Steam Usage at Concrete Curing
Steam curing is one of most common ways to gain strenght to concrete in short time. Steam curing offers also to cast concrete in cold weather
Concrete can have the lasting strenght in 24-25 hours by using steam curing, which is gained in 28 days under room temperature. When most people think of curing, they think only of maintaining moisture on the surface of the concrete. But curing is more than that—it is giving the concrete what it needs to gain strength properly.
Steam curing is one of most common ways to gain strenght to concrete in short time. Steam curing offers also to cast concrete in cold weather
Concrete can have the lasting strenght in 24-25 hours by using steam curing, which is gained in 28 days under room temperature. When most people think of curing, they think only of maintaining moisture on the surface of the concrete. But curing is more than that—it is giving the concrete what it needs to gain strength properly.
Temperature changes should be chosen accoding to the diagram given below in a right steam curing process. The relative humidity in curing chamber should be constant between 70% - 80% during whole process for a good result.
Curing chamber should be insulated properly and it should be prevented to leakage steam from it. The relative humidity and temperature in curing chamber should be controlled seperatly. The details of ARALSAN COMPUTER AIDED CONCRETE CURING SYSTEM developped for this purpose is given below:
ARALSAN COMPUTER AIDED CONCRETE CURING SYSTEM
By using steam there can be no control of humidity within the chamber. The laws of physics mean that the temperature of the saturated water steam controls the humidity. The Aralsan Concrete Curing System does not use direct steam and works completely differently. It measures the temperature of the warm humid air in the recirculation ductwork (i.e. the temperature of the air flowing out of the chamber back to the air heater) and the heat capacity of the air heater is then regulated automatically to give the desired temperature within the chamber. When no heat is required (generally because the heat of hydration of the concrete creates enough heat) the air heater is automatically turned right down and sometimes completely off (particularly in the summer months, when the ambient temperature is high). The Relative Humidity (%RH) of the warm humid air is measured in the ductwork at the inlet of the fan. If additional humidity is required, a nozzle – using pressurized water steam - produces a 'mist' at the outlet of the air heater. This 'mist' is carried into the chamber by the warm airflow and produces the desired combination of temperature and humidity to provide perfect curing conditions - with minimum condensation
ARALSAN CONCRETE CURE UNIT
This device works as it happens at computer aided system. However concrete cure unit is controlled manually. It cures concrete placed in cure chamber depending on the decired temperature and humidity values entered by maually into its control panel. This is a simple device and usable at mobile plants as well.
The sceme of ARALSAN CONCRETE CURING SUSYEM is given below:
For more information please read our article "HOW TO CURE CONCRETE WITH STEAM?". (Unfortunatelly it is available only in Turkish for now. )
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