Research of foam concrete quality by two-stage foam injection method in comparison with classical foam concrete

Abstract

The article presents a method of production of foam concrete, which involves two-stage injection of foam. The proposed method involves improving the pore structure of foam concrete, due to a more uniform distribution of pores throughout the volume of the material. Laboratory tests were carried out for two types of samples, represented by the proposed method of foam concrete production by two-stage foam injection with the use of modified additive in comparison with the classical foam concrete. The density of Type 1 samples varies from 410 to 793 kg/m3 (coefficient of variation from 5.12 to 7.31%), while the density of fiberboard samples lies within the range from 539 to 655 kg/m3 (coefficient of variation from 2.66 to 3.14%).  The results of greater variation of densities by height in the Type 1 sample relative to the Type 2 sample indicate the influence of the technological process of foam concrete production on the quality of the pore structure of the material. The results of strength evaluation showed a large scatter of Type 1 samples in relation to Type 2 samples. The highest values of CM strengths are logically observed in the lower part of the sample and the lowest in the upper location: 44.04 and 32.33 kg/cm2 (coefficient of variation from 5.15 to 9.54%). For Type 2 samples, the same values are 55.18 and 44.44 kg/cm2, for the lower and upper locations, respectively (coefficient of variation from 2.79 to 5.35%). The results of thermal conductivity measurements of Type 1 samples range from 0.098 to 0.203 W/m0C (coefficient of variation from 4.59 to 11.88%), while the densities of Type 2 samples lie between 128 and 162 W/m0C (coefficient of variation from 3.38 to 3.55%).