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Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, [1] and is the most widely used building material. [2] Its usage worldwide, ton for ton, is twice that of steel, wood, plastics, and aluminium combined. [3]
For example, the particles of stone used to make concrete typically include both sand and gravel. Aggregate (construction) – Construction aggregate is a broad category of coarse to medium grained particulate material used in construction, including sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, recycled concrete and geosynthetic aggregates.
Stamped concrete is an architectural concrete that has a superior surface finish. After a concrete floor has been laid, floor hardeners (can be pigmented) are impregnated on the surface and a mold that may be textured to replicate a stone / brick or even wood is stamped on to give an attractive textured surface finish.
Concrete has a limited lifespan between batching / mixing and curing. This means that ready-mixed concrete should be placed within 30 to 45 minutes of the batching process to hold slump and mix design specifications in the US, [15] though in the UK, environmental and material factors, plus in-transit mixing, allow for up two hours to elapse. [16]
Concrete has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion, and as it matures concrete shrinks. All concrete structures will crack to some extent, due to shrinkage and tension. Concrete which is subjected to long-duration forces is prone to creep. The density of concrete varies, but is around 2,400 kilograms per cubic metre (150 lb/cu ft). [1]
Creep and shrinkage of concrete are two physical properties of concrete. The creep of concrete, which originates from the calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) in the hardened Portland cement paste (which is the binder of mineral aggregates), is fundamentally different from the creep of metals and polymers.
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Mass concrete is defined by American Concrete Institute Committee 207 as "any volume of concrete with dimensions large enough to require that measures be taken to cope with the generation of heat from the hydration of cement and attendant volume change to minimize cracking."