It is no exaggeration to say that concrete has accompanied mankind since the dawn of time. First discovered in ancient Assyria and later improved in Rome, it has become one of the most popular building materials in the world in the 19th century following the invention of the Portland cement.
One of the secrets of its success is how easy it is to prepare. In a nutshell the recipe for concrete is as follows: cement, aggregate and water. Furthermore, this recipe is easy to modify and thus change the properties of the concrete. The materials that can be used as the aggregate include for example, gravel, sand or lightweight expanded clay (each of these materials has a different particle diameter, thereby producing a different type of concrete). In addition, in the production process a variety of additives and admixtures may be used, which also affects the quality of the final product.
The most important feature of concrete is its compressive strength. Thanks to that, it’s an ideal material for building e.g. foundations, floors or ceilings. There are as many as sixteen strength classes for ordinary concrete, but the basic principle is simple – the more cement we use and the less water is added, the stronger the concrete.
Thanks to its unique properties, concrete can be used on almost every construction site. It will work well in places that require a material that is waterproof, resistant to abrasion, self-leveling and even self-compacting!
