The Concrete Mixer is the Size and Muscle of the Cement Party

Combining cement, aggregates, and water to make concrete either on the way or on the spot, the concrete mixer is like a construction job’s emcee.

Smaller concrete mixers are portable, can be towed behind a vehicle on their own wheels, and can be used on-site, which allows more time for workers to use the concrete before it hardens.

Concrete Mixer

For bigger jobs there are concrete transport trucks, or “in-transit mixers.” These goliaths are usually preloaded with dry materials and water, and do the mixing on the run. More and more these days though, instead of ingredients, concrete mixer trucks are being loaded with already mixed concrete, and the spiral blade inside a spinning drum keeps the material in a liquid state during transport. When the drum spins in the opposite direction, the concrete is forced out and down slides onto a construction site. The material can also be pumped from the drum for inaccessible spots. A concrete mixer transport truck can carry about 40,000 pounds of concrete, although most only weight between 20-30,000 pounds. Most can only travel up to 55 to 60 miles per hour.

Today’s demanding market requires consistent homogeneity and shorter mixing times. New technology has responded with a twin-shaft batch concrete mixer, which can achieve nearly 95% homogeneity with high turbulence, and taking only about 30 seconds to mix a batch.

As long as the mix is correct, which is fundamental in concrete construction, a concrete mixer will either make it there, or take it there.