FOCUS-CEMENT & RMC
MOVING TOWARDS
SUSTAINABILITY
A GROWING NEED HAS BEEN FELT FOR USE OF VALUE-ADDED ECO-FRIENDLY
CONCRETE PRODUCTS IN THE INDIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY WITH SPECIAL
FOCUS ON THE USE OF GGBS IN CONCRETE ROADS,
WRITE L R MANJUNATHA AND DR SANDHYA R ANVEKAR.
The construction sector in India is on a
threshold of a major tectonic shift due to
continued focus from the central govern-
ment on development. It has been
announcing major infrastructure projects,
such as the Bharatmala Pariyogana road
projects, the bullet train project, smart
cities and mass housing projects with the
‘Housing For All by 2022’ schemes in their
recent budgets.
These projects require for providing
essential building construction and road
construction services with reliability,
assurance, very high quality, low-cost
production and market competitiveness.
The massive expansion in the construction
activities during the last two-and-a-half
decades after India’s economic liberaliza-
tion in 1991, and the future outlays in the
sector both by the government and private
entities, has put an enormous pressure on
the quality of construction. There is an
ever increasing demand for Ready-Mixed
C
oncrete is one of the main
basic raw materials used for
civil engineering works and
one of the best material
invented by mankind in human histo-
ry, which has found its place as the
second most consumed material after
water. Ready Mixed Concrete is used
almost in all the projects in India to
save time and achieve quality. (1)
Concrete is a versatile building
material. It can be designed and used
for most of the structural demands
with the necessary aesthetic require-
ments. It also ranks as one of the sus-
tainable building materials with the
use of supplementary cementitious
materials (2). Concrete being a highly
durable building material, it can be
used for almost all building elements
and other works as per the imagina-
46 |EPC&I|FEBRUARY 2018
Concrete (RMC), special concretes like
HSC, HPC, SCC, FRC, temperature con-
trolled concretes, light weight concretes,
colour concretes, polished concrete and
stamped concrete.
Sustainable concrete products, such
as blended concretes and pervious con-
cretes, are also in great demand. All these
products have to be delivered safely to the
customers’ job sites with speed for execu-
tion and timely delivery of projects.
Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) as a
product is continuously evolving and mov-
ing forward by replacing traditional Site
Mixed Concrete (SMC) across Indian cities
and has even made a mark in many dis-
tricts and small towns. RMC Companies in
India are also providing value addition to
the construction industry by offering new
generation special concrete products that
are green through continuous innovation,
research and product development. Lead-
ing commercial RMC Companies in India
tion of the architects and engineers. It
is no longer a dull and colourless
product. Addition of admixtures and
pigments improves its strength, dura-
bility and aesthetics of the conven-
tional product.
Nowadays, decorative concretes
and new generation concretes are
replacing traditional concrete applica-
tions due to change in mind set of
architects and designers.
Brad Bowman, known as the
‘father of stamped concrete’ was one of
several decorative concrete ‘master-
minds’ recognized for outstanding ser-
vice to the industry during the Con-
crete Decor Show, Feb. 21 in San
Antonio, Texas. In addition to Bow-
man’s recognition, three other decora-
tive concrete professionals – Mike
Archambault, Clark Branum and Joe
have introduced many innovative newer
branded concrete products to the markets
to cash on the growing need and demand
for these green products and services.
This concept paper aims to bring out
the recent developments and availability of
new RMC special green products in the
Indian market, using greener industrial by
products, such as Fly ash from the coal
fired thermal plants, as cement replace-
ment or as fine aggregate. It would also
focus on M-Sand, Slag sand from the steel
industries and, chiefly, GGBS (Ground
granulated blast furnace slag) as partial
replacements to OPC Cement in concrete
applications and, also, mainly in concrete
roads and pavement quality concretes
(PQC) as using Pure OPC Cement is not
so friendly towards the environment. The
benefits and the value additions of these
products to the end consumers is also
highlighted with focus on the growth
potential for these products in future.
Nasvik – were inducted into the 2012
Decorative Concrete Hall of Fame.
