A Technical Seminar

On

Light Weight Concrete

By:
Manasa. M
• CONCRETE IS NOTHING BUT MIXTURE
OF AGGREGATES AND BINDER,
WHICH IS USED BY MAN FROM
THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
• THE PEOPLE STARTED THINKING
ABOUT MAKING STRUCTURE LIGHT.
• LET's TAKE A LOOK ON RESULT OF
THEIR THINKINGS………..
 HISTORY
• Romans appeared to have used Light weight
Concrete in 2nd century, in the construction of
44m dia dome of Pantheon
• The search for artificial aggregates began in the
beginning of 20th century.
• In 1907, Ottoman [Hungarian] developed a
method of converting Blast furnace slag in to
foamed structure, which is the first milestone of
Light Weight Concrete.
• The first commercial scale production of light
weight aggregate manufactured in Kanas city, in
1917, named as “HAYDITE”.
• Other expanded clay aggregates such as
“GRUELITE” “TERLITE” “ROCKLITE” were
marketed by various American firms
• In 1930, hollow globular burnt clay particles
known as globulite developed in Germany.
• Industrial waste ‘cinder’ is converted into
light weight aggregate by secondary burning
and marketed in the name – “AGLOPYRITE”.

• In India, Pune based company, B.G.Shirke

Construction Company Ltd is manufacturing
steam cured, light weight, autoclaved and
strong floor slabs, roof slabs, panels, lintels
etc. with the brand name “SIPOREX”.
 What is Light Weight Concrete?
• Light weight concrete can be simply defined as follows,
“These are the concretes which are much lighter than the
conventional concrete, due to different constituents and methods
used in manufacturing process”.
Density of conventional concrete varies from 2400-2500 Kg/m3. But
the density of light weight concrete is in between 300-1900 Kg/m3.
How great difference !!!.
• As per RILEM, the light weight concrete committee
“The LWC is a concrete capable 0f hardening, to a mass having
oven dry density not more than 1800 Kg/m3 ”.
• As per ACI,
“Concretes have a 28 days compressive strength in excess of 175
Kg/m3 and 28 day air dried unit weight not exceeding 1850 Kg/m 3”.
Advantages over Conventional concrete
 Reduction of Dead load due to less density.

 Increases progress of work due to less weight.

 Lowers Haulage and Handling charges.
 In extreme climatic conditions, use of LWC is advisable
because of high thermal insulation (due to porousness).
 More sound and heat insulation.
 Its volume per unit weight is more than that of
conventional concrete, because of low density, results in
economical construction.
 Due to low density, it reduces the size and the cost of
structural members such as beams, columns, foundations
etc.
 This is advantageous in the case of tall structures which
are to be constructed on soils of low bearing capacity.
 It is eco-friendly because it gives an outlet for industrial
waste such as clinker, fly ash, slag etc. which otherwise
create pollution.
How to make concrete LIGHT ??
• Weight of concrete Wc is a function of weights of
aggregates, binder and volume of voids.
Wc = f [ Wca, Wfa, Wb, Wv ]

Therefore, we can reduce the weight Wc by,

• Reducing the weight of coarse and fine
aggregates, i.e. use of light weight aggregates
which are occurred either Naturally (Pumice) or
Artificially( Globulite, Terlite).
• Increasing the volume of voids by one or both of
following,
– Introducing air or gas into the concrete
– Remove certain fractions of fine aggregate in the
concrete so that volume of void can be increased.
 Classification
Classification
of
of
Light Weight
Light Weight Concrete
Concrete
 Classification based on RILEM
 Fully compacted concrete
 Partially compacted concrete
 No fines concrete
 Aerated concrete produced by chemical
process (gas concrete)
 Aerated concrete produced by physical process
(foam concrete)
 Classification based on density and
strength
 L.W.C of Low strength and good thermal
insulation having density ranges from 250-
800 Kg/m3.
 L.W.C. of medium strength and adequate
thermal insulation having density ranges from
800 – 1400 Kg/m3.
 L.W.C. of structural strength and limited
thermal insulation having density ranges from
1400 – 2100 Kg/m3
Methods of Production
There are three methods to produce L.W.C.
They are,

