Korean Concrete Industry

Perhaps a few of you might find the following PDF interesting. It deals entirely with the conditions and major problems that are present in the Korean concrete construction industry:

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.600.7075&rep=rep1&type=pdf

If you haven't got time to read the whole PDF, the following statement found in point 2.3 Quality Assurance Practices, would seem to be extremely relevant to the current testing of EdenCrete in Colorado for the Korean market:

"It is somewhat difficult to produce concretes with strength in excess of 10,000 psi (70 MPa) because of the type of aggregates found in Korea. The quality of cement is also very important for making high performance concrete. It is true in the past decade that quality problems have arisen frequently in actual construction in the field due to lack of workmanship and well-documented quality assurance procedures".

As well as 3.1 Materials:

"Raw materials for concrete are not in sufficient supply in Korea, especially fine and coarse aggregates. The use of crushed aggregates is increasing due to the shortage of river aggregates. The cement production capacity is well above the required amount, and the operation rates of all cement factories are about 40 percent compared to their capacity. However, the problem of CO2 gas emission during cement production will be a great concern in the future."

If raw materials, especially fine and coarse aggregates, are in short supply, EdenCrete should be a godsend and it is no surprise that a lot of additional testing is going on. In addition, EdenCrete will also be helping to adress Korea's problem of too many CO2 gas emissions being produced through cement production.

In point 5. SUMMARY, Nanomaterials also get a mention:

"New materials including nanomaterials will also be actively developed and used for important structures. These new materials will be generalized in major constructions as the economy improves."

I also found point 2.1.3 Admixtures to be very interesting, particularly the statement that I have highlighted:

"The most commonly-used chemical admixtures in the ready-mixed concrete industry in Korea are air-entraining and water-reducing chemical admixtures. Superplaticizer and high range water reducers are often used for high strength and high performance concrete. Mineral admixtures such as fly ash and blast-furnace slag are increasingly used in Korea, especially for concrete structures exposed to marine environments. However, silica fumes are rarely used, except for some special cases, because they are very expensive in Korea".

IMVHO the high cost of silica fume is a window of opportunity for EdenCrete. I believe that both EdenCrete HC and PZ could be the answer to a lot of Korea’s problems. Indeed, in any country where silica fumes are in short supply, and thus expensive, EdenCrete is quite likely to be the solution. The following link would seem to substantiate my claim:

https://civilengineersite.com/silica-fume-concrete/

In particular point 2. Improvement of concrete mechanical Performances:

The Silica Fume reacts with the cement paste to form additional strong Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH) providing higher strength. Silica Fume reduces bleeding and enhances the cement paste bond to the aggregates. Thanks to its pozzolanic effect (reaction with Ca(OH)2), and therefore to the strength improvement, Silica Fume can be used to reduce to the cement content of the mix. In addition of the cost saving benefit, this will reduce the total heat of hydration and can improve the performances of the concrete in terms of chemical resistance.

MB