Bowman installed exposed aggre-
gate concrete walls and slabs and
began experimenting with ways to add
patterns to his work. His first efforts
using cast-aluminium platform tools
efficiently imprinted several pattern
units. Lighter materials were later
substituted.
Today, textured, patterned stamps
have become an industry standard for
decorative concrete. The efforts of
such people offered limitless potential
for architectural expressions to the
decorative concretes seen today.
With the explosive growth and fast-
er phase in construction and new inno-
vations in the designs of buildings, the
use of advanced, innovative and deco-
rative concretes and construction tech-
niques are gaining recognition in India
and throughout the world.
Importance and significance
of RMC and SGC for Indian
Markets
India is the second largest producers
of cement in the world with an
installed capacity of 420 million
tonnes per annum. It is a vital part to
its economy and the growth of the
cement industry is expected to be 6-7
per cent in 2017-18 due to govern-
ment’s focus on infrastructure devel-
opment. Cement production is expect-
ed to reach 550-600 million tonnes
per annum by the year 2015, as per
India brand Equity Foundation
(IBEF) Jan 2018 report.
The use of ready-mixed concrete
(RMC) as a product vis-à-vis tradi-
tional site mixed concrete (SMC) in
the construction sector and infrastruc-
ture projects has come a long way ever
since the first commercial RMC plant
was established in Pune in the year
1992 (3). Since then, the RMC indus-
try is on a continual growth path.
The entry of commercial RMC
companies in 1993 has made the
industry grow by leaps and bounds
and, as we see today, the industry is
growing very fast and geographically
spreading to all the corners covering
metros, tier-II and tier-III towns and
the major district head quarters of the
country. RMC has been very popular
in developed countries for the last six
to seven decades and it is the most
popular method of production of con-
crete.
RMC is a better product due to
advanced manufacturing technology,
involving a higher degree of mechani-
zation and automation. It is techno-
logically superior to the traditional
Site Mixed Concrete.
The benefits of RMC in terms of
quality, speed, life-cycle cost and eco-
friendliness are some of its strengths
compared to Site Mixed Concrete.
RMC is a readily available product
and is replacing traditional site mixed
concreting at construction sites across
India due to its various advantages.
Cost wise, it is 15-20 per cent cost-
lier than the site mixed concrete due
to taxation on the product and manu-
facturing process. But, the industry is
witnessing sweeping changes in the
customer mindset that large numbers
of concrete users are migrating to the
RMC from the traditional site-mixed
concrete across the country. RMC
companies too are offering value-add-
ed special concretes and other con-
crete products to the consumers.
GGBS: THE WORLD’S
MOST SUSTAINABLE
BUILDING MATERIAL
So, what is GGBS? Ground granulated
blast furnace slag, as it is called, is a
hydraulic binder, i.e. cement, which
has been known and used for 150 years.
It improves the quality and durability
of concrete, and its production is virtu-
ally CO2-free. Yet, its many advantages
in producing sustainable, high quality
concrete remains underappreciated
and underused.
In an increasingly resource-con-
strained and environmentally con-
scious world, all that is about to
change.
Quality, sustainable concrete
Blast furnaces produce pig iron,
together with a slag by-product: a
tightly controlled and stable material
with the same constituents, though in
different proportions, to normal
cement. If the slag is vitrified by rapid
quenching as it comes from the blast
furnace, its cementitious qualities are
preserved.
Dried and ground to a fine pow-
der, GGBS can be used to make quali-
ty, sustainable concrete. To ensure its
activation, GGBS is most often used
with normal cement (OPC). It will
typically replace 30-70 per cent of
cement on an equal weight basis.
Reduction in CO2 emissions
The manufacture of normal cement
(OPC) results in the emission of 930
kg of CO 2 /t of cement (British
Cement Association, 2009): approxi-
mately 50 per cent from decarbona-
tion of the limestone raw material
(process emissions), 40 per cent from
fossil fuel consumption, and 10 per
cent from generating the electricity
used in the process. GGBS manufac-
ture typically releases 35 kg of CO2/t
of GGBS: less than 4.0 per cent of the
carbon footprint of normal cement.
