Impact: Constant blows and repetitive strikes from heavy machinery threaten to crack even the thickest transfer station and industrial concrete floors. EmeryTop 400 is the first line of defense. In this important test, EmeryTop 400 was compared with a popular iron topping using the ACI 544.2 impact resistance testing procedure. It proved to be equally impact resistant as the iron topping.
This category of protection includes toppings. Products of this type must not only protect the near-surface wear zone from abrasion but also protect the underlying concrete from impact and point loads. In order to protect industrial floors from impact and point loads the protective material must produce a zone of protection.
To understand how this zone of protection works we must first understand the physics by which a load travels through a material. When an impact or point load contacts the surface of a material, the area over which the load is very small. As the load travels through the material the area becomes larger as the load increases its depth of travel through the surface.
The pattern of travel takes on the shape of a right circular cone, with the base being the area over which the load is dispersed at a given depth into the substrate material and the upper point being the initial point of contact.
Materials that produce a zone of protection are placed over either hardened or plastic concrete as a topping. The thickness of the topping generally ranges from 3/4 to 2 inches (20-50 mm), sometimes more. The thicker the topping, the greater the area over which the load can be dispersed, and the less effect the impacting or point load will have on the concrete below.
Weight and movement are a dangerous combination for concrete. Constant movement of loads from vehicles, load-bearing transfers, and patterned traffic areas add stress to unprotected concrete surfaces and the vulnerable concrete mass below. EmeryTop 400 gets between the load and the concrete to protect from weight and movement with more compressive strength for greater protection and longer floor performance.
EmeryTop 400 tested at greater compressive strength under ASTM C 39 and at greater flexural strength under ASTM C 78 when compared to iron toppings.