Concrete cloth
Concrete Canvas have developed a ground breaking material technology called Concrete Cloth that allows concrete to be used in a completely new way. Concrete Cloth was originally developed for the award winning Concrete Canvas Shelters, a building in a bag that requires only water and air for construction.
Concrete Cloth (CC) is a unique proprietary material that has recently been developed by Concrete Canvas. It has a very wide range of applications throughout the building and civil engineering industry. CC consists of a 3-dimensional fibre matrix containing a specially formulated dry concrete mix. A PVC backing on one surface of the cloth ensures the material is completely waterproof; while hydrophilic fibres on the opposite surface aid hydration by drawing the water into the cement. After hydration, CC hardens to a strong, durable, water proof and fire proof concrete surface.
The material can be hydrated either by spraying or by being fully immersed in water. Once hydrated the material is workable for 2 hours and remains flexible. It can be easily nailed, stapled through or coated with an adhesive, for easy attachment to other surfaces and has good drape characteristics allowing complex surfaces with a double curvatures to be produced. Once set, the fibres reinforce the concrete, preventing crack propagation and providing a safe plastic failure mode.
Concrete Canvas Shelters are rapidly deployable hardened shelters that require only water and air for construction. The 16sqm variant can be deployed by 2 people without any training in under 40 minutes and is ready to use in only 12 hours. The key to CCS is the use of inflation to create a surface that is optimised for compressive loading. This allows thin walled concrete structures to be formed which are both robust and lightweight. CCS consist of a cement impregnated fabric (Concrete Cloth) bonded to the outer surface of a plastic inner which forms a Nissen-Hut shaped structure once inflated.