A composition, utility material, and method of making a utility material is disclosed. A composition having an improved setting time may include a plurality of microparticles mixed with a sodium silicate binder and an isocyanate setting agent, where the microparticle composition has a setting time of less than or equal to one hour. A utility material may be a wallboard that includes the composition.

A method of preparing a gypsum-based product comprises the steps of mixing calcined gypsum with polymer particles and water to provide a slurry. The polymer particles comprise principally polyvinyl acetate, and have a particle size distribution, measured using laser diffractometry, such that particles having a diameter of 4.5 μm or less provide at least 90% of the total particle volume.

A method in which a stream of dry cementitious powder passes through a first conduit and aqueous medium stream passes through a second conduit to feed a slurry mixer to make cementitious slurry. The cementitious slurry passes through a third conduit and a reinforcement fiber stream passes through a fourth conduit to feed a fiber-slurry mixer which mixes the slurry and discrete fibers to make a stream of fiber-slurry mixture. An apparatus for performing the method is also disclosed.

A method for continuously forming gypsum-based panels of high fixing strength comprises the steps of: •forming a mixture comprising stucco, non-pregelatinized migratory starch, glass fibre, fluidizer and water; •casting the mixture in a continuous band; •maintaining the band under conditions sufficient for the stucco to form an interlocking matrix of set gypsum; •cutting the band to form one or more wet panel precursors; and •drying the wet panel precursor to form one or more gypsum-based panels. •The weight ratio of water to stucco in the mixture is less than 0.7; •the stucco is present in the mixture in an amount of over 60 wt % relative to the total solids content of the mixture; •the starch is present in the mixture in an amount of over 3 wt % relative to the stucco; •the glass fibre is present in the mixture in an amount of over 1 wt % relative to the stucco; •the fluidizer is present in the mixture in an amount of at least 0.1 wt % relative to the stucco; and the density of the gypsum-based panel is greater than 700 kg/m.

Disclosed herein are plaster boards having a first surface and an opposing second surface, and a first edge and an opposing second edge that bound the first surface and the second surface. The first surface includes a first section and a second section, the first section being raised compared to the second section, the second section abutting the second edge. The second surface includes a first section and a second section that are separated by a boundary between the first edge and the second edge. The first section of the second surface is substantially parallel to the first section of the first surface. The second section of the second surface slopes toward the first surface from the boundary toward the second edge. Methods for making the plaster boards involve forming wet plaster material and drying the wet plaster material such that the wet plaster material hardens into a plasterboard.

A method of recovering desalinated activated alumina (AA) beads from a composition including salt laden (high salt absorbed) activated alumna (AA) beads and free anions and free cations, comprising the step of electrodialysis of the composition to reduce salt content of the activated alumina (AA) beads to produce a stream comprising the desalinated activated alumina (AA) beads.

The present disclosure relates to plaster boards and methods for making them. For example, one aspect of the disclosure is a plaster board comprising one or more continuous layers of material disposed within a body of hardened plaster material, the first side and second side of each continuous layer of material being substantially covered by the hardened plaster material. In certain such embodiments, each continuous layer of material includes a polymer (e.g., a damping polymer) disposed on a carrier sheet. Another aspect of the disclosure relates to a method for making a plaster board that involves drying a wet body of plaster material while a continuous layer of material or precursor therefor is disposed within it.

An example plasterboard includes a layer of hardened plaster material having a first surface and an opposed second surface and a layer of molded material having a surface that faces away from the layer of hardened plaster material. The surface of the layer of molded material has one or more raised features. The plasterboard also includes a liner between the first surface of the layer of hardened plaster material and the layer of molded material. Other examples include a method of forming such plasterboards and a method for installing such plasterboards.

The application describes a slurry spread quantification system (200) comprising a forming table including a forming area and at least one slurry outlet (120) configured to, in use, dispense a slurry (130) into the forming area, a sensor (210) trained on the forming area and configured to capture an image of the forming area; and a processor (220) operable to: analyse the image to identify the slurry (130); determine at least one characteristic of the slurry (130); and output at least one indication of the at least one characteristic of the slurry (130). A method, a computer implemented method and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed on a computing device cause the computing device to control a system (200) as described are also discussed.

The invention relates to a panel and a method for producing a panel. The panel is in particular a floor, wall or ceiling panel, and comprises at least one core layer, the core layer comprising an upper core surface and a lower core surface and at least one pair of opposite side edges; wherein the core layer comprises magnesium oxide cement; wherein the core has a density which is substantially homogenous over its entire volume, and wherein at least one decorative top layer is attached to an upper core surface of the core layer.