Jul 23 2008
Innovative road, tunnel and bridge construction as well as cement or gypsum based dry mortar applications would be unthinkable today without MELMENT®. The BASF product is used to improve the fresh and strength properties of various construction material systems, such as concrete, mortar or anhydrite based flow screeds, and make them universally applicable in the construction industry. MELMENT® turns 40 this year and remains one of the world’s most frequently used plasticizers. Famous architectural landmarks, such as the Grande Arche in Paris or Denmark’s Great Belt Bridge are examples of the successful use of MELMENT®.
Along with its plasticizing properties, MELMENT® also reduces the water content in cement based systems, allowing construction materials to become extremely hard and resistant – crucial factors for solid construction. However, MELMENT® is not only successfully used in cement based applications but also in other construction material systems, such as gypsum. The product is highly compatible with almost all types of cement and gypsum as well as with other additives. In addition, MELMENT® does not influence the setting and hardening process.
Although its chemical composition differs from other plasticizers, they all share the same active principle: if water is added to cement or gypsum, the cement or gypsum particles agglomerate and trap water in the three-dimensional network. MELMENT® breaks up the agglomerations by dispersing the particles, thereby releasing the trapped water. This makes a mortar mixture, for example, more flowable and it can be processed much faster and more easily.
Milestones of a long success story
Originally developed and first manufactured in Trostberg in 1968, MELMENT® soon became one of the most successful products of the Construction Chemicals division of the then SKW Trostberg AG.
After SKW merged with Degussa Hüls AG in 2001, MELMENT® was integrated into the Construction Chemicals division of the newly formed Degussa AG. Since BASF’s acquisition of Degussa Construction Chemicals in early 2006, MELMENT® has been part of the global admixtures for mortar and gypsum based applications business of BASF Construction Polymers GmbH in the Acrylics & Dispersions operating division.
Alongside melamin based plasticizers like MELMENT®, BASF now offers a wide range of high performance polycarboxylate ether-based plasticizers under the MELFLUX® brand name. In addition to the plasticizers, BASF also sells rheology-modifying fluxing agents, so-called stabilizers, under the STARVIS® brand name that prevent bleeding and segregation in cement and gypsum based systems. MELFLUX® and STARVIS® are also available in powder form. Thus, innovation history continues to be made in the field of construction material modification.
For more information on concrete, click here.