Solar reflectance
Concrete roads made with GGBS
blended concretes will have a high
solar reflectance: studies in the US
have shown increases of 20 per cent in
reflection of sunlight by concrete with
GGBS. This will reduce the ‘heat
island’ effect in urban developments,
as well as having other beneficial
effects (reduced need for artificial
lighting at night, safer roads from bet-
ter visibility). Significantly, the reflect-
ed sunlight is not infrared radiation,
and so will not be trapped by the
greenhouse effect of the earth’s atmos-
phere. This is particularly useful for
white topping concrete roads in the
urban environments as, nowadays,
there is more focus on converting
most of the bituminous roads into
white topping concrete roads in cities
for durability and better performance
of roads.\
Durability
Durability is essential to the long ser-
vice life of concrete. In practice, con-
crete will deteriorate over time. The
factors driving this deterioration can
be internal (e.g. alkali-silica reaction)
or due to external aggressive environ-
ments (e.g., sulfate attack, or the
effects of chlorides on reinforced con-
crete).
GGBS substantially improves the
ability of concrete to resist deteriora-
tion from all major threats to long ser-
vice life. Requiring the use of GGBS is
now established best practice where
long service lives must be achieved,
even in the most aggressive environ-
ments. GGBS-based concrete will even
provide better fire resistance.
GGBS in concrete
GGBS can be used in concrete as
GGBS or as Portland slag cement
(combination of OPC cement and
GGBS allowed under IS 455). There is
no technical basis under which to pre-
fer one option or the other: once in
concrete, the GGBS behaves the same,
irrespective of whether or not it was
previously mixed with cement. Never-
theless, opinions are divided on the
best approach.
In the US and in certain EU coun-
tries (the UK, the Netherlands, Bel-
gium and Ireland), GGBS is widely
FEBRUARY 2018|EPC&I|47
 FOCUS-CEMENT & RMC

Comparison of various parameters of mineral admixtures under study

Mineral Admixtures Slag Fly ash
Blast furnace quenching of molten Thermal Power Plants – fine residue of
Source
material combustion
Chemical composition Similar to that of Cement high SiO2 and Al2O3, but low in CaO
Hydration Hydraulic Non -hydraulic
Permitted replacement to cement 25 – 70 per cent 15 -35 per cent
Very stringent – stable chemical
Production process Not as stringent as in case of Steel / Iron
composition of slag

used. Elsewhere in the EU, CEM IIIs
(PSC) dominate.
Using GGBS has two advantages
over CEM IIIs (PSC). Firstly, the con-
crete manufacturer can optimise the
proportion of GGBS according to the
technical/environmental require-
ments to be met; and secondly, GGBS
shipped directly to the concrete plant
will have lower embodied CO2 (avoid-
ing energy use in additional transport
to/from the cement plant and mixing
in a cement plant). For the lowest
embodied CO2, GGBS use is to be pre-
ferred.
Impact of using GGBS in con-
crete
◗ Reduction in the emission of CO2
from cement production plants.
◗ Improved durability.
◗ Reduced potential for cracking.
◗ Reduced permeability.
◗ Reduced corrosion repairs cost by
nearly 5.0 per cent of developed
nation’s GDP.
◗ Use of waste or by-products reduces
the clinker usage.
◗ Increased benefit-to-cost ratio and
longer service life.
Advantages of GGBS over Fly
ash on replacement levels
The permitted replacement ratio of
Fly Ash in OPC is 15-35 per cent (IS
1489 Part-1), but it is usually no more
than 30 per cent in concrete. On the
other hand, the permitted replace-
ment ratio of GGBS in OPC or con-
crete is 25-70 per cent (IS 455). It
could even be replaced up to 85 per
cent in some of the European coun-
tries.
With the same content of cementi-
tious material (the total weight of
Portland cement plus GGBS), similar
28-day strengths to Portland cement
will normally be achieved when using
up to 50 per cent GGBS. At higher
GGBS percentages, the cementitious
content may need to be increased to
achieve equivalent 28-day strength.
