What is concrete made of?
Concrete is made of many different elements, with cement being the most prominent. Cement may be a crucial component in concrete production but it’s not actually what makes up your typical sidewalk slab or stamped concrete flooring – that’d just be too heavy.
Concrete – The building material of structures and roads everywhere! It can seem like this product has been around for as long as people have built houses; however, the truth behind its origins is surprising. Although concrete was first invented by an Ancient Roman architect named Vitruvius back in 25 B.C., there isn’t much information on how he came about his invention, to begin with, because at the time writing wasn’t developed enough yet so few records were kept from those early days. Concrete is a mixture of concrete and aggregates. Concrete mixes are comprised mainly of water, cement (a binder), sand, gravel, or crushed stone that all become hardened when mixed together.
The Concrete Mix
It is critical to get the proper concrete mix for your project, and while the scale of elements may need to be modified to satisfy different objectives – enhanced strength, durability, or workability – there are three major constituents that comprise concrete:
Cement – is traditionally mixed with sand, water, and aggregates like shale or gravel to form a paste that hardens over time. Once hardened the cement binds together all of its components into one solid construction material – concrete!
Water – is the key ingredient in cement, which needs to be mixed with sand and aggregate for concrete. The water chemically reacts with the cement, making it work so that you can make your own batch of concrete at home. However, if too much or not enough water is added then this will affect how strong a final product you get out when all said and done.
Aggregates – Aggregates come in all shapes and sizes. Sand is a fine aggregate, whereas gravel is coarse– but both are used to pad out concrete that strengthens it for different purposes based on the constituents of each type.
How concrete is made?
The first step in creating strong, long-lasting concrete is making sure of the proportioning of it. If there isn’t enough paste to fill up all the gaps between aggregates then you’ll end up with a rough surface. But if your mix has too much room for aggregate particles then your mixture will crack more easily. Improper proportions are one way that can lead to weaker and shorter-lasting concrete because some parts may not be mixed properly while others might even result in cracks or breakages as well.
The mixture will turn into a solid thanks to the chemical reaction known as hydration. This starts once you have finalized its proportions and mixed it well with other ingredients in your ingredient list, so don’t forget!
The concrete mixes together in giant vats and is then placed into molds. In order to remove any air pockets, the mix has to be workable before it hardens too much. It’s either floated or troweled depending on what needs further smoothing out of its texture–whether that means adding a layer of cement underneath for stability purposes or removing some excess material entirely from one side so there are no seams left on top where cracks could form later down the line.