BOCRETE
CERAMIC
CEMENT
Technical Description & Benefits of BoCrete™ Technology
TELFORD SOLUTIONS, INC’S Ceramic Cements, “BoCrete,” with our proprietary chemical compounds exhibit rapid set times, remarkably high early and long-term strength, and exceptionally low permeability.
Ceramic Cements have been around for many years and have found utility as rapid patching cement for road and aircraft runways, which can typically be re-opened after about 45 minutes. Ceramic Cement has excellent adhesion to a wide variety of aggregates and substrates and has excellent water freeze / thaw resistance. Ceramic Cements typically reach a compressive strength of about 3000 psi after setting for 1 hour, and an ultimate cured strength of 8000+ psi.
The reaction mechanism is an acid-base reaction in BoCrete cement that results in an initial gel formation followed by the crystallization of this gel into an insoluble Ceramic Cement.
Chemical compounds used in BoCrete™ cement are available world-wide. Ceramic Cement is superior to Portland cement in virtually every way, however, until the creation of BoCrete cement, raw material costs to manufacture Ceramic Cements was prohibitively expensive.
This is no longer the case. BoCrete cement can compete head-to-head with Portland cement on a cost per cubic yard basis while out performing it in every way.
DELIVERABLES: – Our Ready Mix BoCrete™ formula, mixed with the proper proportions of sand and aggregate, results in BoCrete cement which delivers the following:
- Is a versatile and flexible, high performance structural cement.
- Can be effectively used in ambient temperatures ranging from 30 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
- When mixed and placed like conventional Portland cement concrete, has up to 6 hours of working time, depending on ambient temperatures and mix design.
- Can be finished using standard concrete finishing practices.
- Will achieve compressive strengths of more than 2500 psi within 6 to 72 hours depending upon mix design providing for fast-track construction when desired.
- Leaves virtually no carbon footprint and eliminates approximately one ton of harmful CO2 greenhouse gasses for every 3 yards of concrete produced.
- Can be configured and delivered from a batch plant via transit truck, introduced into a transit mixer at your site or prepared at an “on-site” batch plant for dump truck delivery projects.
- Can be site activated for Ultra Rapid Setting applications, allowing for improved scheduling flexibility and reduced possibility of material loss due to Portland cement’s standard 90-minute water discharging constraint.
- • When cured, BoCrete cement exhibit much less cracks than Portland cement.
RECOMMENDED USES:
BoCrete™ cement produces a structural concrete suitable for:
- roads and bridges
- aviation runways
- industrial infrastucture
- boat ramps
- building foundations
- most any other new construction application where traditional Portland cement concrete would have been used.
- Can be configured and delivered from a batch plant via transit truck, introduced into a transit mixer at your site or prepared at an “on-site” batch plant for dump truck delivery projects.
- Can be site activated for Ultra Rapid Setting applications, allowing for improved scheduling flexibility and reduced possibility of material loss due to Portland cement’s standard 90-minute water discharging constraint.
- • When cured, BoCrete cement exhibit much less cracks than Portland cement.
PROFOUND ENVIRONMENTAL ADVANTAGES
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) defines green sustainable construction materials as those materials composed of renewable, recyclable, or reusable resources that can be used indefinitely without negatively impacting the environment.
BoCrete™ cement utilizes fly ash, a post-industrial waste stream to produce the only high-performance structural cement in the world that when combined with recycled concrete sand and aggregate is comprised of more than 86% recycled waste materials!
BoCrete™ cement clearly meets the definition for a sustainable construction material. Additionally, recycling fly ash to produce our cement reduces demand on landfills – 60% of all ash (roughly 42 million tons) produced annually ends up in landfills.
BoCrete™ cement technology also preserves virgin materials by eliminating the mining of raw materials needed to produce Portland cement. (Management and containment of coal ash adds complexity and costs to the energy process.)
BoCrete™ cement technology will divert substantial quantities of ash from being landfilled for use in major construction projects around the country.
Worldwide, the production of Portland cement contributes 6% to 10% of all human generated CO2 gases released annually.
One ton of CO2 is produced for every ton of Portland cement manufactured.
BoCrete™ cement is produced using a low energy powder blending processes versus the extreme high temperature and high energy Portland cement manufacturing process.
Widespread adoption of BoCrete™ cement technology for new construction projects, precast product manufacturing, and infrastructure repair would make an immediate and long-term positive impact on the world’s environment and climate change issues.
