Concrete blocks are an essential and economic building material which has a number of construction applications. These blocks are made from cast concrete, i.e. Cement and aggregate, sand or fine gravel for high density blocks. Lower density blacks can be made with industrial waste as an aggregate. Lightweight blocks can be produced using aerated concrete.

Monaprecast Concrete Blocks Manufacturers are experts in precast concrete including the construction of paving products, mega blocks and concrete building blocks. They only use the best, most environmentally friendly methods in te construction of their concrete products.

Concrete blocks are often a building material used in the construction of walls. It can be referred to as a Concrete Masonry Unit or CMU.

The process of manufacturing a concrete block can vary but the following steps are commonly used:

Mixing – Sand and gravel are stored outside in piles and are transferred into storage bins in the plant next to a conveyor belt, as they are needed. The Portland cement is stored outside in large vertically placed silos, which protect it from moisture. As the production run starts, the required amounts of sand, gravel and cement are tipped into a 'weigh batcher', this measures the correct amount of the needed material.

The dry materials then flow into a stationary mixer, this blends them all together for a number of minutes. There are two kinds of mixers which are used widespread, one of these is called a planetary or 'pan' mixer resembles a shallow pan with a shut-down lid. Specifically designed mixing blades are attached to a vertical revolving shaft inside the mixer. Another kind, the horizontal drum mixer. It resembles a coffee can turned horizontally and, again has mixing blades attached to a spinning shaft.

After this, a small amount of water is then added inside the machine, this water is sometimes has to be chilled or heated depending on external temperatures. Additional chemicals and pigments for colouring may also be added now. This mixture is then mixed for six to eight minutes.

Once this is thoroughly mixed it is dumped into an inclined bucket conveyor, transported into an elevated hopper and conveyed onto of the block machine at a regulated rate. Inside the block machine it is forced downward into moulds. These moulds consist of an outer mold box containing several mould liners. These liners are made to determine the inner and outer shape of the block. This can produce up to 15 blocks at once.

These are pressurised and compacted by the weight of the upper moldhead and supplemented by air or hydraulic pressure cylinders. These blocks re released from the molds onto a flat steel pallet. These un-cured concrete buildign blocks are pushed onto another conveyor towards an automated stacker which loads them into a curing rack. These racks pass under a rotating brush which removes loose material from the top of the blocks. This is then rolled into a kiln. This is a large enclosed room which they are held from one to three hours. This hardens them slightly. Steam is then gradually introduced to raise the temperature at a controlled rate.

Racks of these cured concrete blocks are rolled out the kiln and the pallets are unstacked and placed on a chain conveyor. The batch of blocks is completed, the tray is fed back into the kiln to repeat the process.