UNIT-1

LECTURE - 1
LIGHT WEIGHT CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

Brig. S.K. Sharma (Retd.)

Pro Vice Chancellor and Professor
Department of Civil Engineering,
The Northcap University, Gurgaon

The Northcap University, Gurgaon

INDEX
LIGHT WEIGHT CONCRETE
FOAMED OR AERATED CONCRETE
METHOD OF MANUFACTURE
PROPERTIES

OF

CONCRETE

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LIGHTWEIGHT

FOAMED

LIGHT WEIGHT CONCRETE

NEED FOR: The conventional cement concrete is
a heavy material having a density of 2400 kg/m3
and high thermal conductivity. The dead weight of
the structure made up of this concrete is large
compared to the imposed load to be carried. In
highrise buildings Light Weight Concrete can save
money
and
manpower
considerably.
The
improvement in thermal insulation is of great
significance to the conservation of energy. The
reduction in dead weight is normally achieved by
cellular construction by entraining large
quantities of air.
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LIGHT WEIGHT CONCRETE

There are many advantages of having low density
of concrete. It helps in reduction of dead load,
increases the progress of building, and lowers
haulage and handling costs. The weight of a
building on the foundation is an important factor in
design, particularly in the case of beams and
columns which have to carry load of floors and
walls.

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METHOD OF MANUFACTURE
Basically the main method for making concrete light is by
the inclusion of air in concrete. This is achieved in
actual practice by three different ways:By replacing the usual mineral aggregate by cellular
porous or light-weight aggregate.
By introducing gas or air bubbles. This is known as
aerated concrete.
By omitting sand from the aggregate. This is called
no-fines concrete.
Video YouTube, Autoclaved Aerated Concerete blocks
installation, 6:26 min
Video YouTube, Foam Concrete House, 18:23 min
Video YouTube, Shobha Home Truths Demo Block Work,
02:55 min
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FOAMED OR AERATED CONCRETE

Foamed concrete is a type of porous concrete

is a highly workable low-density material which

can incorporate up to 50 per cent entrained air.
It is generally self-leveling, self-compacting
and can be pumped.

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METHOD OF MANUFACTURING
(Continued..)
The traditional method of making lightweight
aerated or cellular concrete involves the addition of
a gas-forming admixture like aluminum powder to
a wet mortar mix followed by autoclave curing.
Foamed concrete is made from mechanically mixing
preformed stable foam to the slurry of cement
and water. This action incorporates small air bubbles
distributed uniformly within the mortar thereby making
low density concrete. The foam is made by a simple
foaming generator where air, water, and foaming
chemicals are mixed and stable foam is formed.
Foamed (or cellular) concrete is obtained by
foamed concrete technology which is environment
friendly, as there are no waste products in its
production
and
all Gurgaon
the ingredients are non-hazardous.
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University,
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Due to its good mechanical strength, low thermal

PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT
FOAMED CONCRETE

1. STRENGTHS:
Compressive strength: The compressive strength

of foamed concrete is influenced by many factors

such as density, age, moisture content, the
physical
and
chemical
characteristics
of
constituent materials and mix proportions. The
increase in strength with age is virtually linear over
the first 12 months unlike dense-weight
concrete which levels out much earlier. The
rate of development of strength in foamed concrete
is higher than that in the dense weight concrete.
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PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT
FOAMED CONCRETE (Continued..)
Tensile Strength: Depending on the method of

curing, the tensile strength of foamed concrete

can be as high as 0.25 times its compressive
strength.
Shear Strength: The shear strength generally
varies between 6 and 10 percent of the
compressive strength. Shear reinforcement
may be required in flooring and roofing units.

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PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT
FOAMED CONCRETE(Continued)
2. SHRINKAGE: Like all cement products, foamed
concrete shrinks during the setting stage. The
shrinkage depends upon the type and amount of
cement in the mix; water-to-cement ratio type
of curing process, size of element, quality of
sand and density of foamed concrete. The most
shrinkage occurs during the first 28 days, after this
time it is negligible. During the first 28 days, if the
conditions of manufacture of the foamed concrete
are well controlled, shrinkage can be kept
below 0.1 per cent.
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PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT
FOAMED CONCRETE(Continued)
3. EXPANSION: The coefficient of linear expansion
for foamed concrete is or the same order of
magnitude as for normal concrete, i.e 0.00001
per degree centigrade. This factor becomes
important in the applications where the concrete
elements are exposed to extreme heat and cold
variations, in case of large areas of roof slabs.

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PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT
FOAMED CONCRETE(Continued)
4. Acoustic insulation: Foamed concrete has a
high sound absorption capacity. In general,
dense-weight concrete tends to reflect sound
whereas foamed concrete absorbs the sound. This
slight disadvantage is in most cases academic, since
most walls are either rendered, painted or both. This
in turn will make a wall reflect sound as does
dense-weight concrete.

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PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT
FOAMED CONCRETE(Continued)
5. Thermal insulation: Thermal insulation is one
of the extremely important characteristics of
foamed concrete. Due to its cellular structure,
it offers a very low transmission of heat
resulting in high energy conservation. The thermal
conductivity increases with the increase in the
density of concrete. The thermal conductivity of
foam concrete is very low varying from 0.1 to
0.38.

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PROPERTIES OF LIGHTWEIGHT
FOAMED CONCRETE(Continued)
6. Fire resistance: Foamed concrete is fire
resistant and thus is suited to fire rated
applications. Furthermore, the application of intense
heat such as an oxy-torch held close to the surface
of foamed concrete does not make it burn, spall or
give off toxic gases, fumes or smoke as is the case
with normal dense-weight concrete. The reinforcing
steel remains cool and protected for a much longer
period.

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Thank You

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