Polystyrene concrete
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Below you can find some useful information and  professional materials, which are mainly related to polystyrene concrete (lightweight concrete) and other lightweight admixtures.

Some facts about the use and application of polystyrene beads

Polystyrene, as a raw material, is used in many different ways in the industry due to its favorable properties. It is most often encountered as a packaging material, space and frame filler, or as a raw material for thermal insulation systems. Polystyrene beads are practically spherical particles “filled” with air.

There are basically 3 types of it in everyday life:

  • EPS (Expanded PolyStyrene): a low specific gravity and high volume set of high air content spherical particles of various particle sizes, this type of PS is most commonly used as a packaging and insulating material.
  • XPS (Extruded PolyStyrene): extruded tabulated insulation materials, primarily used as step-resistant or structural insulation materials. It typically has a higher density than EPS.
  • PPS (Prepuff PolyStyrene): a raw material produced during the recycling of polystyrene waste, mainly as a surface coating material.

Whether they are used / used as packaging material or as insulation material, like most plastics, the storage and processing of the waste generated from them is a problem. Fortunately, nowadays more and more countries ban their direct / indirect incineration and pay special attention to their reprocessing and recycling.

Recycled polystyrene beads are mainly used as construction raw materials, but their use is significantly limited by the fact that the materials that can be made from them (mortars, concretes) have poor mechanical properties, although their thermal insulation properties are very good.

Why is it preferable to use polystyrene beads as a frame filler as an admixture for lightweight concrete?

In general, when it comes to concretes, everyone thinks of gravel aggregates of different sizes as a frame filler. The “incorporation” of frame fillers into a cement scaffold is primarily determined by their material quality and the wetting characteristics of their surface.

They work so that the cement paste “surrounds” (most often) the surface of the gravel and then solidifies around it. Nowadays, in addition to gravel aggregates, there are several types of frame fillers, which are mainly produced by rotary kiln granulation.

Their general feature is that they are lighter and have better wetting characteristics than gravel aggregates, and their production does not have a direct environmental impact, but they are costly and energy-intensive and thus almost always more expensive than conventional river gravel.

Contrary to popular belief, polystyrene beads can also be used as a frame filler, and their advantageous properties can be summarized as follows:

  • their specific gravity is significantly lower than that of gravel aggregates, but even in the case of granulated light additives, so they are suitable for weight reduction of concretes
  • as they can most easily be described as air-filled plastic spheres, their thermal insulation properties are excellent, so the weight-reduced concrete that can be made from them has very good thermal properties
  • they can be produced cheaply and easily from virtually any PS waste, can be recycled even at home, but its industrial processing is also significantly more cost-effective
  • the preparation of various concrete mixtures made from it does not require special expertise, whether for industrial or residential applications

Why is it suitable for "ICL-PS-LWC" type lightweight concrete house construction?

The applicability of a material as a structural element (masonry or block elements) and / or as a structural material (eg monolithic concrete) is determined by the construction chemical properties of the given material. Different construction standards prescribe unique and mandatory characteristics based on different areas of use:

  1. Technological (mechanical) specifications: determine the compressive and flexural strength as well as the watertightness and fire resistance of materials
  2. Energy (thermal engineering) regulations: regulate the heat and sound insulation and vapor permeability of materials (parameter determining the “ventilation” of structures)

Thus, basically, the above-mentioned characteristics together determine whether a given material, in our case polystyrene-doped lightweight concrete, is suitable for use as a structural material.

Another aspect of building materials is the form in which they can be used: whether they can be used as structural elements (masonry elements) or as structural materials (monoliths).

“ICL-PS-LWC” lightweight concretes are also suitable for the construction of monolithic wall structures, including the use of prefabricated formwork, as well as for the production of masonry and block elements and panel elements, as their concrete technological characteristics allow it. The procedure, among other cost items, can greatly reduce the construction times of the given structures and the costs of subsequent thermal insulation. In comparison, some of the technological features of the most commonly used structural elements (masonry elements) are tabulated:

technical characteristics of structural elements -polystyrene beads

Cost implications of masonry made of "ICL-PS-LWC" lightweight concrete and other concrete types

If someone decides to build a house – or a house they have already built – they know that there are a lot of factors to consider in order to make the construction time and cost effective. It is advisable to take into account longer-term factors already during the planning, such as the energy characteristics of buildings and building structures.

The (retrofit) thermal insulation costs of a residential building are up to approx. They can also account for 15-20%, so it is advisable to pay attention to the selection of the right construction technology and building materials. Masonry and block elements manufactured with “ICL-PS-LWC” technology and “ICL-PS-LWC” lightweight concretes have good thermal insulation properties due to their polystyrene bead content, so that no subsequent thermal insulation is practically necessary.

The table below shows the prices per square meter of wall structures (external walls) made of 3 concrete types (normal gravel concrete, expanded-granulated lightweight lightweight concrete and “ICL-PS-LWC”) using monolithic technology and using a prefabricated formwork system.

The calculations are based on the fact that structures made of materials with unfavorable thermal insulation properties must be thermally insulated afterwards, which also has significant raw material, scaffolding and labor costs.

prices of wall structures m3 - polystyrene beads
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