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High-strength Concrete
Concrete is produced in a variety of compositions, finishes and performance characteristics to meet a wide range of needs. Mix design Modern concrete mix designs can be complex. The choice of a concrete mix depends on the need of the project both in terms of strength and appearance and in relation to local legislation and building codes. The design begins by determining the requirements of the concrete. These requirements take into consideration the weather conditions that the concrete will be exposed to in service, and the required design strength. The compressive strength of a concrete is determined by taking standard molded, standard-cured cylinder samples. Many factors need to be taken into account, from the cost of the various additives and aggregates, to the trade offs between the "slump" for easy mixing and placement and ultimate performance. A mix is then designed using cement (Portland or other cementitious material), coarse and fine aggregates, water and chemical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I-355 At The Illinois Prairie Path
Interstate 355 (I-355), also known as the Veterans Memorial Tollway, is an Interstate Highway and tollway in the western and southwest suburbs of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. Like most other toll roads in the northeastern portion of the state, I-355 is maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA). I-355 runs from I-80 in New Lenox north to I-290 in Itasca, a distance of . With the exception of a expansion in 2009, from U.S. Route 34 (US 34, Ogden Avenue) to 75th Street, the highway is six lanes wide for its entire length. The tollway authority opened I-355 as the North–South Tollway in 1989 to ease congestion on Illinois Route 53 (IL 53), a parallel two-lane state highway in central DuPage County. Initially, I-355 ran from I-55 north to I-290. The new highway helped cut travel times for commuters traveling north and south in the county. According to commercial real estate developers at the time, the new tollway also opened the western ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fumed Silica
Fumed silica (CAS_Registry_Number, CAS number 112945-52-5), also known as pyrogenic silica because it is produced in a flame, consists of microscopic droplets of amorphous silica fused into branched, chainlike, three-dimensional secondary particles which then agglomerate into tertiary particles. The resulting powder has an extremely low bulk density and high surface area. Its three-dimensional structure results in viscosity-increasing, thixotropic behavior when used as a thickener or reinforcing filler. Properties Fumed silica has a very strong thickening effect. Primary particle size is 5–50 nm. The particles are non-porous and have a surface area of 50–600 m2/g. The density is 160–190 kg/m3. Production Fumed silica is made from flame pyrolysis of silicon tetrachloride or from quartz, quartz sand vaporized in a 3000 °C electric arc. Major global producers are Evonik (who sells it under the name Aerosil), Cabot Corporation (Cab-O-Sil), Wacker C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Park (inventor)
John Esten Park, (1814 - 1872), educated in chemistry and medicine, experimented with using concrete to construct buildings before the American Civil War. His work left the town of Seguin, Texas, with a large concentration of 19th-century concrete structures. Early years John E. Park was born in 1814, in Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia, to James and Martha (Yandell) Park. About 1835, he married Rebecca Rosella Hubbard (1808-1877); they had seven children. He studied at the Louisville Medical Institute in Kentucky. His interest in concrete construction may have come from familiarity with the burgeoning Louisville cement industry, spurred by the widespread use of concrete able to harden under water for dams, locks, sewers, and other construction along the Ohio River. Dr. Park took his family to Seguin, probably in 1846. There in Central Texas he found that the materials necessary for concrete production (gravel, sand, lime, and clay) were readily available. Gravel beds and sand b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lime (material)
Lime is a calcium-containing inorganic material composed primarily of oxides and hydroxide, usually calcium oxide and/or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for calcium oxide which occurs as a product of coal-seam fires and in altered limestone xenoliths in volcanic ejecta. The International Mineralogical Association recognizes lime as a mineral with the chemical formula of CaO. The word ''lime'' originates with its earliest use as building mortar and has the sense of ''sticking or adhering''. These materials are still used in large quantities as building and engineering materials (including limestone products, cement, concrete, and mortar), as chemical feedstocks, and for sugar refining, among other uses. Lime industries and the use of many of the resulting products date from prehistoric times in both the Old World and the New World. Lime is used extensively for wastewater treatment with ferrous sulfate. The rocks and minerals from which these materials are derived, ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Concrete
Roman concrete, also called , is a material that was used in construction in ancient Rome. Roman concrete was based on a hydraulic-setting cement. It is durable due to its incorporation of pozzolanic ash, which prevents cracks from spreading. By the middle of the 1st century the material was used frequently, often brick-faced, although variations in aggregate allowed different arrangements of materials. Further innovative developments in the material, called the concrete revolution, contributed to structurally complicated forms, such as the Pantheon dome, the world's largest and oldest unreinforced concrete dome. Roman concrete was normally faced with stone or brick, and interiors might be further decorated by stucco, fresco paintings, or thin slabs of fancy colored marbles. Made up of aggregate and a two-part cementitious system it differs significantly from modern concrete. The aggregates were typically far larger than in modern concrete as well, often amounting to rubble, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Accelerant
