Wednesday, July 23, 2008

[papercreters] Re:test results on papercrete.net

They key ingredient in papercrete is the amount of water you start with in the mix.

Most people start with too much water ( wieght of water is 6 to 8 times the weight of the paper fibre component) as the excess water allows them to run the tow mixer with very little effort ie they use water as medium that allows newsprint to swrill in it and be presented to the blade for being pulped.

The end result is that the papercrete
(1) takes a very long time to dry
(2) shrinks considerably
(3) developes micro fractures if the forms are removed early
(4) is prone to molding as the paper fibres are not fully coated with cement.

I would like you to try to mix a mix where the weight of water used is just equivalent to the weight of the paper being added.(You may have to soak the paper in water before putting it in the mixer). When making a tight mix, run the mixer for a much longer time then when using lots of water.

Another variant you could try is with the weight of water being only half the weight of the paper fibre component.

Shrinkage and drying time are two results to watch for in addition to other results.
Regards
Ashok


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