Pros and Cons of ready-mix concrete

Ready-mix concrete belongs to a concrete that is formed in a batch plant, on the basis of a predefined engineered mix design. Ready-mix concrete is generally supplied in two ways i.e. the barrel truck or in?transit mixers.

This type of truck supplies concrete in a plastic state to the site. And the volumetric concrete mixer. It supplies the ready mix in a dry state and then blendes the concrete on site.

Given below some pros and cons of ready-mix concrete :-

Pros of ready-mix concrete:

a. With Ready Mix Concrete (RMC), the construction process becomes fast with programmed delivery at site, automated operation with subsequent economy.

b. The costs of labor and site supervision are decreased significantly.

c. RMC maintains uniformity in quality with perfect & computerized control of sand aggregates and water according to mix designs.

d. Formation of RMC facilitates reducing cement wastage because of mass handling.

e. While producing RMC, no pollution occurs.

f. By using RMC in project, project time is curtailed significantly and it leads to huge savings in all phases.

g. Perfect control and economy in applying raw material leads to saving of natural resources.

Cons of Ready-Mix Concrete

Following are the cons of ready-mix concrete:

1. The materials are batched at a main plant, and the mixing starts at that very plant. So the transition time from the plant to the site covers longer distances and becomes complicated. Some sites locate at too remote distance, which may cause risk for ready mix concrete to be useless owing to setting.

2. It will create extra road traffic. Normally, Ready Mix Trucks are bigger in size and may take huge space in the road that will obstruct other traffic. Besides, access roads and site access should have the capacity to bear the heavier weight of the ready-mix truck plus load. (Green concrete is approx. 2.5 tonne per m?.) This issue can be resolved by using so-called ?mini mix? companies which employ smaller 4m? capacity mixers to visit more-restricted sites.

3. Concrete?s constrained time span among mixing and curing signifies that ready-mix should be arranged within 210 minutes of batching at the plant. The time span can be rectified with modern admixtures perfectly, though, the amount and type of admixture that is included with the mix is very crucial.