Accelerants are substances that can bond, mix or disturb another substance and cause an increase in the speed of a natural, or artificial chemical process. Accelerants play a major role in chemistry—most chemical reactions can be hastened with an accelerant. Accelerants alter a chemical bond, speed up a chemical process, or bring organisms back to homeostasis. Accelerants are not necessarily catalysts as they may be consumed by the process. Fire In fire protection, the term accelerant is used very broadly to include any substance or mixture that "accelerates" the development of fire to commit arson. Chemists would distinguish an accelerant from a fuel; the terms are not, in the truest sense of chemical science, interchangeable. Some fire investigators use the term "accelerant" to mean any substance that initiates and promotes a fire without differentiating between an accelerant and a fuel. To a chemical engineer, "gasoline" is not at all considered an "accelerant"; it is more a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compressed Air
Compressed air is air kept under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. Compressed air is an important medium for transfer of energy in industrial processes, and is used for power tools such as air hammers, drills, wrenches, and others, as well as to atomize paint, to operate air cylinders for automation, and can also be used to propel vehicles. Brakes applied by compressed air made large railway trains safer and more efficient to operate. Compressed air brakes are also found on large highway vehicles. Compressed air is used as a breathing gas by underwater divers. It may be carried by the diver in a high pressure diving cylinder, or supplied from the surface at lower pressure through an air line or diver's umbilical. Similar arrangements are used in breathing apparatus used by firefighters, mine rescue workers and industrial workers in hazardous atmospheres. In Europe, 10 percent of all industrial electricity consumption is to produce compressed air—am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods. A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. The central portions of a rapid transit network are usually in the tunnel. Some tunnels are used as sewers or aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations. Utility tunnels are used for routing steam, chilled water, electrical power or telecommunication cables, as well as connecting buildings for convenient passage of people and equipment. Secret tunnels are built for military purposes, or by civilians for smuggling of weapons, contraband, or people. Special tunnels, such as wildlife crossings, are built to allow wildlife to cross human-made barriers safely. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plasticizer
A plasticizer ( UK: plasticiser) is a substance that is added to a material to make it softer and more flexible, to increase its plasticity, to decrease its viscosity, and/or to decrease friction during its handling in manufacture. Plasticizers are commonly added to polymers such as plastics and rubber, either to facilitate the handling of the raw material during fabrication, or to meet the demands of the end product's application. For example, plasticizers are commonly added to polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which otherwise is hard and brittle, to make it soft and pliable; which makes it suitable for products such as shower curtains, vinyl flooring, clothing, bags, flexible plastic tubing, and electric wire insulation/coating. Plasticizers are also often added to concrete formulations to make them more workable and fluid for pouring, thus allowing the water contents to be reduced. Similarly, they are often added to clays, stucco, solid rocket fuel, and other pastes prior to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transportation In The United States
Transportation in the United States is facilitated by road, air, rail, and waterways. The vast majority of passenger travel occurs by automobile for shorter distances, and airplane (or railroad, in some regions) for longer distances. In descending order, most cargoes travel by railroad, truck, pipeline, or boat; air shipping is typically used only for perishables and premium express shipments. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions by the United States. Ownership and jurisdiction The overwhelming majority of roads in the United States are owned and maintained by state and local governments. Federally maintained roads are generally found only on federal lands (such as national parks) and at federal facilities (like military bases). The Interstate Highway System is partly funded by the federal government but owned and maintained by individual state governments. There are a few private highways in the United States, which use tolls to pay for con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formwork
Formwork is molds into which concrete or similar materials are either precast or cast-in-place. In the context of concrete construction, the falsework supports the shuttering molds. In specialty applications formwork may be permanently incorporated into the final structure, adding insulation or helping reinforce the finished structure. Types Formwork may be made of wood, metal, plastic, or composite materials: #''Traditional timber formwork''. The formwork is built on site out of timber and plywood or moisture-resistant particleboard. It is easy to produce but time-consuming for larger structures, and the plywood facing has a relatively short lifespan. It is still used extensively where the labour costs are lower than the costs for procuring reusable formwork. It is also the most flexible type of formwork, so even where other systems are in use, complicated sections may use it. #''Engineered Formwork System''. This formwork is built out of prefabricated modules with a me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