Portland cement is the basic ingredient of concrete. Concrete is formed when Portland cement creates a paste with water that binds with sand and rock to harden. Cement is manufactured through a closely controlled chemical combination of calcium, silicon, aluminum, iron and other ingredients.
Common materials used to manufacture cement include limestone, shells, and chalk or marl combined with shale, clay, slate, blast furnace slag, silica sand, and iron ore. These ingredients, when heated at high temperatures form a rock-like substance that is ground into the fine powder that we commonly think of as cement.
The most common way to manufacture Portland cement is through a dry method. The first step is to quarry the principal raw materials, mainly limestone, clay, and other materials. After quarrying the rock is crushed. This involves several stages. The first crushing reduces the rock to a maximum size of about 6 inches. The rock then goes to secondary crushers or hammer mills for reduction to about 3 inches or smaller.
The crushed rock is combined with other ingredients such as iron ore or fly ash and ground, mixed, and fed to a cement kiln.
The cement kiln heats all the ingredients to about 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit in huge cylindrical steel rotary kilns lined with special firebrick. Kilns are frequently as much as 12 feet in diameter and 400 feet long. The large kilns are mounted with the axis inclined slightly from the horizontal (see diagram below).
The finely ground raw material or the slurry is fed into the higher end. At the lower end is a roaring blast of flame, produced by precisely controlled burning of powdered coal, oil, alternative fuels, or gas under forced draft.
As the material moves through the kiln, certain elements are driven off in the form of gases. The remaining elements unite to form a new substance called clinker. Clinker comes out of the kiln as grey balls, about the size of marbles.
Clinker is discharged red-hot from the lower end of the kiln and generally is brought down to handling temperature in various types of coolers. The heated air from the coolers is returned to the kilns, a process that saves fuel and increases burning efficiency.
After the clinker is cooled, cement plants grind it and mix it with small amounts of gypsum and limestone. Cement is so fine that 1 pound of cement contains 150 billion grains. The cement is now ready for transport to ready-mix concrete companies to be used in a variety of construction projects.
Although the dry process is the most modern and popular way to manufacture cement, some kilns in the United States use a wet process. The two processes are essentially alike except in the wet process, the raw materials are ground with water before being fed into the kiln.
After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth. The cement sector is the third largest industrial source of pollution, emitting more than 500,000 tons per year of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide. Some environmentalists say that cement produces the same amount of CO2 that are emitted from all the trucks in the world. Taking in all stages of production, concrete is said to be responsible for 4-8% of the world’s CO2. Among materials, only coal, oil and gas are a greater source of greenhouse gases. Half of concrete’s CO2 emissions are created during the manufacture of clinker, the most-energy intensive part of the cement-making process.
HOW Bocrete CERAMIC CEMENT IS MADE
Some ceramic cements are insulators; they are selected not only for their temperature resistance, but also for their ability to insulate and protect parts from damage due to extreme high temperatures, like in thermocouples used to check the quality of molten iron and other molten ores. Some ceramic cements are also chemical resistant, making them appropriate for service in acidic or alkaline environments. In other words, they are not only able to withstand the temperature changes and aggressive environments, but they can also be used as insulators or in contact with dissimilar materials. In addition, ceramic cements are able to isolate parts of an application from the surroundings. The combination of all of these properties helps the pieces and parts to do their jobs.
Nearly all ceramic cements are made of inorganic materials, which present a small problem: porosity. Some ceramic cements are never going to be able to protect the part in full from water and humidity penetration. This is characteristic of inorganic ceramic cements. In many cases, the addition of a primer helps to delay or prevent this kind of penetration. Some of these cements are made by mixing the cement with water, which is required for the material to cure. In the curing process, it is crucial to eliminate all the excess water (also known as water of convenience) used to hydrate the cement and initiate the curing process. After the cement has cured and reached its peak, that water of convenience needs to be removed before the part is put in service to avoid cracking, steaming or even short-circuiting the part (if it is transmitting electricity).
Some ceramic cements need to be fast curing to comply with manufacturers’ demands to be able to assemble and pack the parts in order to send to consumers as soon as possible. Others need to be oven baked to cure properly, letting all the water used in the mixing of the cement reach a complete cure to avoid problems when the parts are put into service.
Bocrete Cubes in side view:
Both cubes were made at the same time with the same mix. The cube on the left was tested at compression loads of 5,250 pounds per square inch (psi). Only hairline cracks showed from the stress. Portland cement would crumble at compression loads of 3,000 psi.
