Sulfur Polymer Concrete--a Super Construction Material.
McBee-WC; Weber-HH; Dohner-WT
X Inter-American Conf on Materials Tech San Antonio Texas, 1989 Apr; :6 pages
The Bureau of Mines developed sulfur concrete (SC) construction materials based on sulfur polymer cement (SPC) and mineral aggregate that are durable and chemically resistant. These sulfur concretes should lower maintenance costs for labor, energy, equipment, and materials in the chemical, fertilizer, and metallurgical industries. Thermoplastic SPC is made commercially by reacting cyclic olefinic hydrocarbon modifiers with elemental sulfur at 300 deg. C (149 deg. C) in a sealed chemical reactor. Molten SPC is mixed with mineral aggregates to produce a high-strength SC with an average compressive strength of 7,000 psi (48 mpa) upon cooling. Eighty percent of the ultimate strength of the SC is attained within a few hours. In cooperative testing with the Sulphur Institute, SC's have been tested in over 50 industrial process environments and found to be essentially impervious to moisture permeation and extremely resistant to most mineral acid and salt solutions. Commercial-scale equipment has been developed and used for large-scale applications. State-of-the-art production and construction techniques are described. SC materials are showing superior performance characteristics, compared with portland cement concrete, in many industrial applications and are demonstrating versatility for use in other special-purpose construction applications, such as marine (salt water) environments and the transportation (road building) industry.
X Inter-American Conf. on Materials Tech., San Antonio, Texas, Apr. 17- 21, 1989, PP.7-39--7-44