INFLUENCE OF WATER-TO-CEMENT RATIO ON AIR ENTRAILMENT IN PRODUCTION OF NON-AUTOCLAVED FOAM CONCRETE USING TURBULENCE CAVITATION TECHNOLOGY
Non-autoclaved foam concrete is an advanced thermal insulation material. Until recently, foam concrete production has been based on separate preparation of foam and solution, followed by their blending in a mixer. The situation changed when high-quality synthetic foaming agents and turbulence cavitation technology appeared on the market. Every model provides a dependence between the foam concrete strength and the water-to-cement ratio. According to the water-cement ratio we can distinguish strong concrete mixtures (with the water-to-cement ratio equal to 0.3…0.4) and ductile ones (with the water-to-cement ratio equal to 0.5…0.7). Strong concrete mixtures are more durable. The lower the water-to-cement ratio, the higher the foam concrete strength. However super-plastic substances cannot be mixed by ordinary turbulent mixers. Foam concrete produced using the turbulence cavitation technology needs air-entraining, its intensity being dependent on several factors. One of the main factors is the amount of free water, if it is insufficient, the mixture will not be porous enough. A researcher needs to identify the optimal water-to-cement ratio based on the water consumption rate. Practical production of prefabricated concrete products and structures has proven that the reduction of the water-to-cement ratio improves the strength of the product. The task is to find the water-to-cement ratio for the foam concrete mixture to be plastic enough for air entraining. An increase in the ratio causes loss in the strength. The ratio shall vary within one hundredth points. Super-plasticizers are an alternative solution.