Chemical analysis for failures checks the chemical reactions in the aggregates and can tell us which elements are included in each ingredient and in what proportion. This in turn tells us how these elements will affect the qualities of the finished product.

Our staff performs petrographic examination with two optical microscopes of various magnification up to 120x. Using two samples of separate thickness, we look for surface defects including paste, air content, micro cracking and air void distribution.

Prairie Material has the only production lab in the Midwest with its own electron scanning microscope. The electron microscope has a magnification of up to 200,000x and allows our head scientist, Mike Pistilli, to see the crystalline structure of an element within a crack and determine how it was formed. He can also use this microscope to do chemical analysis of elements in the sample based on secondary x-ray distribution.

Each microscope is equipped with high quality printers that produce detailed photographs of the microscopic data with notes pointing to the flaws. Combined with other QC documentation from the lab, the yard and the job site during the pour, we are very confident of pinpointing the cause of failure.