Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

In the precast concrete industry it is always the goal to gain a specified 28-days compressive strength by simultaneously achieving a cost optimum during production. The cost optimum is to be obtained between 3 parameters namely; the early strength required when applying load (pre-stressing, demoulding or lifting), cost of concrete mix-design, and the shortest cycle times within predesigned production work-flow. Traditionally the performance indicator available to manage this process is test specimen cured in the laboratory or near to the production line. However in almost all cases test specimens fail to accurately fulfill this important role.