GGBS concrete gains strength more
steadily than equivalent concrete
made with Portland cement.
Typically a Portland cement con-
crete will achieve about 75 percent of
its 28-day strength at seven days, with
a small increase of five to 10 per cent
between 28 and 90 days.
GGBS has distinctive advantages
over Fly ash on many parameters as
shown below.
USE OF GGBS IN PAVE-
MENT QUALITY CON-
CRETE AND CONCRETE
ROADS
As per the recently published Indian
Road Congress code IRC 15:2017 code
of practice for construction of jointed
plain concrete pavements, the usage of
GGBFS us to 50 per cent is permitted
and the details are as under:
Page 5: 3.2.3.2 GGBFS IRC
15,2017, Fifth Revision.
◗ Factory Manufactured GGBFS (as
per IS 10875) up to 50 per cent of
weight of cementitious material may
be mixed at site with OPC of 43/53
Grade. Regular tests shall be conduct-
ed on GGBFS at a testing frequency of
One test per 100 MT of slag to ensure
the quality.
◗ In case of GGBFS, minimum cement
content shall be 250 kg. If this mini-
mum OPC content is not sufficient to
produce concrete of the specified
strength, it shall be increased as nec-
essary. The OPC content, however,
shall not exceed 450 kg/m3 of con-
crete.
White topping Concrete
Roads
Also, nowadays, lot of urban and city
roads are being made concrete roads
with the technology called White top-
ping. Whitetopping is a portland
cement concrete overlay on existing
asphalt concrete pavement. It can be
used as a road surface course where
traditional paving materials have
failed due to rutting or general deteri-
oration.
Advantages of white topping
roads
◗ White topping basically is a tech-
nique of providing CC pavement on
existing bitumen pavement.
◗ White topped roads are the great
white hope for city traffic and there is
10-15 per cent fuel saving when we use
this.
◗ Improved performance – no rutting
or wash boarding.
◗ Ability to maintain surface grade –
many installers mill off the amount of
asphalt that will be replaced by the
UTW so that they don’t change the
surface grade.
◗ Competitive price with other resur-
facing method.
Greater Chennai Corporation has,
for the first time in the city, used the
high quality M60 grade concrete,
which has a tensile target strength of
60Mpa, to make the road surface
durable because it abuts the sea and is,
therefore, more vulnerable to wear
and tear. Other cement roads in the
city use M40 grade of concrete.
Cement with slag is the best option
in coastal regions. There would be no
potholes or damaged roads due to
heavy rains!
White topping is also suitable for
asphalt pavement with little deteriora-

48 |EPC&I|FEBRUARY 2018
tion, although repairs can be made to intense pressure over all industries to
the asphalt if necessary. If the pave- reduce their carbon emissions. The
ment is badly damaged, it should be backbone of the construction industry
completely removed and a new con- is concrete, which is widely regarded
crete pavement should be installed. as a high energy material. Some of the
The pavement should be relatively proposed alternatives are Blended
hard, as well. Concretes that utilize industrial
However, white topping requires wastes, such as fly ash and ground
the asphalt layer to be at least three granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS).
inches thick. If necessary, a section of Concrete is widely considered as
new concrete roadway can be placed the backbone of the construction
under a bridge with gentle slopes on industry, with a current consumption
either side that meet up with the white of 1.0 cubic meter per person per year
topped portions of the road. (Gartner E, 2009). Ordinary Portland
But, the Centre for Smart Cities cement (OPC) has been used for
(CSC) believes that it can be a reality if around 200 years now as a binder
the government goes for white topped material. However, OPC has high
(cement concrete) roads by replacing embodied energy of 4.2MJ/kg (Peng J
the existing blacktop (bitumen) roads. et al, 2014; Huang Li C et al, 2011;
The figure shows finished White Huntzinger DN et al, 2009).
