ULTRA HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE GUIDE

UHPC has been commercially available for more than a decade. A contributor to NPCA’s UHPC White Paper, Lafarge Group has promoted its branded mix, Ductal, for precast and cast-in-place applications around the world.

The National Precast Concrete Association recently published an overview of ultra high performance concrete (UHPC), a material on the leading edge of innovation with potential to expand producers’ architectural and structural offerings. UHPC mix designs vary. Reinforced with high-carbon metallic fibers, structural product formulation can achieve compressive strengths up to 29,000 psi and flexural strengths up to 2,900 psi. UHPC for architectural elements typically incorporates polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers, and can achieve compressive strengths up to 17,000 psi and flexural strengths up to 2,900 psi. Due to the material’s superior compressive and flexural properties, the need for passive reinforcing can be eliminated or greatly reduced, depending on the application. UHPC is also highly moldable and replicates form materials with extreme precision.

Read More