Industrial Production Technology for Aluminium Paste

Abstract

Today, the development of aluminium industry is highly dynamic. Aluminium production rightly takes top positions in the global metal market. Unique properties of aluminium mean that it is widely used in various industries. The construction industry is no exception – here, aluminium is actively used as a gassing agent for production of steam-cured aerated concrete, which is produced by mixing Portland cement, sand, water and aluminium fine powder or aluminium paste. The main disadvantage of aluminium fine powder is its high degree of dusting: at certain air concentration levels, this becomes fire-and explosion-prone. This is the reason the producers add complex organic additives into their aluminium fine powder: to ensure lower dusting levels and produce an aluminium paste, which is safer to use. This work focuses on obtaining an aluminium paste with sufficient share of organic additives to ensure the efficient performance of aluminium paste as a gassing agent in the production of steam-cured aerated concrete. A number of tests were carried out on mixing aluminium fine powder with various organic additives (fatty additive; wetting agent and gassing kinetics stabiliser; dedusting agent) in different ratios. The paper analyses the quality of distribution of organic additives inside the finished product and studies the relevant gassing kinetics.