Sources: BASF Construction Chemicals, Cleveland; CP staff
BASF has unveiled advanced packaging for its Master Builders MasterFiber MAC Matrix product, whereby the macrosynthetic fiber is condensed in an aligned format, improving dispersion in concrete mixtures over traditional loose fiber alternatives.
“When packaged loosely in bags, [fibers] can get matted together like a nest, creating challenges for concrete producers and contractors,” says BASF Admixture Systems Group Product Manager Tony Schlagbaum. “With this new innovation, MasterFiber MAC Matrix fibers are lined up like toothpicks to promote even dispersion.”
MAC Matrix is specified as secondary reinforcement in slabs on grade, precast elements and composite metal decks. Its improved dispersion properties reduce balling, positively impacting production, placement, screeding and finishing operations. The alignment likewise prevents individual fibers from curling and becoming tangled prior to use, enhancing finishing characteristics.
Other benefits of the new packaging include ease-of-use through the ability to add unopened bags directly into the truck or plant mixer. The condensed package size resulting from the aligned fibers—netting more than double the fiber volume of traditional packaging—affords concrete producers freight and distribution efficiencies and reduced storage requirements.
“Feedback on this unique packaging has been overwhelmingly positive,” affirms Juan Alfonso Garcia, vice president, Admixture Systems for BASF in North America, adding that the company’s investment in packaging technology “will result in great improvements for concrete producers and contractors using fiber in their projects.”