Fibre cement composites are composed of cement, silica sand and wood pulp. Fibre reinforced cement products such as fibre cement siding are manufactured using the ‘Hatscheck Process’. The Hatsheck process was initially developed for the production of asbestos composites, but it is now used for the manufacture of non-asbestos, cellulose fibre reinforced cement composites.

In the Hatscheck Process, unbleached cellulose fibers are re-pulped in warm water at an alkaline pH of 11 to 12.5; the re-pulped fibers are refined and then mixed with cement, silica sand, and other additives to form a mixture. The fibre-cement mixture, is deposited on a felt band substrate, vacuum dewatered, and cured to form a fibre reinforced cement matrix in sheet form.

Fibre cement products offer numerous advantages over other traditional materials such as wood siding: they are weatherproof, fire and insect resistant, flexible, highly workable and durable.

The fibre cement manufacturing process also makes use of autoclave technology. In autoclave technology, polymer based composites are manufactured by applying intense heat and pressure to eliminate moisture from fibre cement materials. This leads to composite consolidation and the result is an extremely strong and robust fibre composite material.

For more information on Mahaphant research and development in the fields of fibre cement manufacturing technology, please visit our Infrastructure, Research & Development section here.

For a detailed list of other Mahaphant technical innovations, click here.

For more information on our wide range of fibre cement products, please contact us.