Comparison and Analysis of Common Formwork Types in ...

In recent years, the construction industry has developed rapidly, which has brought a larger and more diversified use of building formworks. Nowadays, building formworks can be divided into the following formwork types.

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1. Steel formwork

Steel formwork can be divided into small steel formwork and large steel  formwork. The average weight of the small steel mold is about 50-60kg/m2, and mechanical equipment must be used for hoisting. There are also more seams when used, so the frequency of use in existing projects has decreased. The average weight of the large steel mold can reach more than 100kg/m2, and it is completely dependent on mechanical hoisting in use. The advantage is that there are fewer splicing joints and the overall flatness of the concrete is high. The steel formwork needs to be actively maintained during on-site use, or the surface quality of the concrete will be greatly affected. Large steel molds have good applicability in large-format projects with good hoisting conditions at the construction site, such as subway side walls, bridge piers and other structures.

2. Aluminum alloy formwork

The average weight of the aluminum alloy formwork is about 25kg/m2, which can be handled manually. The formwork is characterized by good processing performance and a complete construction system. In the construction of high-rise buildings, the early demolition process effectively speeds up the turnover efficiency of the roof formwork and reduces the input amount of the roof formwork. After the aluminum alloy formwork is processed by the surface treatment process, the oxidation reaction with the concrete is isolated, and a better concrete forming effect can be achieved. However, its disadvantage is that due to the price of raw materials, the unit price of the product is much higher than other formworks, so this formwork is only suitable for construction projects with a large number of turnovers, simple structure and less variable cross-section. It is especially suitable for high-rise residential formwork projects with simple facades, no changes/fewer changes between floors, and high turnover. For projects such as pipe corridors and underpass tunnels with simple structures, although the proportion of standard slabs is high, the construction period is much longer than that of housing construction projects. Therefore, it will greatly extend the payment cycle of the formwork, so it should be carefully selected.

3. Plastic formwork

Plastic formwork is a series of plastic plates with thermoplastic rigid plastic as the main base material, which can be divided into hollow plastic formwork, sandwich plastic formwork and ribbed plastic formwork. The advantages of the hollow plastic formwork are easy to use and good on-site processing performance. But its disadvantage is that the thermal deformation is large, and it is prone to warping and deformation in high-temperature weather. Plastic ribbed formwork is a new type of reinforced plastic formwork that has emerged in recent years. When making the formwork, the back rib design improves the stress structure of the formwork and improves the overall performance of the formwork.

BOFU plastic formwork system

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In the construction market, the selection and using of building formwork has always been the top priority of project quality and cost control. In recent years, plastic formwork has become more and more important in the construction market.
Plastic building formworks have certain advantages. Firstly, it has the characteristics of waterproof, corrosion resistance, acid resistance and alkali resistance, and are especially suitable for use in underground and humid environments. The plastic formwork has high strength, strong toughness, strong impact resistance, strong elasticity, and is not easy to be deformed, thereby greatly improving the reusable of the formworks.

Secondly, the plastic formwork has all specifications, light weight, light and easy to dismantle the mold, safe and reliable construction operation and handling, low labor intensity and high construction efficiency. The plastic formwork can be used together with various wood boards such as wood (bamboo) plywood.

After testing, the normal using of plastic formwork can reach more than 30 times, which can greatly reduce the construction cost, and the used formwork panels can be recycled, which is beneficial to the development of the formwork rental business. The plastic formwork does not need to be coated with a release agent during use, and is easy to clean by just water, therefore, the cleaning and maintenance costs of the forms are reduced. The surface of the plastic formwork is smooth, and it has good peeling property from concrete so is easy to demould. It can greatly speed up the construction progress, shorten the construction period and help to realize fair-faced concrete. In case of damage, the plastic formwork can recover, regenerate and reduce the pollution of waste to the environment.

Plastic building formworks also have certain disadvantages. It is a newer in the concrete forms industry, a powerful representative of the new building concrete formwork, but because it is a new form of building formwork, there are still some deficiencies compared to the steel building formwork and the wooden building formwork.
First, the static bending strength and static bending modulus of ordinary plastic building formworks are small compared with other formworks. The domestic applied plastic building formworks are lower in strength than bamboo (wood) one, and also lower than foreign ones such as GMT building formworks. The load-bearing of plastic building formwork is relatively low. The reason why it has a relatively low carrying capacity is because most of the plastic building formworks are mainly in the form of flat panels, which are mainly applied to the roof and floor slabs, , so just controlling the spacing between the secondary beams can meet the construction requirements. Therefore, if a plastic building formwork is to be applied to a wall column formwork, its strength must be high. The BOFU plastic building formwork is designed with a rib itself on the back of the formwork panels, which greatly enhances the strength of the formwork for wall formwork.

Second, the thermal expansion and contraction coefficient of ordinary plastic building formworks is larger than that of steel and wood, because plastic building formworks are greatly affected by temperature. The data shows that at high temperatures, the 3m long formwork can be stretched from 3mm to 4mm. If the construction is laid in the summer evening, the middle part of the formwork will be arched at noon. Therefore, BOFU plastic building formwork uses ABS plastic raw materials, which effectively reduces the coefficient of thermal expansion and contraction.

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Thirdly, the electric welding slag is easy to burn the plastic building formwork. When the steel bar is connected, the welding slag temperature of the electric welding is very high, and it falls on the building formwork to easily burn the board surface, which affects the surface quality of the formed concrete. The high-performance raw materials of the BOFU plastic building form ensure that the surface of the formwork can withstand spot welding without affecting the formed concrete.
In summary, if you want to use plastic building formworks to reduce engineering costs and improve engineering quality, BOFU plastic modular formwork is a good choice.

BOFU plastic formwork system

For more information, please visit High Rib Formwork.