What are the advantages of Textile Concrete?
Thinner and therefore lighter products have to be as strong, preferably stronger than concrete. When subjected to three-point bending concrete breaks, whereas in textile concrete the textiles take over the load. The process is known as strain hardening. It is described in the literature as desirable... it’s why textile concrete is routinely being used.
In textile concrete, as the concrete cracks it transfers the load into the textile layers, in the case of CCC into the Curv core. Concrete has a density 12% lower than that of aluminium, but has to be thin for this to be obvious. Textile concrete is thin, and can be very thin.
A Cemforce-Curv-Cemforce (CCC) plate can have a 2 mm (approx. 1/10 the inch) Curv core; the CemForce layers are ultrasonically welded to both sides of Curv. The CemForce forms one element of the textile concrete surface. If needed both sides of a CCC plate can have concrete applied and be photo-etched, for use as a division panel between adjacent booths in a restaurant, for example.
CemForce has a fibrous surface, the fibres are ultrasonically bonded to the Curv and protrude from the cementitious surface. They are finer than a human hair and not affected by the Intaglio process. They are polypropylene - applying a soft flame, they disappear. The fibres will remain in the cement matrix holding the aggregate that forms the Intaglio image in place. The yarns that hold the aggregate in place are 1 mm (1/25th of an inch) in diameter. They and the fibres bonded to them act like the claws of a ring holding a gem stone in place.
Freeze thaw affects concrete pavers, etc.; as is known, concrete when stressed breaks.
Water that gets into concrete and freezes e-x-p-a-n-d-s; the force applied as the ice forms is enough to crack the concrete. In stone quarrying, they used to drill holes, fill them with water, plug them to keep the water in the holes. Ice as it forms needs 10% more room, and has to crack the rock or concrete to get it.
In our technical paper, Textile Composite Concrete Provides Special Architectural and Permanent Shuttering Opportunities (PDF, 142 KB), Figure 5 shows the tensile strength of textile concrete. Note how it gets stronger, whereas plain concrete breaks. Textile concrete can resist the force caused by ice, in part because less water can get in.
The photographic process that we have “all taken for granted” has been around for 150 years, roll film for 100 years. Polaroid briefly replaced the negative and print process, by combining the two in a pouch. Once the printing process became digital, it was not too long before photography followed. Now we have photo-images that could last 100 or more years outdoors in all weathers -- take them to the seaside, they will love it.
The Intaglio process and CemForce-Curv-Cemforce, or textile concrete belong together; the relationship is synergistic, almost symbiotic.
Curv® is a product of Propex Fabrics (Europe); CCC is made in South Africa.