Industry News — FRCA to tackle fiber testing issues The Technical Committee of the Fiber Reinforced Concrete Association is currently pursuing a project to investigate the growing number of complaints from member companies related to the testing of fibers under the current ASTM C1609 standard. Recent projects and specifications have yielded problems where certain testing laboratories have been shown to be incapable of providing the heavily technical requirements to adequately perform the standard as written. The FRCA is working

with TEC Services in Atlanta to create a testing program with variables including testing speed, data acquisi-tion rates, size of testing frames and other items which will then be presented to industry bodies such as ASTM and ACI to gain more uniformity on future work. The FRCA will also be discussing this challenge at its upcoming Board of Directors meeting at Middle Tennessee State University on July 15th.

19218 Redwood Rd Cleveland, OH

44110

Michael Mahoney, P.Eng. Director of Fiber Technology Phone: 216-692-8301 Fax: 216-481-7072 Email: mmahoney@euclidchemical.com

Demonstratively Better

IINSIDENSIDE F FIBERIBERSS a newsletter dedicated to the sales and success of Euclid Chemical’s Fiberstrand & TUF-STRAND SF products.

Road HoggsRoad Hoggs

Sales Update—Q4 Barometer

Sales of TUF-STRAND SF continue to remain very strong in Canada with some modest gains beginning to appear in the US; especially with the continued increase in the price of steel. Resin pricing for the manufacture of fibers continues to be relatively high compared to previous years but is stable.

Fiberstrand Fiber sales have also shown some significant growth over the past several months as the residential market appears to be increasing in size as overall construction spending and cement consumption rises.

IN THIS ISSUE

FRCA tackles testing

School projects in SC & NC

ACI Competition

New Brochures

Adding Fibers to Concrete

The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) in Ontario, Canada is currently looking at TUF-STRAND SF for use in ‘Link Slabs’ on highway bridges throughout the province. A high dosage fiber content will be used in concrete that will be placed between existing concrete slabs as a transition between decks. Holcim Canada’s Dufferin Concrete has been working with Euclid Chemical’s Brian Salazar, Mike Mahoney, Bill Corradetti and Vito deBenedictus to ensure that the performance of TUF-STRAND SF meets the requirements of the specification and have recently used the fiber at 5 kg/m3 (8 pcy) on the Hogg’s Hollow Bridge on Highway 401 near Toronto. Through the testing and evaluation program that was developed, it was shown that a flaw currently exists in the requirements of the specification and Euclid Chemical is now working with the MTO to correct the issue and move forward with additional fiber reinforced concrete applications with more ‘easy-to-use’ testing requirements.

Hogg’s Hollow Bridge, located on Highway 401 just north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is currently undergoing a multi-year reconstruction project to rehabilitate all 14 lanes of traffic and will include concrete, supplied by Dufferin Concrete, containing TUF-STRAND SF.

June, 2010June, 2010

Volume Volume 4, 4, Issue Issue 11

Page 2 Volume 4, Issue 1

Fiber Tips

New Fiber Reinforced Concrete Brochure Available

The ‘Synthetic Fibers’ Brochure, originally created in 2003, has been revised and updated with a new title — Fiber Reinforced Concrete. New photos and product selection information complement the complete line of information available on the use of fibers at Euclid Chemical.

Available for order in June at www.euclidchemical.com

Concrete Tips is a success!

Additional printing runs of ‘Concrete Tips’, Euclid Chemical’s Pocket Guide for Placing, Curing and Jointing Concrete is underway after overwhelming demand from salesreps, con-tractors and ready-mix producers.

More New Brochures

Euclid’s new Self Consolidating Concrete and Precast Admixtures and Repair Materials Bro-chures are now available for immediate order from www.euclidchemical.com.

Upcoming meetings

The C09 Concrete and Aggregates Committee of ASTM will be meeting in St. Louis on June 7-10. The NPCA will be holding committee week activities from June 21-25.

Company Information / Announcements

Euclid Chemical’s new Fiber Reinforced Concrete brochure will be available for order in June.

If you have any contributions for stories, tips or general announcements, please feel free to submit your material to Euclid Chemical at your earliest convenience.

Right up their alley...

adding fibers to concrete

A student team from The Missouri University of Science and Technology won the 2010 Student ACI FRC Bowling Ball Competition held at the recent ACI Chicago Convention in March. Students from 15 different Universities across North and South America and the country of Turkey competed in the competition which included categories for rolling, maximum load and closest prediction. Euclid Chemical’s Mike Mahoney served as one of the judges for the competition. Other Universities taking home prizes included Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon (Mexico) and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (Canada). Members of the winning team, pictured on the right, included Cory Grace, Mario Brontoli, Ethan Shackelford, Hilary Kuehn, and Adam Riegel.

Paul Gurley of Bailey and Son Engineering Inc., Bryan Smith of Euclid Chemical and Henry Martin of Thomas Concrete stand on the construction site of Pickens High School in Pickens, SC.

Opening in the fall of 2011, students in Pickens, South Carolina will be attending a new 230,000 ft2 High School reinforced exclusively with TUF-STRAND SF in all slabs on grade. Paul Gurley of Bailey and Son Engineering Inc. has specified Euclid’s macro-fiber at a dosage of 3 lbs/yd3 to replace all welded wire mesh on this facility along with 3 additional schools in the towns of Liberty and Easley, SC. In total, nearly 1M feet of floor will be poured by Thomas Concrete over the next two years. Euclid’s Bryan Smith and Mike Mahoney observed the construction at Pickens High School before heading to Boone, NC to take a look at the new Reich College of Education Building, currently under construction at Appalachian State University, where TUF-STRAND SF is being used at a dosage of 4 lbs/yd3 in a lightweight concrete mix to reinforce all four stories of the metal deck construction project with concrete supplied by Loven Concrete.

When adding products like Fiberstrand and TUF-STRAND SF to concrete, the method of addition into the concrete batching process can go a long way to ensuring success in the field. In general, adding fibers to a mix that is too dry (slump less than 2”) whether the slump is measured before fiber addition or after, can cause significant problems. Adding fibers at the end of the batching cycle is usually a ‘fool-proof’ method to ensure proper mixing but it is also possible to add fibers at the front of the batch cycle as well provided that all ingredients are quickly added and sufficient initial slumps are achieved.

As always, a test trial should be performed to ensure that the mixture will support the fiber type and dosage and that the batching sequence will not cause any problems. If necessary, the use of a water reducing admixture may be warranted to maintain the desired slump for placement.

Higher Learning

Appalachian State University in Boone, NC