Construction chemicals

Construction chemicals

Formula offers high quality plaster and uncalcined gypsum products for use in various construction products and chemicals. Depending on applications and customers’ requirements, Formula’s products can be used as binders, fillers (to add bulk) or additives (to modify specific product properties).

• Fire protection Modern constructions are subject to strict safety standards in relation to passive fire protection, as in the event of a fire, minimising smoke production and delaying the rise in temperature provides precious time for evacuating buildings. Plaster is used in passive fire protection products which are not exposed to direct weathering, mechanical abuse or prolonged high humidity. Plaster releases water vapour, thereby slowing the spread of fire, for as much as one or two hours depending on product thickness. Plaster also provides a degree of insulation to retard heat flow to structural steel elements, which would otherwise lose strength and collapse in a fire. Due to its solubility in water, setting time, low shrinkage, plaster based products are suited for spray applications of large areas, including high and inaccessible structures (e.g. steel beams and structures to prevent the steel from losing its structural strength - 500°C -, to cover pipes, ducts, cabling etc.). Formula proposes plasters which are perfectly suitable for passive fire protection applications.
  
• Tile adhesives: Tile adhesives are powder based products which are added to water to make a paste for fixing ceramic wall and floor tiles, in bathrooms and kitchens.
  Formula proposes plasters and uncalcined gypsums suitable for use as additives in tile adhesive. Their aim is to provide a buttery feel, low cost, extender of the adhesive binder in the product, and facilitate removal in case of redecoration. They can be added to cement-based tile adhesives with the aim of forming Ettringite which expands, and fixes water molecules to give a faster drying and hardening time. They also limit the shrinkage of cement during the drying phase.
  
  
• Paints & Varnishes: Formula offers uncalcined gypsum products suitable for use as fillers in the formulation of paints & varnishes. Formula’s plasters are chemically resistant to many different types of paints, epoxy resins and oils. They are used to add bulk or modify the properties of paints, as an opacifying agent, gloss level adjustor, filler/extender of titanium dioxide, whitening agent…Formula proposes fine (micronised) gypsum for use in interior paints and varnishes, and coarser grade gypsum for exterior (road) paints.
  
  
• Cellular concrete blocks: In the manufacturing of aerated concrete blocks, fine uncalcined gypsum is added to a mixture of cement, lime, sand and aluminium powder. The slurry will be cast into moulds to form blocks. During setting, gypsum reacts with the aluminium powder (catalyst) to create air bubbles, which minimize the dimensional variations caused by the aluminium expansion, to produce strong, homogeneous blocks.
  Formula’s gypsum products are perfectly adapted to this application, notably in terms of particle size and purity (impurities would interfere with the chemical reaction).