Concrete Admixtures
Production Plant for Mercedes-Benz
A new production plant for Mercedes-Benz has been built in the Hungarian city of Kecskemét. The production capacity of the plant is approximately 100,000 cars per year. In association with the plant in Rastatt, two vehicles from the next generation of today’s A- and B-Class are to roll off the production line in Kecskemét from 2012.
The plant includes a welding shop, assembly and logistics halls, a paint shop, a central administration building, and various outbuildings. The total area of the facility is 441 hectare. The plant area itself will be 310,000 m2.
Concrete admixtures: enhanced workability
The tender for structural work was won by two construction companies, Strabag Co. and KÉSZ Ltd. Concrete for KÉSZ Ltd was produced by CEMEX and TBG. Sika Hungary Ltd participated in the project as a concrete admixtures supplier for those concrete plants, which produced a total of 48,000 m3 of concrete. The concrete had to be designed for various applications
- Base slab
- Internal walls
- Industrial floors
- Columns
The flow class was defined as F3 and a workability retention time of 90 minutes was required. Due to the characteristics of the raw materials, especially the sands, the required workability time of 90 minutes was a real challenge. In the first trials the loss in workability was very high but this was significantly improved by the incorporation of Sika ViscoCrete 4025 Ultra.
Furthermore the concrete had to meet various exposure classes e.g. exposure class for wear resistance in Hungary (XK1 (H)) and Corrosion induced by carbonation (XC1).
New ViscoFlow PCE Technology
The use of the new Sika ViscoCrete 4025 Ultra created a good quality concrete and the workability retention time requirement could be fulfilled.
Sika ViscoCrete 4025 Ultra is based on Sika’s new ViscoFlow PCE Technology. The ViscoFlow polymers are designed to maintain consistent workability over a specified time period. The Sika ViscoCrete 4025 Ultra also performed very well in all weather conditions.