LIGHT TRANSMITTING CONCRETE

Presented By,
BASSI DEEPCHAND

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

HISTORY
PRINCIPLE
FABRICATION

OF TRANSPARENT CONCRETE

EXPERIMENTS

ON LIGHT TRANSMITTING CONCRETE

TECHNICAL DETAILS
PROPERTIES
ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES
AWARDS

INTRODUCTION
Light transmitting concrete is made of fine concrete embedded with
4% by weight of optical glass fibers.

Due to the small size of the fibers, they blend into concrete becoming
a component of the material like small pieces of aggregate.

It

can be produced as prefabricated building blocks and panels.

HISTORY
In 2001, the concept of transparent concrete is first put forward by
Hungarian architect Aron Losonczi.

Losonczi developed and completed the initial prototype of LiTraCon

as a post-graduate fellow in Stockholm Royal University School of
Architecture.

The first Transparent concrete block is successfully produced by

mixing large amount of glass fiber into concrete in 2003, and named as
LiTraCon, working with scientists at the Technical university of
Budapest.

LiTraCon is manufactured by the inventor's company, LiTraCon Bt,

which was founded in 2004.

The most notable installation of it to date is Europe Gate - a 4 m high

sculpture made of LiTraCon blocks, erected in 2004 in observance of
the entry of Hungary into the European Union.

Joel

S. and Sergio O.G. developed a transparent concrete material,

which can allow 80% light through and only 30% of weight of common
concrete

Hungarian architect Aron Losonczi at the Europe Gate

PRINCIPLE
The main idea of the transparent concrete is that high numerical
aperture optical fibers are directly arranged in the concrete, and the
optical fiber is used as sensing element and optical transmission
element.

Thousands of optical fibers are organized into thin layers and run
parallel to each other between the two main surfaces of each block.

Because

of their parallel position, the light-information on the

brighter side of such a wall appears unchanged on the darker side.

Configuration of transparent concrete (LiTraCon)

FABRICATION OF TRANSPARENT CONCRETE

(LiTraCon)
Light-transmitting

concrete is produced by adding 4% to 5% optical fibers (by volume)

into the concrete mixture.
As light can transmit in the optical fiber, different shape of smart transparent
concretes can be fabricated and a certain amount of optical fibers are regularly
distributed in the concrete.

These

fibers mingle in the concrete because of their small size, and they become a
structural component as a kind of modest aggregate.
Plastic

optical fiber is an excellent media to transmit light at specific wavelengths

which has been widely used in illuminating facility or architectural appearance lighting

The fabrication process of standard transparent concrete block can be

described as follows
According to the volume ratio of concrete and POF, some holes with
orthogonal arrays are drilled in the plastic sheet

POFs are through the holes of two plastic sheets which are fixed on
the slots of wood formwork shown as figure1.

Fabric and concrete are alternately inserted into molds at intervals

of approximately 2 mm to 5 mm

lastly certain concrete is poured in the formwork and fully vibrated

on the shaking table

Thickness of the optical fibers can be varied between 2 m and 2

mm to suit the particular requirements of light transmission

Following casting, the material is cut into panels or blocks of the

specified thickness and the surface is then typically polished, resulting
in finishes ranging from semi-gloss to high-gloss.

Smaller or thinner layers allow an increased amount of light to

pass through the concrete

Transparent demonstration of transparent concrete

SPECIFICATIONS

EXPERIMENTS ON LIGHT TRANSMITTING

CONCRETE (LiTraCon)
To evaluate the effectiveness of the transparent concrete following
properties are known by conducting tests

The light guiding property based on white light test.

Long-term durability based on freezing and thawing test and chloride

ion penetration test.

Self-sensing property based on stress elasto-optic effect test are made

respectively.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

The transparent concrete has good transparency, mechanical and self-sensing properties.

The stress birefringence property of glass fiber make itself a good sensing element to
measure the inner stress of transparent concrete

From the above three experiments, it can be seen that the stress state of glass fiber can
reflect the stress state of concrete, which make the self-sensing property.

The concrete mixture is made from fine materials only it contains no coarse aggregate.

Contrary to LiTraCon, LiTraCon PXL is manufactured by replacing optical fibers by a

specially formed and patented plastic unit.

PROPERTIES
It

carries the same amount of light through a brick no matter how thick it

The

light carried maintains its original color

Weighs

about the same as conventional concrete

96%

traditional aggregate and cement, 4% glass fibers

Can

be manufactured in any color upon request

Normally

sold in bricks

APPLICATIONS
Light transmitting concrete has already been used in a variety of
structures

LiTraCon and LiTraCon pXL can be applied in several fields of design

and architecture
e.g. as stairs, window shade, inner partition wall or as a decoration
element in interior architecture.

LiTraCube ambient lamp is the very first own design product of the
LiTraCon company, designed by the inventor.

DESKS

LOGOS

Residential Architecture

Religious Architecture

Religious Architecture
One of LiTraCon's first public use was in a public square in Stockholm,
Sweden. By day, the square's sidewalk looks as though it were made of
ordinary concrete, but the transparent surface lights up at night when the
colored lights beneath the surface illuminate.

ADVANTAGES

It Adds an interesting property to a strong material

Could take fiber optics in a new direction

It is a high density concrete

The compressive strength of greater than 70 MPa (over 10,000 psi) is

comparable to that of high-strength concrete. However, due to the
manufacturing process, elements for structural applications have not yet
been produced.

ADVANTAGES
Optical fibers transmit light so effectively that there is virtually no loss
of light conducted through the fibers; in fact, its even possible to see colors
through the concrete.

Transparent concrete has the power to potentially transform the interior

of concrete buildings, making them appear fresh, open and spacious.

Fibers do not have a negative effect on the high compressive strength

value of concrete

The

transparent concrete has good light guiding property.

DISADVANTAGES
The amount of optical fibers has seriously influences the compressive
strength of the corresponding concrete. The much number the optical fibers
are, the smaller the compressive strength is. So the transmissions can not
endless increase by way of endless increasing the number of optical fibers
in concrete.

The optical fibers have also reduced the anti-permeability of the

concrete. Using the epoxy resin to seal the boundary of optical fibers and
concrete, the transparent concretes anti-permeability can be greatly
improved

AWARDS
The technology of concrete (LiTraCon) has received several awards like

The Red Dot: Best of the Best 2005' Award.

LEAF Award 2006.

iF Material Award 2008.

And was also nominated for DESIGNPREIS 2006 award.

REFERENCE
INTERNET

http://www.nbmcw.com/articles/concrete/17991-transparent-concrete-litracon.html

http://www.litracon.hu/

http://www.cement.org/decorative/translucent.asp

http://www.archicentral.com/litracon-transparent-concrete-4379/

http://smc.hit.edu.cn/ancrisst2011/docs/full_paper/Full_paper_107.pdf

THANK YOU