Some implementations herein described improvements to concrete products and processes for producing concrete products that may provide a positive environmental impact and that can be stronger relative to the percent of cement used. Particular examples include improvements to zero-slump to near-zero-slump concrete mixture design, material storage and handling, batching, mixing, sequencing and curing processes, as well as forming and curing techniques.

Mobile mixing devices, mobile mixing systems, and related methods are provided. A mobile mixing device can include a frame and a mixing drum securable to the frame. The mixing drum can include a body that forms an internal cavity and can have a forward end and a bottom end. The mixing drum can also include a mouth at the forward end of the body that provides access to the internal cavity of the mixing drum. The mobile mixing device can include a heater support arm having a heater secured to an end of the heater support arm that is distal from the mixing drum. The mixing drum can be used to process cement material when the heater support arm is in a stow-away position or asphalt when the heater support arm is in a heating position with the heater facing into the mouth of the mixing drum.

A chute assembly for directing cement from a cement truck is disclosed. The chute comprises an elongate chute of generally u-shaped cross section fabricated from UHMWPe and comprising an upper end and a lower end, a plurality of reinforcing rods arranged along a length of and encased within the UHMWPe, one end of each of the rods adjacent the upper end and another end of each of the rods adjacent the lower end, a pair of u-shaped collars, an upper one of the collars adjacent the upper end and a lower one of the collars adjacent the lower end, and a fastener for securing each of the collars to their respective rod ends. A method of fabrication is also disclosed.

A mixing apparatus for preparing mortar has a screw conveyor for conveying dry material, such as a mixture of sand and cement, from a storage vessel to a mixing chamber. The mixing chamber has an inlet end, adapted to receive dry material from an outlet end of the screw conveyor, an outlet end for dispensing wet mortar, and a water feed between the inlet and outlet ends for delivering a metered flow or quantity of water into the mixing chamber. A mixing device within the mixing chamber mixes the dry material and water and controls passage of material from the inlet to the outlet end. The outlet end is located above said inlet end so the dry material falls under gravity from the outlet end into the mixing chamber, maintaining separation between the dry material in the screw conveyor and the wet material in the mixing chamber.

A mixer has a circular housing defining a mixing area for mixing and kneading of a gypsum slurry. A rotary disc is positioned in the housing and rotated in a predetermined rotational direction. A rotary driving shaft cointegrally connected with the rotary disc and a plurality of scrapers are positioned in the mixing area. A slurry discharge port is provided on an annular wall of the housing for feeding the gypsum slurry of the mixing area onto a sheet of paper for gypsum board liner. An opening of the slurry discharge port is divided into a plurality of narrow openings, so that fluid resistance on the gypsum slurry flowing out of the mixing area is increased. An annular basal part rotates integrally with the rotary disc and an inner end portion of the scraper is fixed to the annular basal part.

A hopper flashing for a hopper of a paving machine that is removably coupled to a lead edge of the hopper, made of a urethane compound such as MDI caprolactone or polycaprolactone, or TDI ester, and useable on its own or as provided between wing hopper flashings to help retain asphalt in the hopper.

A portable concrete mixer includes a frame, a hopper, coupled to the frame, for receiving therein dry commercially available prepackaged concrete mixes containing gravel aggregates, a chute coupled to the hopper, a water supply system that supplies water to the chute, a motor, and an auger coupled to and rotated by the motor. The auger includes a shaftless helical auger body extending from the hopper into the chute via an aperture in the hopper. The shaftless helical auger body has an interior volume and a plurality of fingers extending from the auger body into the interior volume. The shaftless helical auger body has an uneven pitch such that a second portion of the helical auger body in the chute has a greater pitch than a first portion of the helical auger body in the hopper.

Techniques for additive construction of structures and production of additive construction materials are described, including a 3D printing assembly including a container configured to store a material, a mixer configured to mix the material to provide an extrudable mix including cementitious material, and a dispenser configured to receive the flowable mix from the mixer and to provide the flowable mix under one or more controlled parameters to form a structure, and a controller configured to receive a value associated with a material property parameter of the material, to generate a mixture by inputting the value into a machine learning algorithm, the mixture being generated using, by the controller, another value associated with a control parameter configured to control operation of the 3D printing assembly, and using the 3D printing assembly to print a structure using the mixture.

The invention provides compositions and methods directed to carbonation of a cement mix during mixing. The carbonation may be in a stationary mixer or a transportable mixer, such as a drum of a ready-mix truck.

A system for delivery ingredients to a cement mixing barrel has a container. The container is divided into a plurality of compartments, each compartment used to store one ingredient for making cement. A dispensing opening is formed in a bottom area of each of the plurality of compartments. A delivery trough is positioned below each dispensing opening transferring the ingredient from each of the plurality of compartments to the cement mixing barrel.