 Omitting fine sized aggregates while grading

i.e. No Fines Concrete.
 Using cellular porous aggregates i.e. Light
Weight Aggregate Concrete.
 Introducing air or gas in to concrete i.e.
Aerated Concrete.
 No Fines Concrete
 Fine aggregate fraction is omitted
 Only cement and coarse aggregates are used (19mm –
9mm).
 It contains many uniformly distributed voids.
 Density varies from 2/3rd to3/4th of conventional
concrete
 Strength mainly depends on W/C ratio and A/C ratio.
 W/C ratio must be in between 0.38 to 0.52 and
A/C ratio must be in between 6:1 to 10:1.
 In case of No fines concrete, W/C ratio must
be selected very carefully
 The density of No fines concrete varies from
1600-1900 kg/m3.
 It can be reduced up to 360 kg/m3 by using
LWA
 Disadvantages
 Possesses poor workability
 Low compressive strength
 Low flexural strength
 High permeability
 Light weight Aggregate
concrete
 One of the oldest and common method of
producing L.W.C
 Light weight aggregates, either Natural or
Artificial,are used in concrete.
 Light Weight Aggregates

Natural Light weight aggregates:

These are naturally available aggregates, like
 Pumice
 Dolomite
 Scoria
 Volcanic cinders
 Saw dust
 Rice dust
 Processed Natural L.W. Aggregates :
Expanded clay and shales- Produced by heating of
clay and shale heating up to point of incipient fusion
Expanded slate- Produced by heating rapidly to
higher temperature so as not allow gases to escape
 Processed Industrial byproduct L.W.A. :
Foamed blast furnace slag – Cooling slag with
controlled amount of water, the steam is tapped inside the
mass, results in L.W.A. known as foamed slag or expanded
slag.
Pulverized fuel ash – fly ash is mixed with limited
amount of water and made into pellets and then introduced to
a temperature of 1000-1200 degree c, from which it is
converted into aggregate. Most commonly used aggregate
because of it’s high strength/ density ratio and less shrinkage
value.
 Aerated concrete
or Cellular concrete
 General composition is mortar,
suitably aerated
Called as foam concrete, cellular
concrete, gas cone etc.
 In India, the factories manufacturing

aerated concrete are Siporex,

vayuthan, celcrete .
 Methods of aeration:
By the formation of gas by chemical
reaction within the mass during liquid or
plastic state-
Finely powdered Al or Zn is added to the slurry
which in turn reacts with Ca(OH)2 generated during
hydration of cement. H2 gas liberated by such
reaction will lead to cellular concrete. It is used
normally in precast concrete factories
By mixing preformed stable foam with
slurry-
Stable foam is mixed with slurry thus causing
cellular structure when the slurry sets and
hardened. It is suitable for small scale productions
and in situ works.
 Classification of Aerated
concrete :
 As per IS 6072 – 1971 and IS 6073 – 1971, the aerated concretes
are classified into five groups based on their density, as follows

GROUP DRY Min.

DENSITY Compressive
Kg / m3 Strength ( Kg /
cm2)
Class A 851 to 1000 70
Class B 751 to 850 60
Class C 651 to750 50
Class D 551 to 650 35
Class E 451 to 550 20
 Implementation of L.W.C
• Since the strength of L.W.C. is low, it is used in
the construction of roof slabs, small houses with
load bearing walls etc.
• It is also used in the construction of stairs,
windows, garden walls, etc.
• In large buildings also, this is used in the
construction of partition walls.
• These are moulded in the form of slabs and
used as thermal insulators inside the building.
 Conclusion :

• Since, the Light weight concrete is of low

compressive strength; this can not be used for
the construction of structural members such as
beams, columns, etc. But this can be effectively
used in the construction of partition walls,
windows, floor slabs, etc. The implementation of
light weight concrete more in the structure leads
to more economy. Therefore we can conclude
that,
• “To achieve the low cost construction, first we
have to implement Light weight Concrete”.
 Bibliography:

 
1.Light Weight Concretes by Mr. M.G.
Srinivasan
2.Concrete Technology by A.M. Neville &
J.J. Brooks
3.Excerpts from Internet Downloading