topped concrete roads for use of The contribution of OPC is
smooth traffic. approximately 5–7 per cent of global
man made CO 2 emissions (Huntz-
NEED FOR USAGE AND inger DN et al, 2009; Meyer C et al,
PROMOTION OF GREEN 2009). High CO2 emissions arising
PRODUCTS IN THE CON- from OPC manufacturing are from
CRETE AND CONSTRUC- calcination of limestone, and high
TION INDUSTRY energy consumption during manufac-
As global awareness and concern over turing (Gartner E et al, 2009).
increased carbon dioxide emissions During the recent past, many
and its direct impact over global cli- alternatives to OPC concrete have
mate change increases, there is been proposed to reduce green house
gas emissions, which are Blended
Cement Concretes comprising OPC
that has been partly substituted by
supplementary cementitious materials
as binders for concrete. Commonly
used substitutes include fly ash, a fine
waste residue that is collected from
the emissions liberated by coal burn-
ing power stations, and ground granu-
lated blast furnace slag (GGBS), a
waste by-product from making steel.
According to Flower and Sanjayan,
the use of blended cements results in
reduction of CO2 emissions by 13–22
per cent. These estimates vary accord-
ing to the local conditions at the
source of raw materials, binder quan-
tity and amount of OPC replacement,
type of manufacturing facilities, cli-
mate, energy sources, and transporta-
tion distances.
PROMOTION OF GREEN
PRODUCTS THROUGH
RMC ROUTE
The Indian cement industry is the sec-
ond largest in the world with an
installed capacity of 424 million
tonnes, and the production for the
year 2016-17 was around 295 million
tonnes. If we compare cement con-
sumption through the RMC way in

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 FOCUS-CEMENT & RMC
India, ready mix concrete industry
used just 2 .0 per cent in the begin-
ning of the 90’s. Presently, the com-
mercial RMC alone consumes around
9-10 per cent of the total cement pro-
duction and producing approximately
30-32 million cum of commercial
ready-mixed concrete annually.
Captive RMC plants which are set
up at project sites in metros and cities
have been estimated to produce
around another 35 million cum of
ready-mixed concrete annually, which
in turn takes the total production of
mechanized concrete (production of
concrete from RMC batching plants)
in India to about 72-75 million cum
annually. In the developed countries,
the cement consumption through
RMC route is about 70-75 per cent
(USA) and 65-70 per cent (Europe
and Japan).
As a testimony to the growth of
RMC industry in India, as per our best
of knowledge, there are currently
more than 1400-1500 commercial
RMC plants present and operating in
about 130 to 140 cities and towns
across India. These include metros,
tier-I and tier-II cities, districts and
talukas. In total, there are more than
3500-3700 RMC batching plants in
operation throughout the length and
breadth of the country.
VALUE ADDED GREEN
CONCRTE PRODUCTS
USING GGBS AS MINERAL
ADMIXTURE
Modern concrete has gone through a
metamorphic change in India due to
the use of secondary cementitious
materials, concrete additives and new
generation admixtures, which are mak-
ing the traditional concrete to perform
special functions and applications. For
any ready-mixed concrete manufactur-
ing industry, designing and producing
products which are sustainable is the
top most priority today.
Most of the concretes and value
added products which are being pro-
duced today at RMC plants make use
of sustainable raw materials like fly-
ash, GGBS and slag, replacing cement
as well as natural river sand. The
demand for manufactured sand is also
increasing.
Value-added concrete products are
50 |EPC&I|FEBRUARY 2018
different from that of traditional con-
cretes. These concrete products are
made by using one or more special
additives, such as Flyash, GGBS,
Micro silica, Alccofines, metakaolin,
synthetic or steel fibres, EPS Beads,
Colour pigments, super plasticizers,
PC-based admixtures, etc. These val-
ue-added special products enhance
durability, workability and setting
times while delivering a higher perfor-
mance mix.
During the recent past, leading
commercial RMC companies in India
who are having national footprint
have launched and are supplying
many branded and non-branded val-
ue-added green concrete products
either using GGBS or Fly ash as min-
eral admixture, and most of these val-
ue-added products fall under the fol-
lowing categories:
◗ High Strength Concrete (HSC).
