Introduction

The European Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Association was created in 1988 to promote the interests of producers of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) and their national associations across all of Europe.

eaaca's members operate more than 100 production sites in 17 countries producing around 18 million m³ of AAC per year. From this quantity about 300.000 homes can be built.

Autoclaved aerated concrete

AAC is a very strong but lightweight and easy-to-use construction material for outdoors and indoors alike. The production process involves curing aerated concrete in a pressurised steam chamber, known as an autoclave, to give AAC its strength.

Produced for more than 70 years, AAC offers considerable advantages over other construction materials:

• Great energy efficiency - AAC has excellent thermal insulation properties, reducing the need for space heating or air conditioning

• Excellent fire resistance - AAC provides the ultimate security against fire, resisting even intense heat and easily fulfilling all fire safety standards

• Outstanding structural performance - AAC has an extremely high strength to weight ratio and is stable, making it the construction material of choice for all buildings including earthquake zones

• High resource efficiency - AAC is much lighter than brick or concrete and does not usually need to be combined with insulation materials, so it is extremely cost-effective

• Low environmental impact - AAC is a natural product made from lime, cement, fine sand, other siliceous materials, water and small amounts of aluminium powder. No raw materials are wasted in the production process, and AAC from demolition sites can be reused or recycled

• Sound insulation - AAC has excellent sound insulation properties compared to other building materials with the same weight