What is A Good Quality Raised Floor – Calcium Sulphate Raised Floor

Before 2010, there are 4 calcium sulphate board manufacturers. Till 2019, This number exceeds 20.

In China, the concept of calcium sulphate raised floor take domination, not product itself, market understands few about calcium sulphate raised floor.

Due to the advantages of calcium sulphate raised floor(such as recyclability, excellent fire performance, excellent acoustic performance, etc.), more and more people choose calcium sulphate raised floor, and more and more factories produce calcium sulphate raised floor.

However, most of the calcium sulfate raised floor produced in China are not real and pure.

The report of calcium sulphate board factories in China

Here we are talking about calcium sulphate board, not finished calcium sulphate raised floor. Only with a good-quality calcium sulphate board, the following production process make sense.

The calcium sulphate floor is derived from Knauf in Germany. In addition to the Chinese factories, companies that produce calcium sulphate board in the world now include Knauf and Lindner.

In China, there are more than 20 manufacturers of calcium sulfate board now, but more than 80% have been established in the last four years. The popularity of calcium sulphate raised floor has driven the development of manufacturers, but few manufacturers produce high-quality products.

Calcium sulphate board has high requirements for the quality and proportion of raw materials (mainly natural gypsum and fiber), alone with the manufacturing process.

We tested the calcium sulphate board on the market, found that calcium sulphate content in most boards are below 50%, the lowest is even less than 20%, which is far below the 85% standard. Such boards are absolutely not recyclable.

Why fake calcium sulphate raised floor is popular?

Calcium sulphate raised floor sourced from Europe. Compared with European countries, China has low recycling costs, and the industry and national standards are also very different. Therefore, the contractors will not actually consider the final recycling link of the users, although they are promoting with these advantages.

There is a large market for non-recyclable calcium sulfate raised floor with cheap price. But when users choose calcium sulphate raised floor, they are really chasing for the advantages, not just the concept. So how can we tell those bad quality calcium sulfate raised floor?

How to judge the quality of calcium sulfate boards?

1.Material test

The most accurate method is to send the calcium sulfate board to the laboratory for the active ingredients inside. However, this method is costly and has a long cycle. So is there a more effective way?

2.Density measurement

Most of the boards on the market have added cheaper alternatives, such as cement. This not only reduces costs, but also avoids some complicated production processes. But the first downside is that the density is greatly increased. The standard calcium sulfate board density is around 1500kg/m3 (Knauf’s board density is 1200kg/m3, 1500kg/m3, 1200kg/m3 standard is more as a wallboard), and now density of most boards on the market exceeds this number, reaching more than 1650kg/m3. The higher weight not only does not improve the performance of the floor itself, but increases the overall load of the buildings.

3.Deformation measurement

The main raw materials for calcium sulphate board are natural gypsum and fiber, which gives the board a certain degree of flexibility and elasticity. The board with low purity will be very hard. We compare our calcium sulphate board with others on the market. The test is based on 600*600*30mm board, results are as follows:

Since the physical properties of boards are too hard, some manufacturers’ boards will break before reaching 2.5mm deformation which is the test standard of CISCA, EN. The lower ultimate deformation is, the lower impact load is, it is very dangerous in practical applications. Since our floors are raised, if floor’s ultimate deformation is small, the floor will break easily, and it will easily cause an accident.

Most calcium sulphate board are stuck with galvanized steel sheets underneath, to increase the ultimate deformation. If the following is not attached with any covering, or only aluminum foil is attached, then such calcium sulphate boards can not be used.

4.Judge with color

The color of the calcium sulphate board using pure natural gypsum and fiber is close to white. If other materials are added inside, the color will become cloudy, and the more impurities, the more turbid the color. However, some manufacturers now add whitening agents to change the color of the board, so it is not so effective to distinguish the quality of the floor by color.