◗ High Performance Concrete (HPC).
◗ Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC).
◗ Smart Dynamic Concrete (SDC).
◗ Temperature Controlled Concrete
(TCC).
◗ Blended Concretes.
◗ High Volume Flyash Concrete.
(HVFC).
◗ Fibre Reinforced Concrete (FRC).
◗ Coloured Concrete (CC).
◗ Light Weight Concrete (LWC).
◗ Foam concrete.
◗ Pervious Concrete (PC).
◗ Stamped concrete.
◗ Geo-Polymer Concrete (GPC).
◗ Nano Concrete.
◗ Polished concretes.
The new generation value-added
concrete products being supplied by
the Indian commercial RMC compa-
nies offer concrete users numerous
benefits and advantages based on
their applications.
SPECIAL ECO-FRIENDLY
CONCRETES (VALUE-ADD-
ED PRODUCTS) AVAILA-
BLE IN INDIAN MARKETS
High Strength Concrete (HSC):
High strength concrete offers signifi-
cantly higher strength than traditional
concrete and finds applications in
structures, such as columns, beams,
slabs, bridges, etc.
They offer various advantages,
such as:
◗ Very high strength and dense con-
crete.
◗ Low water to binder ratio.
◗ High early strength which allows
faster construction and formwork
reuse.
◗ Increased elastic modulus and lower
creep.
◗ Reduction in the total steel require-
ment.
◗ Increased floor space availability.
◗ Higher durability.
Applications
HSC can be used for various applica-
tions, such as:
◗ RCC columns and beams in high rise
buildings.
◗ Precast structural elements.
High Performance Concrete (HPC):
HPC is a superior concrete with
enhanced performance with respect to
slump retention, early age strength
and plastic shrinkage. It is a finely
engineered concrete made with spe-
cial admixtures and mineral additives
like GGBS/Fly ash that beneficially
modifies the hydration process of con-
crete, thereby reducing incidences of
plastic shrinkage cracking and
improving the performance of the
concrete for long time durability.
Some of its advantages are:
◗ Flow ability and compressive
strength guaranteed.
◗ You can build columns with a high
relation length/diameter.
Some of the key applications of its
usage are:
◗ Columns and any other application
that requires high performance con-
crete.
◗ Long span beams and girders of RCC
and Precast concretes.
◗ Marine structures.
Self-Compacting Concrete
The advantages of Self-Compact-
ing concrete are:
◗ Better progress and faster comple-
tion of project since placement.
◗ Better quality in terms of better sur-
face finish and enhanced durability.
◗ Self working environment due to
trouble free placement of concrete.
◗ Environmental friendly with reduc-
tion in noise pollution.
◗ Better mouldability and more free-
dom to design complex structures.
◗ More economical with reduction in
time, manpower and resources for
concrete placement.
◗ Better reinforcement bonding.
Some of the applications where it
can be used are:
◗ RCC members with heavy congested
reinforcement.
◗ RCC Columns, industrial floorings
and machine foundations.
◗ RCC beams, column junctions pro-
vided with heavy reinforcement.
◗ High rise buildings, Metro Tunnels,
etc.
◗ RCC structures with intricate and
complicated shape and design.
◗ Retaining walls, raft foundations,
footings and pile foundations.
Smart Dynamic Concrete™:
Smart Dynamic Concrete™ (SDC)
combines the advantages of both tra-
ditionally vibrated and self-compact-
ing concrete and adds economical
(saving on fines, faster placing, higher
labour productivity), ecological (less
fine, less CO 2 ), and ergonomic (no
vibration, low stickiness) values to
concrete. Smart Dynamic Concrete
(Low fines SCC) addresses the needs
of the RMC industry where more than
90 per cent of the concrete produced
is of strength class of 30-35 MPa and
less. This technology innovation helps
in achieving(5):
◗ Optimum yield value.
◗ Plastic viscosity.
◗ Superior homogeneity of the mix.
◗ Minimum energy dissipation.
