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| First 20-inch hollow-core slabs in the USA Molin Concrete Products in Lino Lakes, Minnesota, opened a new state-of-the-art hollow-core production facility in June this year. In August, Molin became the first hollow-core manufacturer to produce 20-inch (500 mm) hollow-core slabs. This was achieved with the highly automated system delivered by Elematic, which included the equipment required for producing the impressive 20-inch hollow-core slabs. These were also the first prestressed hollow-core slabs cast with 11 bottom strands. "It was a very smooth retrofit to our current 16-inch machine", said Plant Manager Gary Sarner, "after some minor adjustments the 20-inch hollow-core slab poured out very well." At Molin, the new process provides the option to make deeper sections and longer spans for applications that earlier could not have been considered with hollow-core. The slabs will be used as part of a test program carried out by the University of Minnesota, where they are studying the effects of shear capacity in deeper sections (16-inch and 20-inch). write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Construction News :: home page |