What is concrete?
Concrete is one of the most used materials in the world, second only to water. Made up of a mixture of aggregates, cement and water (amongst other things), concrete quite literally forms the foundation of modern life as we know it. The UK alone uses a staggering 16 million cubic metres a year, without the wonderful grey stuff we wouldn’t have hospitals, schools, multi-storey carparks and airports.
Early use of concrete can be dated back to at least 150BC (although some historic folk like to argue about this) when the Romans used it most famously for the construction of the Colosseum and the dome of the Pantheon. However, Roman concrete has very little resemblence to modern concrete as it was laid (rather than poured) with pieces of rubble much larger than the aggregate we use today.
The inception of modern concrete can be given thanks to two men; Joseph Aspdin, a bricklayer from Leeds that developed and manufactured Portland cement in 1824, and Joseph Monier, a French gardener that was a principle inventor of reinforced concrete in 1867. By the 1930’s admixtures had been developed that provide all sorts of different benefits; from air entrainers to aid in freeze/thaw protection to rapid hardeners to increase turnaround time for precast works or making repairs to live airport runways.
The possibilities for the use of concrete in today’s world is virtually endless, through the use of specialist admixtures concrete can be poured directly underwater removing the rather expensive and time consuming need to redirect rivers, specialist aggregates can be used to save weight in high-rise buildings or to produce a dense material to secure radiation in hospitals, polypropylene fibres (a by-product of the fuel industry) can be used to improve fire resistance or even replace costly steel reinforcement and there are companies that are even managing to 3D print concrete structures.
At Batchmix we aim to provide the highest quality ready-mixed concrete to suit your needs and with over 35 years experience we can answer any questions regarding the technical aspects of concrete, please do not hesitate to contact us with any queries or check our FAQ’s.