Concrete - Concrete Production

Concrete Production

There is a wide variety of equipment for processing concrete; it ranges from hand tools to heavy industrial machinery. Whichever equipment the practitioners use however, the objective is to place and retain the concrete where it takes its final shape and the curing process gives it the desired attributes. During preparation of concrete various technical details may affect the quality and nature of the product.

When initially mixed, Portland cement and water rapidly form a gel of tangled chains of interlocking crystals, and components of the gel continue to react over time. Initially the gel is fluid, which improves workability and aids in placement of the material, but as the concrete sets, the chains of crystals join into a rigid structure, counteracting the fluidity of the gel and fixing the particles of aggregate in place. During curing, the cement continues to react with the residual water in a process of hydration. In properly formulated concrete, once this curing process has terminated the product has the desired physical and chemical properties. Among the qualities typically desired, are mechanical strength, low moisture permeability, and chemical and volumetric stability.