Foam concrete brick cutting machine for sale

Foam concrete brick (cellular lightweight concrete brick) is a lightweight building material combining good mechanical strength with low thermal conductivity and ease of working. It is a low density hardened Portland cement paste or mortar, containing a large number of small bubbles of air which gives it a fine cellular structure. In recent years it has been used in certain parts of Europe, Asia, America and Africa to reduce the weight and improve the insulating properties of precast concrete building units.

The idea of adding a foam to cement grout, mortar or fine concrete is not new, but the development of equipment which enables this to be done economically in small or large quantities is relatively recent. Coupled with the development of the constituent materials, production methods and application of foam concrete brick, this is leading to a growing interest in harnessing its properties in a diverse range of construction uses.

Foam concrete is a mixture of cement, fine sand, water and a special foam, which produces a strong, lightweight concrete containing millions of evenly distributed, consistently sized air bubbles, or cells. The density of Foam Concrete is determined by the amount of foam added to  the basic cement, sand and water mix. Foam concrete is fire resistant and water resistant, has high noise and thermal insulation properties and can be sawn, nailed and drilled using conventional tools.

Foam concrete is formed by entrapping small bubbles of air in a Portland cement paste or mortar by mechanical processes where a stiff, preformed foam is mixed in a base mortar mix in a suitable drum mixer. The entrapped air bubbles introduced by the incorporation of the foam into the base mix increase the volume and thereby reduce the density of the concrete or mortar. The bubbles generally between 0,3 and 0,8 mm in diameter produce a strong plasticizing effect and also effectively eliminate the risk of segregation and bleeding.
 

With careful mix design and material batching a range of foam concrete can be produced which are free flowing, easily pumped and need little if any compaction.

Like all cement products, foam concrete should be properly cured. The simplest way of doing this is to keep concrete, as soon as it has set, continuously damp for three to four days with wet sacks or hessian, or by water sprays. In hot dry weather the freshly cast concrete should be shielded from the sun and wind until sufficiently firm for covering. Curing of foam concrete products can be effected also by storing in a warm humid atmosphere (temperature not less than 20 °C, and a relative humidity exceeding 95 percent). The surface hardness will be increased if carbon dioxide is introduced into the curing chamber for a few days at the end of the curing period. In certain cases membrane curing by means of a sealing compound, which restricts evaporation of water from the concrete, may be employed.