M212 – Graded Concrete

Graded concrete is a refinement of concrete construction that allows the material distribution within a component to be modified as required. More material is used in areas subject to high loads, while the weight is reduced in other areas by introducing cavities at specific points. The M212 exhibit, developed especially for the Technical Museum in Vienna, demonstrates the potential of the technology developed by Werner Sobek using the example of a bending floor slab. The cavities are concentrated in the middle of the cross-section, where the loads are lower than at the edges. The exhibit is 7.2 m wide and has a load-bearing capacity of 500 kg/m².

Mineral Hollow Bodies and Hydrosoluble Formwork Elements

The gradation in the concrete is achieved here by prefabricated mineral hollow bodies (left half of the exhibit) or by hydrosoluble formwork elements (right half of the exhibit). These formwork units are 3D-printed from sand and binding agents. They are completely recyclable and allow a high degree of geometric design freedom inside the component. In this area, an innovative system consisting of basalt fibers is used instead of conventional steel reinforcement. This makes it possible to manufacture pure mineral components that can be entirely recycled into technical circuits.

The left half of the exhibit has a dead weight of 360 kg/m². The fire protection class of this area is F90, and the weight saving compared to a conventional reinforced concrete ceiling is almost 40%. The dead weight of the basalt-reinforced part of the exhibit is 290 kg/m². The weight saving here is 50%.