Taking Concrete Quality to a New Level

Mark Sokolowski, Regional Quality Control Manager, Armtec, Calgary AB

When asked a couple of years ago by Ed Mansky from Grace Construction Products, “What is your toughest hurdle in producing consistent concrete and what would be on your wish list with regards to producing the best quality concrete possible?” My response was, “I would like to know what the air content is for every batch of concrete while it is in the mixer.” The feedback I received was that Grace was working on that and to stay tuned.

Fast forward 8 months later and the first prototype AIRtrac device was installed for our evaluation and testing.

The AIRtrac works using a probe located in the floor of the mixer which allows the observation of the temperature and air entrainer reaction during the entire batch cycle. It enables the operator to track changes in the mix as the cycle progresses, for example when the air drops and re-building after the addition of a vma or accelerator the changes are tracked and the data is reported live. The mix can be discharged at the optimal time for each mix design, not only when the mix is within specification, but also avoiding any unnecessary extended mixing.