The concrete dragon boat that can float on water with lightness skills

A concrete dragon boat is a delicate item that must not have any omissions during the manufacturing process. Lightweight Concrete Additives have played a significant role in manufacturing concrete dragon boats. It is necessary to ensure that the hull is formed in one go and to always pay attention to possible defects and defects during the construction process. The construction time for each ship is at least three and a half hours. Considering the possibility of defective products, before production, the team decided to make several more ships and select an outstanding boat from the middle for the competition, so it took a long time.

So, what's unique about the materials? Concrete is actually a composite material made by mixing cement, sand, stone, and other materials in a particular proportion. Cement mainly plays a cementing role, which is to bond sand and stone together, similar to glue. In our usual impression, the reason why concrete is relatively heavy is due to the higher density of natural aggregates such as sand and stone. In the competition of using concrete materials to make dragon boats, our primary problem to solve is to reduce the weight of concrete. Therefore, on the basis of continuing to use cement as a binding material, the team replaced natural sand and gravel with low-density lightweight materials such as hollow glass microspheres and ceramic particles, ensuring that the final product has a very light quality.

Although the quality can be reduced, plain concrete has greater brittleness and can fracture when subjected to small deformations. In order to improve the toughness of the concrete, the team also added a certain amount of plastic fibers to the lightweight concrete of Dragon Boat to increase its toughness. Faced with strict requirements, the team also considered the issue of waterproofing and impermeability when designing concrete materials, so they tried to be meticulous in every step of the construction process to ensure the successful floating of the concrete dragon boat on the water.

The participating team members need to use concrete, an indispensable material in modern engineering, to create dragon boats with a solid traditional Chinese cultural color. This is not only a test but also an opportunity for students. Zhang Rui believes that the most significant benefit of this competition is to stimulate students' interest in the subject. Secondly, it can not only give students a sense of achievement in hands-on work but also significantly broaden their knowledge.

The concrete dragon boat is driven by an electric motor and controlled by a remote servo to control its direction

Before construction, there are many complex processes, such as first determining the rough shape and design parameters of the ship according to the requirements of the competition, then using relevant software for modeling, simulating, and testing the resistance of different design parameters in the fluid, finding the design parameter with the lowest fluid resistance, determining the ship type and specific size, and finally determining the material mix ratio for construction. The main focus is on remote-controlled concrete dragon boat model racing and competitive competitions. The size of the concrete dragon boat model is between 80 centimeters and 100 centimeters, and it mainly uses lightweight concrete reinforced with steel bars or composite materials. The concrete dragon boat is driven by an electric motor and controlled by a remote servo, so there is no need for participants to go to the dragon boat personally, making it feel like "floating on water with light skills."

The application of Lightweight Concrete Additives

Lightweight: By adding light concrete additives, the density of Concrete can be reduced, thereby achieving lightweight components. This not only reduces the overall weight of the building, but also helps to enhance the seismic performance of the structure and decrease the foundation bearing requirements.

Improving concrete performance: Additives can optimize the rheological properties of Concrete, making it more suitable for 3D printing. During the printing process, additives help maintain the stability of Concrete and prevent material blockage of the nozzle or segregation.

Enhanced thermal insulation performance: Lightweight concrete additives usually have good thermal insulation performance, which can significantly improve the insulation effect of components. This helps to decrease the energy consumption of buildings and achieve the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction.

Improving printing accuracy: The use of additives helps enhance the printability of Concrete, ensuring that printed components have higher accuracy and more complex shapes. This provides architects and designers with more excellent creative space.

Supplier

TRUNNANO(cabr-concrete.com) is a supplier of Redispersible Polymer Powder and other concrete additives, which are tangible and relative products with over 12 years of experience in nano-building energy conservation and nanotechnology development. It accepts payment via Credit Card, T/T, West Union, and Paypal. Trunnano will ship the goods to customers overseas through FedEx, DHL, by air, or by sea. If you are looking for high-quality Lightweight Concrete Additives, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. (sales@cabr-concrete.com).