◗ Minimization of paste volume.
Smart dynamic concrete goes into
structures that are not heavily rein-
forced (ordinary RCC structures, etc).
This eliminates the extra costs related
to fines (material, silos, handling,
logistics, etc.) and reduction of the
binder content to the required
strength class as well the heat of
hydration. This means lesser cement
or use of a lower grade cement or
more supplementary cement materials
(SCM), which helps in enhancing
durability.
Temperature Controlled Con-
crete (TCC): In mass concreting
work, due to the large differences in
temperature between the core and
surface of structures, thermal cracks
are common. Higher concrete temper-
ature means many disadvantages. For
example, high temperature leads to
faster drying of concrete, loss of work-
ability, formation of cold joints, and
excessive plastic shrinkage. Tempera-
ture controlled concrete is the only
solution for the above problem in
mass concrete applications.
Some of the advantages are:
◗ Reduced plastic shrinkage cracks in
fresh concrete.
◗ Rapid loss of slump and drying of
fresh concrete will be under control.
◗ Controlled early setting and stiffen-
ing of concrete.
◗ Rise of temperature inside the con-
crete mass over the ambient tempera-
ture will be under control, leading to
reduction in thermal tensile cracks.
Some of its applications are:
◗ Massive raft foundations in struc-
tures.
◗ Mass concrete works, such as dams
and hydro electric and power projects.
◗ Bridge foundations and Bridge Piers.
◗ Large retaining walls.
Blended Concretes: Blended con-
cretes are made out of blending one or
more than one of supplementary
cementitious materials (SCMs) or
mineral admixtures along with the
ordinary Portland cement while mak-
ing of concrete. Blended concretes are
eco-friendly products and offer
numerous benefits to the concrete
users. The secondary cementitious
materials used for making the blended
concretes are Fly ash, GGBS, Silica
Fume, Metakaolin, and Alccofine.
Fiber Reinforced concrete: Fibre
reinforced concrete is a composite
material in which fibres are intro-
duced in the matrix as micro rein-
forcement so as to improve the tensile,
cracking and other properties of con-
crete (6).
Some of the improvements of
properties in fresh concrete are:
◗ More homogeneous/cohesive con-
crete.
◗ Arrests plastic shrinkage cracks and
micro cracks.
◗ Reduced bleeding and segregation.
Some of the improvements of
properties in hardened concrete are:
◗ Reduced water permeability.
◗ Improved Flexural strength.
◗ Enhanced fatigue resistance for bet-
ter endurance.
◗ High degree of protection against
abrasion and impact.
◗ Improved ductility and durability.
◗ Ability to absorb more energy.
◗ Replaces or reduces non-structural
steel (secondary reinforcement steel
mesh) for ground supported slabs, and
helps in faster construction.
Some of the key applications are:
◗ Slab on grade: All types of Cement
concrete pavements, industrial floors,
Airport taxiways, hangers, etc.
◗ Concrete roads, beams and precast
concrete girders which require addi-
tional flexural strength.
Colour concrete: Concrete in a wide
array of colours for aesthetic purpose.
Stamped concrete: Stamped con-
crete, commonly referred to as pat-
terned stamped concrete or imprinted
concrete, is designed to resemble brick,
slate, flagstone, stone, tile and even
wood. Stamped concrete can be used to
beautify pool decks, driveways, entries,
courtyards, and patios. It is a unique
variety of concrete which is stamped
for making surfaces decorative.
It can be designed on walls, slabs,
landscapes, parking areas using con-
crete grades from M20 to M40 com-
pressive strength. The final appear-
ance resembles natural materials like
paver-blocks, stone and wood.
High Density Concrete: High
density concrete is used for special
applications, such as radiation shield-
ing in hospitals, reactors, etc., and to
add dead weight to structures.
Foamcrete: It is a light weight
concrete for thermal insulation,
acoustics, fillers, etc.
Permeable concrete: It is also
called ‘no fines concrete’, which is
made out of cementitious materials
and finely graded coarse aggregates.
