What's New in Concrete Reinforcement? UltraFiber 500

Secondary Reinforcement Fiber for Concrete

Advantages: UltraFiber 500 provides excellent secondary reinforcement from high fiber surface area, close fiber spacing, excellent bonding within the cement matrix, high fiber tensile strength, and easy dispersion in concrete so it is always positioned correctly. It is safe, easy to use, and offers superior finish-ability. UltraFiber 500 provides significant benefits in numerous applications.

Benefits:

• Alternate system to traditional secondary reinforcement in concrete
• Reduces the formation of intrinsic cracking in concrete
• Reduce concrete permeability and absorption
• Improves concrete freeze/thaw resistance
• Improves concrete durability
• Provides enhanced hydration which improves concrete strength properties
• Improves concrete impact resistance
• Improves concrete shatter resistance

1) What is UltraFiber 500?
           
UltraFiber 500 is a premium concrete reinforcing fiber. It has many important performance advantages versus synthetic fibers. It is made from one of the strongest natural fibers known to man, and in concrete is approximately twice as strong as polypropylene fiber. A patented coating technology it utilized on UltraFiber 500 making it alkali resistant.

2) What's so good about UltraFiber 500 compared to polypropylene fibers?

UltraFiber 500, with all its benefits, offers a significant combined advantage versus polypropylene fibers - superior finishing, excellent crack reduction, improved hydration, better bonding with cement, higher fiber tensile strength, cost effective bulk dispensing, and more.

3) How good is UltraFiber 500 at reducing cracks?

Based on all our research, UltraFiber 500 excels at temperature and shrinkage crack reduction. In according with ICC Acceptance Criteria 217, UltraFiber 500 reduced cracking by 85% when used at the recommended dosage rate. That's a huge advantage for UltraFiber 500.

4) How does UltraFiber 500 work in concrete to reduce cracks?

UltraFiber 500 has over 1 billion crack-fighting fibers in a cubic yard of concrete when used at the recommended rate. That's over 20 times more fibers than typical polypropylene. Additionally, in contrast to polypropylene, UltraFiber 500 easily disperses uniformly throughout concrete, has higher fiber tensile strength, and has 28 times more surface area for interfacial bonding, and bonds better with cement. These properties allow UltraFiber 500 to efficiently and effectively intersect micro-cracks, disperse tensile stress, and greatly reduce macro-cracks.

5) Does UltraFiber 500 stop all cracks?

Fibers are used as secondary reinforcement in concrete to control temperature and shrinkage cracks. Independent testing shows that UltraFiber 500 excels at controlling plastic shrinkage cracking when used properly.

6) Should end-users use fiber, or wire mesh, or both?

Wire mesh does not prevent cracking but rather helps hold the pieces together after the concrete has cracked. UltraFiber 500 attacks the problem before it starts! UltraFiber 500 functions to help prevent the temperature and shrinkage cracks before they begin.

7) Which has higher fiber tensile strength, UltraFiber 500 or polypropylene fibers?

UltraFiber 500 in concrete has higher fiber tensile strength than typical polypropylene. The fiber tensile strength of UltraFiber 500 is 90-130 KSI, and this compares to typical polypropylene with fiber tensile strength of 30-70 KSI.