop 210 and 230) has the highest level with more than 8 times the abrasion resistance of plain concrete.

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