Not for nothing have we the saying: „Hard as concrete“. Its stability makes this building material the supporting element for construction engineers. Quality is the A & O. Without any qualms, we must be able to go over bridges, drive through tunnels and enter buildings. Compromises in production? Out of the question. Batch for batch, high-grade quality is in demand. This is why the manufacturer Hanson UK, Maidenhead/UK, part of the globally leading HeidelbergCement AG, makes maximum demands on their production. Just recently they have been implementing Matrox® to optimise their process.
Grey from the outside and non-descript, one can hardly magine how sophisticated its production is. This awesome building material comprises a mix of various raw materials such as stones, gravel, grit, potash, cement and limestone. Its precise composition always depends on the particular construction project concerned. Depending on this mixture, these constituent parts are added to a mixer in exactly prescribed quantities and water added. Great importance is attached to precisely this dosage. To this end, Hanson UK is now using Matrox® in a factory in Great Britain.
Rat holes
The constituents are added to the mixer from huge silos and bunkers. However, dosing the limestone presented no end of difficulties. Limestone residue remained sticking to the bunker‘s rough metal walls. This had a considerable detrimental effect on the material flow and in the final analysis even reduced the bunker‘s capacity. The problem, also called core flow or colloquially rat hole (see diagram), in which only the loose material from the middle of the bunker is discharged, made time-intensive and expensive removal of what remained on the funnel walls necessary at regular intervals.
Hanson UK looked for a way to optimise the process procedure. They lined the bunker with Matrox®. This material developed by Röchling especially for linings combines low surface friction with maximum abrasion resistance, thus supporting the material flow and complete emptying of the bunker. Limestone no longer remains sticking to the walls. Laborious cleaning is a thing of the past. The results convinced the operator: „Matrox® is absolutely brilliant. We no longer have any problems with firmly deposited material, the limestone can flow
freely. Moreover, for cleaning we do not have to directly enter the bunker any more, so that industrial safetyhas likewise increased.“
Low cost, great effect
However, the quality of the concrete has also unexpectedly improved due to the optimised flow conduct. „The computer-controlled dosage system for the raw materials now works very much more precisely due to the uniform flow conduct“, explains the manufacturer. This contributes to a more exact dosage and supports the constant quality. This means to say that the complex production could thus be improved by a comparatively simple change to the bunker – low cost, great effect. Due to these positive results, Hanson UK is now planning on lining further bunkers in their factories with Matrox®.
The Matrox® sheets are produced at the Haren location. The lining was executed by the Röchling partner of long standing and lining expert ProSpare in Pinxton, UK.
