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The evaporation of cement additives dosed on hot clinker
  • Cement Admixture
  • SikaGrind®

Addressing the Unwanted Impacts of Grinding Aids

Grinding aids and strength enhancers are well known for their ability to increase cement mill productivity, and the mechanical strength of mortar and concrete. However, little information is available on the potential drawbacks of their usage. To close the gap, Sika Services addresses the possible impacts on health and safety and the environment, and on cement properties in production and use.
Architectural concrete facade with joint sealing
  • Facade
  • Joint Sealing
  • Building Envelope
  • Article

Considerations for Facade Joint Design

The facade is the face of buildings. In contemporary architecture, the facade is of special interest expressed by large dimensions, unconventional shapes and high material diversity. Especially with these unique shapes and connections, joint design is demanding and prone to mistakes. For integral joint specification, following some rough guidelines will result in a long-lasting and tight building envelope.
Excavator standing on heavy duty cementitious floor in warehouse
  • Flooring
  • Industrial Flooring
  • Industrial
  • Contractor

Dry Shake Hardeners for Concrete Floors

Dry shake aggregate floor hardeners are commonly applied to the surface of freshly placed concrete to improve wear resistance and occasionally to color a concrete surface. They decrease typical plain concrete negative properties like dusting and liquid absorption by improving the abrasion resistance and reducing surface permeability.
Intumescent material for fire protection
  • Passive Fire Protection
  • Expansion Foam
  • Article

Intumescence and Intumescent Materials for Fire Protection Products

Many passive fire protection products are claimed to be intumescent – what does this mean and when can a product be classed as intumescent?
The Loesche pilot mill used by Sika
  • Cement Admixture
  • SikaGrind®

Progress with Grinding Aids for Vertical Roller Mills

The effect of grinding aids on the comminution of cement is based on the dispersion of fine particles. It is a misunderstanding that grinding aids for vertical roller mills (VRMs) should stabilise the material bed between the rollers and the table by adhesive forces between the particles. Grinding aids reduce the polarity of the cleaved surface and the attraction forces between particles.
Steel metal fire protection coating black background
  • Protective Coating
  • Industrial Coating
  • Passive Fire Protection
  • Article

Fire Protective Coatings for Load-Bearing Structures

Passive fire protection is a vital component of any fire safety strategy for buildings. Built into the structure, it safeguards people’s lives and limit the financial impact of damage to buildings and their contents. Sika provides comprehensive solutions for fire resistant constructions such as tunnels, commercial and residential buildings and steel structures especially. Fire resistant coatings for load bearing structures enable to build secure buildings.
Shear cell of ring shear tester, a Schulze ring shear tester XSMr.
  • Cement Admixture
  • SikaGrind®

Performance Enhancer for Portland Limestone Cement (PLC)

The motives to replace clinker with supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) are well known. However, granulated blast furnace slag, natural pozzolanes, qualified fly ash and further SCM have a limited availability; the total potential replacement of the global clinker production is less than 30%. Limestone is increasingly being used as a component in Portland-Limestone cements: Sika offers an additive to enhance grinding and performance.
Fireman extinguish the fire with water
  • Joint Sealing
  • Sealant
  • Passive Fire Protection
  • Article

International Standards and Classifications for Fire Testing

Sika’s passive fire protection solutions are designed to be able to seal all different types of building joints and penetrations, in order to help keep fire in defined compartments for a certain period of time, thereby allowing people to evacuate safely. Sika passive fire protection solutions comply with the most relevant national and international standards (including EN, UL, EAD (ETAG), ASTM, AS, Certifire), in order to confirm that they meet the highest fire resistance requirements and consequently can help save people’s lives.
Man applying SikaScreed on floor
  • Flooring
  • Article

Potential Screed Issues and Solutions

If the screed is even, strong and dry enough, then only mechanical surface preparation such as grinding and cleaning is required, before wood floor bonding is possible. However there are many situations where the existing or even new screeds are not suitable, and additional treatment is necessary before wood flooring can be installed. Sika has developed complete balanced system solutions for all of the different possibilities that may be found in these situations.
Workers applying wood floor adhesives
  • Flooring
  • Construction Adhesive
  • Adhesive
  • Article

The Science Behind Wood Floor Adhesives

The task of wood floor adhesives is to firmly bond the organic wood floor elements to the generally inorganic screed. The adhesive must hold the wood in place, connect it to the underlying screed and transfer stress originating from the natural expansion and contraction of the wood to the generally rigid screed. The undesired but natural movement of the wood can become visible in cupping, joint formation, or in extreme situations failure of the adhesive or screed.
Application of Shotcrete with Sigunit accelerator
  • Concrete
  • Concrete Admixture
  • Shotcrete

Sprayed Concrete

Successful sprayed concrete requires the combination of many aspects of modern concrete technology especially concrete admixture chemistry, together with modern materials handling technology. The increasing demands for cost-effectiveness and the protection of health and the environment mean that sprayed concrete has been in continuous development. Thanks to more than one hundred years of experience, expert knowledge and a focus on performance and economy, Sika is able to provide the newest generation of sprayed concrete solutions.
Hydrophobic impregnation for protection of concrete structures
  • Concrete
  • Waterproofing
  • Watertight Concrete
  • Concrete Admixture

Watertight Concrete System

Waterproof concrete is an impermeable concrete used for long-lasting, durable watertight construction. To improve the impermeability of the concrete, water-resisting admixtures can be added. Nevertheless, design and construction of a watertight concrete structure is a system approach, and waterproof concrete is only one element of it. Water impermeability is determined by fulfilling requirements to limit water permeability through the concrete itself, the joints, installation parts and cracks.
3D Printing
  • Concrete
  • 3D Concrete Printing
  • Article
  • Architect

3D Concrete Printing

Cementitious 3D construction printing (3DCP) or 3D concrete printing is a form of additive manufacturing used to fabricate buildings or construction components in completely new shapes not previously possible with traditional concrete formwork.
Screed evaluation method: Cross-hatch testing for surface strength
  • Flooring
  • Article

Screed Evaluation Methods

A prerequisite for a sustainable and beautiful wood floor is a strong and dry screed. Therefore this screed has to be carefully accessed. The first source of information is the architect, engineer, or main contractor who will have all of the information about the build-up and nature of the floor. The second source is the screed contractor who can provide the screed details and if appropriate, any subfloor heating protocols. If, as so often in renovation projects most of this information is not available, there are a few simple methods that can be used to evaluate the screed.
Fire resistance illustration of Insulation (I)
  • Joint Sealing
  • Sealant
  • Passive Fire Protection
  • Article

Linear Seals, Cavity Barriers and Service Penetration Seals

Sika provides comprehensive solutions where fire resistant construction is required such as commercial, public and residential buildings, steel structures and others. Fire resistant sealants, fillers and backing materials for linear seals as well as solutions for penetration seals enable safer buildings and infrastructure to be built. Passive fire protection applications for compartmentations can be divided into the following three main groups: linear joint seals, cavity barriers, penetration seals.
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