At the beginning of the 20th century, the Swedish architect A. Ericksson invented artificial material consisting of mineral binder and silicon dioxide. This mineral had a porous structure, so it was called cellular concrete.
Such concrete is characterized by high rates of hardness and strength, excellent thermal characteristics, ease of processing and ease of installation. In addition, it is a firewall, and the blocks, due to the correct geometric shape and clear sizes, are laid on a special glue, and not on a cement mortar. The seam is about 3 mm, which is a minimum indicator.
Depending on the method of poring, cellular concrete can be gas -forming (aerated concrete, gas -slander), foaming (foamylics, foam concrete) and aerated (aerated cellular concrete and silicates). Let us consider in more detail aerated concrete and foam concrete, their features and advantages over each other.
Both of these types of building materials are made from a mixture of water, cement and sand mixed or with a foaming agent (foam concrete), or with aluminum powder (aerated concrete). Penoboton hardening occurs in natural conditions, aerated concrete hardens in autoclaves at high temperature.
Aerated concrete and foam concrete have the same density (D 500), but the aerated concrete is more durable (30-34 kg // cm3), which is provided by autoclave treatment. Due to this indicator, aerated concrete is used as the material of foundations and carriers.
Foam concrete is characterized by a closed structure of porosity, which is often introduced into its advantages over aerated concrete in which the bubbles are interconnected. In the water, aerated concrete immediately to the middle of the block will go under water, and foam concrete will be on the surface for a long time, although it will gradually gain moisture and also go to the bottom. Another advantage of foam concrete is the lower price due to use in the production of not so expensive equipment.
Since foam concrete is gaining hardness in natural conditions, sufficient strength (70%) is achieved only after 4 weeks (28 days) of exposure, therefore, when buying this material, you need to pay attention to the date of manufacture.
So, the advantage of foam concrete in price, as well as in several higher thermal and frost -resistant characteristics. Aerated concrete surpasses the “counterpart” in strength and can be used immediately after hardening, in addition, it has more clear geometry, and this plays a role in aerated concrete price .
The remaining parameters of foam concrete and aerated concrete are approximately at the same level, so the choice of one or another variety of cellular concrete remains for the buyer.