This concrete is an environment
friendly concrete which is permeable
and, hence, allows seepage of water
through itself, thus improving ground
water table and preventing water log-
FEBRUARY 2018|EPC&I|51
 FOCUS-CEMENT & RMC

ging. This product is best suited for Continuous research work and
walkways, large parking areas and efforts are going on in the field of
open spaces in large townships. concrete technology in India as well
as abroad to introduce many more
Lightweight concrete: Light newer products to the Indian mar-
weight concrete is used for non-load kets. These vary from self curing
bearing structures, architectural fac- concrete, self healing concrete, bac-
ing works and levelling course without terial concrete, transparent concrete,
adding to the dead weight. This light- and smog heating concrete by RMC
weight concrete is made by distribut- manufacturers and cement manufac-
ing foam or polystyrene bits in a uni- turers as well.
form manner throughout a precisely Branded value-added concrete
designed mix. products from commercial RMC
Companies who are having national
Decorative Concrete: Concrete footprint are available in the mar-
is no longer plain, grey and boring. kets with various brand names and
It is now thought of as a beautiful the details are available on the web-
decorative element. Today’s home- sites of respective companies. The
owners, builders, and designers rec- Indian concrete users should make
ognize the value in using concrete in the right choice in selecting the
their designs and plans. Decorative right value-added concrete products
concrete transforms traditional grey based on their requirements and
concrete into warm brown floors, applications.
expensive slate-looking patios, and As the Indian construction markets
weather-resistant outdoor kitchen mature, the demands for these special
countertops. value-added concrete products will
grow exponentially and the day will
Polished Concrete: Polished con- come very soon that 30-40 per cent of
crete is fast becoming the ultimate no- the concrete produced by the commer-
wax flooring material. Thanks to cial RMC companies will be special val-
recent advances in polishing equip- ue-added concrete products.
ment and techniques, contractors are To popularize the RMC products,
now grinding concrete floor surfaces, RMC producers should be certified for
whether new or old, to a high-gloss quality by a third party organisation.
finish that never needs waxes or coat- Ready Mixed Concrete Manufacturers
ings. Due to the durability and perfor- Association helps to do this if the pro-
mance of concrete, it is used in retail, ducers become members of the organ-
warehouse, and office facilities as an isation.
alternative to marble, granite, tile,
linoleum, or coated concretes. Conclusion
Ready Mix Concrete Industry and
FUTURE AHEAD FOR VAL- scope for special value-added green
UE-ADDED GREEN RMC concrete products will continue to
PRODUCTS grow in the coming years due to very
high infrastructure growth in India
and change in mind set. More number
of RMC plants will be set up at tier-II
and tier-III cities in the coming years
as RMC as a product is superior com-
pared to site-mixed concrete. There is
bound to be migration of concrete
users from SMC to RMC due to short-
age of skilled manpower and product
superiority of RMC.
Value-added green concrete prod-
ucts are here to stay in India and the
demand for these products will see
high growth in the coming years due
to their value addition and applica-
tions benefits. The demand for brand-
ed value-added green and sustainable
concrete products will grow due to
aggressive marketing and specifica-
tion selling by RMC companies in
future, and the next decade belongs to
special concretes and value-added
concrete products.
Customer education and training
on the use and benefits of special val-
ue-added concrete products should
happen on a war footing by the vari-
ous stake holders like RMC compa-
nies, institutions, professional bodies,
research institutes, applicators,
cement and admixtures companies
across India so that concrete user’s
migration happens from traditional
ordinary concretes to special concrete
products at a faster phase.
L R Manjunatha, DGM – GGBS Sales and
Marketing, JSW Cement Limited and
Research Scholar (PhD), Management,
Research and Development Centre,
Bharatiyar University.
Dr. Sandhya R Anvekar, Professor, Dept. of
Management Studies, VTU, Bengaluru
Region.

46 “2015 WILL BE A TESTING TIME FOR CE MANUFACTURERS”- ANAND SUNDARESAN,

PRESIDENT, INDIAN CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS’ ASSOCIATION (ICEMA).

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