Consulting

Fibre cement industry world wide

Expertise and advice offered in industry and
raw material supply in the following countries

• Europe (varied Western European countries)
• Ukraine
• Turkey
• USA
• South America
  - Brazil
  - Columbia
• Thailand
• China
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Indonesia
• Australia
• India
• Sri Lanka
• Africa
  - South Africa
  - other African countries

Other activities

Fibre reinforced cement pipes (modified extrusion technology)

• Patent from Technical University of Denmark (DTU, Lyngby)
• Advice on mix design for a new innovative technology to produce pipes at Rocla (Sydney, Australia)
• Assessment and testing of the new products
• Setup and provide guidelines for durability studies such as fatigue, creep and ageing
• Collaboration with Universities
  - University of Sydney
  - Technical University of Denmark (DTU, Lyngby)
  with regard to application / durability tests

Innovative building materials (Inorganic Polymers)

• Consultant for University of Western Australia, Prof. McCormick, Perth
• Design of mix formulations for non-cement based fibre reinforced building materials
• Design and perform durability tests to predict the long term durability of the fibre reinforced product

Concrete and Shotcrete Applications

• Expertise provided to Fortatech AG, St. Gallen, Switzerland
  Contact: Kurt Frech
• Assisted in design and testing in Hagenbach (experimental tunnel) for shotcrete and concrete applications

Concrete and Construction

• Assistance with raw material tests for quality control
• Establishing innovative uses and markets for the materials

Development of special high quality Polypropylene Fibre for building materials

• Provide professional advice for potential manufacturers of Polypropylene Fibres designed for building materials
• Set up test program for mix design and testing of the fibres in building products

Cement related issues

• Trouble shooting on behalf of Holcim (South Africa) for EVERITE Ltd., South Africa
• Expertise provided for Afrisam South Africa
• Other cement companies world wide

Expert witness in litigation on liabilities

• 2003 - Provided expertise to Attorneys Morrison & Foerster LLP as a defendant for roofing materials in California USA
  References:
  David McDowell, Morrison & Foerster LLP
  555 West Fifth Street, Suite 3500
  Los Angeles, CA 90013 USA
  Sunil Kulkarni, Morrison & Foerster LLP
  755 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA
• 2005 - Provided expertise for roofing products to Attorney Craig van Rooyen, Bingham McCutchen, San Francisco, representing a fibre cement manufacturer as a defendant
• 2006 - Provided expertise to Attorneys at Law, John R. O'Rourke, Pennsylvania 19404, USA
  with regard to cracking of wall panels

Academic / Review / Conferences / Training courses

Academic

External supervisor for PHD Graduates at:

University of Western Australia, Perth
Dissertation: „Mechanical activated Flyash as a reactant in the production of high-strength geopolymer mortars and carbon-fibre composites“
Student: Simon Willis (2003)

University of Cape Town, South Africa
Dissertation: „Evaluation of mechanical properties of textile concrete subjected to different environmental exposures
Student: Mrs. SW Mumenya (2008)

Review

Reviewer for Cement and Concrete Research Journal

Conferences

• IIBCC – Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2006
  Reviewer and invited speaker, “Cracking in fibre cement products”
  further info see www.iibcc.biz
  
  
• IIBCC – Conference in Madrid, Spain, 2008
  Reviewer and invited speaker, “The effect of aluminious additives on the properties of autoclaved fibre cement”
  Member of organizing committee
  further info see www.ucm.es
  
  
• Conference of the Concrete Institute of Australia September, 2009
  Keynote speaker “Necessity is the mother of invention”
  Scientific paper “Reinforcement of Concrete and Shotcrete using by component Polyolefine Fibres”
  
  
• Concrete Institute of Australia, September / October 2009
  invited speaker for seminars in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth
  
  
• IIBCC – Conference in Aarlborg, Denmark, 2010
  Member of organizing committee, reviewer of papers
  further info see www.iibcc.biz

Training courses

• A series of invited lectures at Technical University of Denmark (DTU, Lyngby)
  Joint course for PHD students with Prof. H. Stang and Prof. V. Li
• Seminar on durability of cellulose fibres in cementitious materials at Technical University of Denmark (DTU, Lyngby)
  Prof. H. Stang and Prof. S. Shah

Industrial Experience

Over 40 years experience in the fibre cement industry 
Conversion from asbestos cement to new technology

Eternit AG, 8867 Niederurnen, Switzerland (1980 - 1988)
(A major fibre cement manufacturer in Europe)

• Established a complete testing laboratory for the assessment of the performance of the product in service and test its material properties
• Designed mix formulations and make products on a Hatschek pilot machine for asbestos replacement programmes
• Project management and sponsoring varied durability studies in collaboration with Universities and Technical Institutions. These included:
  • Ageing of cellulose fibres in cement based products
    Prof. Bentur, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology Haifa, Israel
  • Ageing of PVA and PAN fibres in cement based products
    Dr. D. Johnson, University of Leeds, England (collaboration with Kuraray, Japan)
  • Interfacial studies of PVA fibres and cement
    Dr. Rebenfeld, Textile Research Institute, Princeton, USA
  • Measurement of the degree of polymerisation of aged cellulose fibres
    Dr. U. Meyer, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • Durability of the cement matrix
    Prof. F. Glasser, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
  • Micro-mechanisms of failure in aged fibre cement products
    Dr. D. Crawford, Electron Microscope Unit, University of Cape Town, (UCT) South Africa
  • Impact studies on fibre cement
    Prof. S. Mindess, University of British Columbia, Canada
• The conversion from laboratory trials to major production trials and manufacturer of asbestos free products
• The first major launch of roofing products on the market in 1983 in Switzerland
• Collaboration with associated international fibre cement manufacturers for technical assistance in New Technology: participation on varied technical working groups in Latin America, UK, Ireland, Western Europe (Belgium, France, Austria, Germany) and South Africa

Everite LTD, Johannesburg, South Africa (1988 to 1992)

Responsibilities as General Manager of R&D at Everite Ltd., Johannesburg, S.A.

• The technology adopted in South Africa was autoclaved technology and the conversion to New Technology was conducted in direct collaboration with James Hardie, Australia
• This included full scale production trials testing of the products for strength properties and durability and test market the products
• Optimisation of the production process and the use of cost effective raw materials
• Development of innovative products to compliment the existing range of building products on the market
• Diversification projects which included technical assistance given for the purchase of companies related to the building industry
• Strategic planning for the most cost effective technical solution for the development of products without asbestos fibres
• Quality Assurance incorporating quality awareness programmes and audits
• Implementation of SABS quality standards
• Environmental control of dust and noise in the factories. This required a team of experts to monitor and measure the factory environment
• Purchase of strategic raw materials. This responsibility required a sound technical and cost effective input

Eternit AG, 8867 Niederurnen, Switzerland (1992 - 2010)

Responsibilities as Vice Director

• Product Development for new innovative products in the Building Industry
• Collaboration with external research scientists for basic research, in particular with North Western University, Evanston, USA, Prof. H. Jennings and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA,  Prof. V. Li
• Fundamental research projects related to
  • Prediction of service life
  • Design application
  • Processing
  • Mix optimization
• Joint diversification research and development projects with varied Institutes for example glass fibre reinforced resin composites (GRC pipes) Norway and Germany (Dresden)
• Durability studies on fibre cement pipes in collaboration with the University of Padova, Italy, Prof. V. Bixio, Prof. A. Racanelli and Prof. A. Madalena
• Project management for corrugated sheet development for EN standards
• Project management for injection moulded products
• Consulting for strategic raw materials for fibre cement industry