What is ACEiT Plus?

ACEiT Plus is a proprietary admixture designed specifically for Roller Compacted Concrete and Cement Treated Bases that supplied in dry (powder) form. It is inert and nonreactive, not corrosive, and non hazardous. It is a white finely grained granular powder. It is odorless and tasteless. It is manufactured and bagged in Dallas, Texas and distributed from our headquarters in Wichita, Kansas.

What ACEiT Plus Does:

When added at the point of mixing the additive will become evenly distributed in the mixing chamber. The result is that the mix will gain the benefits of: stabilizing the moisture in the mix, reducing the viscosity of the mix, inhibit the cement hydration process until it is mechanically activated therefore it has retarding characteristics, a densifier with respect to increase density out of the paver, and serve as a finishing agent so that the surface of the RCC pavement can be mechanically troweled and finished, and increases workability. The nature of the admixture once mechanically activated by the compaction energy of the high density screed paver will also promote internal curing in the pavement. Although strength gain is fast, the rate of hydration is metered by the steady interaction of the water and cement within the mix. Early strengths are a couple of hundred psi lower than the same mix without ACEiT Plus, but 28 day strengths and beyond are typically higher. Once mechanically activated by the tamping screed and the trowel machine, the mix will begin to develop a material that looks similar to “paste”, but it is not cement paste in the traditional sense. The troweling and finishing process does not settle or consolidate aggregate or bring paste to the surface. While ACEiT Plus increases the workability factor of dry concrete mixes, it also extends the pot life of the cement allowing for more relaxed placement times.

ACEiT Plus is also a cement hydration stabilizer especially designed to lower heat of hydration primarily in stage two of the cement hydration process while retaining significant water and releasing it to available cement particles incrementally through the cement set. It naturally lubricates cement particles creating a lower viscosity paste making more particles available for hydration while allowing the mix to be more easily compacted to high density. ACEiT Plus is designed for use in extremely low water/cement content concrete mixtures while providing a finishing ability that would normally be unattainable, allowing uniform particle distribution, retention of air content and an internal incremental release of water that induces effective and prolonged internal cure. While ACEiT Plus is activating and the cement product is curing, an entrained air matrix is created by the admixture as well. A typical dose yields roughly a measurable air void content between 3 and 4 percent.

Dosing of the ACEiT admixture:

Dosing of the ACEiT additive is subjective to the mix design’s gradation and cement content. The average dose is 1 to 1.5 lbs of ACEiT Plus per cubic yard of mix. Under-dosing or over-dosing of ACEiT Plus does not negatively affect the cement chemistry or the hydration process.

Cost comparison from using ACEiT Plus:

Although there is a cost for the admixture and the dispensing unit, the overall net cost of the admixture is negative, since we do not have to have a large roller to achieve compaction typically, we have less people on the crew to work on the mat behind the paver, and we have less waste than traditional RCC because we have more time to work the mat in hot and windy conditions, we require less maintenance water on the mat, and we can place and easily achieve compaction around odd shaped areas and structures. In our experience in using ACEiT Plus in RCC, we see a net savings per installed square yard compared to traditional RCC. We also do not have to go back and grind or fix any areas that could not be finished with the rollers and we have no more roller marks or have an inconsistent surface appearance, or any segregation.