fast.
strong.
green.
Argonne National Laboratory has developed a novel, versatile phosphate ceramic, called Ceramicrete, with many different applications, ranging from treatment of hazardous waste to the creation of a variety of consumer products such as construction materials (bricks, blocks, roofing, tiles, road patch), structural materials requiring high compressive strength, and sealants and coatings. Ceramicrete also has dental and medical applications. Ceramicrete is formed by mixing magnesium oxide powder and soluble phosphate powder (common, low-cost materials) with water. The process is very similar to that for making concrete, using commercially available equipment that mixes the powder components into the binder. The wet material (binder, aggregates, and water mixture) can then be pumped, gunned, or sprayed, also with commercially available equipment. The resulting material is nonporous, with compressive strength higher than that of concrete.
Ceramicrete is derived from phosphate cement, which was first used in the early 1900s in the form of zinc phosphate as dental cement. The material was further developed by Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory in Illinois, as magnesium potassium phosphate. This formula was designed to fulfill the need to stabilize and encapsulate radioactive and hazardous waste for the U.S. Department of Energy.
In 1996, Argonne began the patent process for Ceramicrete, which is a chemically-bonded phosphate ceramic. The material was first used in its Idaho division in 1999. Tony Collins approached Argonne Labs and together, they continued developing Ceramicrete for the construction, infrastructure and manufacturing industries. Tony Collins licensed these three broad categories from Argonne in 2007.
- Sets in cold weather
- Room-temperature process requires no energy
- Fast reaction to form hard, dense ceramic
- Controlled cure rate for optimized process and properties
- Incorporates large quantities of waste materials, both solids and liquids
- Ceramicrete cement can be produced in any color
- Working times vary from 20 minutes to 5 hours
- Ceramicrete sets with strengths comparable to ultra-high-strength concrete
- Ceramicrete expands slightly when it sets, and forms an excellent seal, while conventional cements contract
- The set material has a nonporous finish
- Ceramicrete can bond to itself or other materials, including conventional cements
- Ceramicrete does not bond to plastics or resins and can easily be extracted from a mold