Summary
Developments in Europe and America suggest that lightweight calcium silicate hydrate oiTers much promise for building purposes, although the amount of published technical data is limited. This paper presents the results of a study of some physical characteristics of autoclaved products, relating to mix design and compressive strength, using five grades of silica flour that vary widely in specific surface area.
It is shown that for each of the grades of silica flour there is a certain value of the lime/silica ratio at which the ratio of the compressive strength to the unit weight reaches a maximum. A limited number of results, obtained under an arbitrary set of conditions without batch replication, show approximately linear relations between (a) the unit weight of dry products and the water/solids ratio of mixes, (b) the ratio of the compressive strength to the unit weight of dry products and the water/solids ratio of mixes, and (c) the lime/silica ratio (for maximum compressive strength) and the specific surface area of the silica flour used.
