As the construction industry continues to innovate and develop, precast concrete is gaining increasing popularity due to its high efficiency and environmental friendliness. The application of magnet technology in precast concrete formwork systems is a significant innovation in the industry, bringing significant value to construction projects by streamlining the construction process, improving efficiency, and reducing costs. As the technology matures and its application expands, magnet systems are expected to become a standard practice in precast concrete construction in the future, making a significant contribution to promoting high-quality development in the construction industry.

Precast Concrete Magnets

What are Precast Concrete Magnets?

Precast concrete magnets are a relatively new type of concrete formwork magnet used in the construction industry. They are designed to securely fasten precast concrete forms and panels to steel beams and columns. Made from powerful permanent magnets, these magnets are lightweight yet strong enough to withstand weights of up to 2,100 kg, making them ideal for use in precast concrete plants.

 

Precast concrete magnets can be categorized into several different types depending on their specific use case:

1. Shutter Magnets (Formwork Magnets) – Formwork magnets are primarily used to secure side rails and blocks during the pouring of concrete onto stainless steel plates. The magnetic array exerts a strong attraction on the steel plates, enabling the opening and closing functions to be achieved by clamping the handle.

2. Magnetic Groove Formers – These magnets are used to create grooves and details in concrete, providing precise shaping solutions for various architectural elements.

3. Concrete Insert Magnets – Construction workers need to reserve various holes for switches and pipes, as well as pre-embedded connections and lifting cylinders. Insert magnets are used to secure these pre-embedded components. Their shape and principle are very similar to those of common pot-shaped neodymium magnets.

4. Embedded Sleeve Fixing Magnets – These magnets are specifically designed for creating various holes for switches and pipes in precast concrete components. For example, a 50 mm diameter, 10 mm thick fixing magnet with an M16 screw screws into the sleeve and can achieve a suction force of approximately 70 kg.

 

 Precast Concrete MagnetsPrecast Concrete Magnets

 

Using magnet technology offers several significant advantages for precast concrete construction:

💰 Reduced Costs and Improved Efficiency - Magnet systems can significantly reduce labor and material costs while improving installation efficiency. By eliminating the need for mechanical fasteners, contractors can save time and money, reducing labor costs.

🎯 Precise Positioning - Magnets can be easily and precisely positioned, eliminating the need for screws, bolts, and welding, while also preventing damage to the stainless steel surface.

🔄 Reusability - Magnet systems are reusable, resulting in a long service life and a short payback period. A set of pre-buried sleeve-mounted magnets can be used repeatedly over and over again, significantly reducing overall costs.

🏗️ Improved Safety - While ensuring safety, magnet technology significantly improves the work environment, making the construction process safer and more controllable.

🌱 Environmentally Friendly - Compared to traditional cast-in-place construction, precast construction inherently offers low pollution, low waste, and high efficiency. The use of magnet technology further enhances these environmental advantages.

 

How the Magnet System Works

The precast concrete magnet system utilizes strong magnetic forces to hold precast concrete components together, eliminating the need for traditional mortar or grout. This technology offers numerous advantages over traditional methods, including faster installation times, reduced labor costs, improved safety, and greater design flexibility.

 

To ensure the long-term performance and service life of the magnet system, proper care and maintenance are essential:

- Preventing Magnet Damage: Minimize damage to the magnets by avoiding external forces.

- Maintaining a Clean Working Surface: The working surface of the permanent magnet lifter's magnetic array should be clean and smooth.

- Ensuring Switching Flexibility: Protect the magnet's switching flexibility from being affected by foreign metal filings and concrete.

- Rust Prevention: Perform appropriate rust prevention measures, ensuring that the maximum operating temperature of the template magnets is less than 80°C.

In the modern construction industry, precast concrete technology is gaining increasing popularity due to its high efficiency, environmental friendliness, and controlled quality. Amid this shift toward prefabrication, a relatively unassuming yet crucial technological innovation is quietly changing the rules of the game: precast building magnet technology. This powerful magnetic fastening system is gradually replacing traditional mechanical fastening methods, bringing unprecedented changes to the construction industry.

 

Before the advent of prefabricated building magnets, the construction industry primarily relied on mechanical fasteners to secure precast concrete forms and panels. These traditional methods, which included screws, bolts, and welding, presented numerous unavoidable issues:

- Time and labor consuming: Each fastening point required manual operation, resulting in inefficient installation.

- Material damage: Mechanical fastening required drilling holes in steel plates and precast components, compromising the structural integrity of the materials.

- Limited precision: Manual positioning was prone to deviation, impacting construction quality.

- Non-reusable: Many mechanical fasteners were single-use, increasing costs and waste.

- Safety risks: Working at heights and using power tools increased construction hazards.

 

Prefabricated building magnets

 

How do prefabricated construction magnets work?

Prefabricated construction magnets are fixtures based on high-performance permanent magnets (such as neodymium iron boron) that generate powerful magnetic force through a cleverly designed magnetic circuit system. These magnets typically take the form of a hollow, bottomless rectangular box with a magnetic attraction assembly at one end and a button lever and securing stud at the other.

The operating principle is simple: When the magnet box is placed on a steel formwork table or prefabricated component, the high-performance permanent magnets within generate a powerful magnetic force, which is transmitted through the magnetic guide sheet to securely hold the prefabricated component in place. A button lever can be operated to turn the magnetic force on and off, enabling quick securing and removal of the prefabricated component.

 

Let's focus on how prefabricated construction magnets are replacing traditional processes.

1. Application in Wall Fixing

The traditional method of installing prefabricated wall components requires multiple people to coordinate, perform measurement and positioning, and perform complex drilling and fixing processes. With prefabricated construction magnets, simply place the magnetic box in the designated position on the formwork, activate the magnets with a push of a button, and then bring the prefabricated wall close to the magnetic box. The magnets instantly secure the wall in place. This method not only speeds up installation but also ensures wall stability and verticality while minimizing damage to the wall material.

2. Innovation in Floor Installation

Traditional methods for installing prefabricated floor components require extensive support structures and mechanical connectors. With magnet technology, the magnetic box can be embedded in the support structure beneath the floor. Once the prefabricated floor component is in place, the magnets automatically secure it. This nail- and glue-free installation method not only simplifies the construction process but also prevents loosening and deformation of the floor over time.

3. Advantages in Roof Assembly

Magnet technology demonstrates unique advantages in the assembly of precast roof components. Through magnetic force, adjacent precast roof components are tightly attached to form a stable overall structure. Furthermore, the magnetic suction effectively resists external factors such as wind pressure and temperature fluctuations, ensuring the safety and durability of the roof.

4. Innovation in Formwork Fixing

Formwork fixing is crucial in precast concrete production. Traditional methods, using mechanical clamps and bolts, are not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also prone to formwork deformation and concrete leakage. The magnetic fixing system uses powerful magnetic force to securely fasten the formwork to the steel formwork base, significantly improving the accuracy and efficiency of formwork installation.

Prefabricated building magnets

Precast concrete magnets come in several types, depending on their specific use case:

1. Magnetic Chamfers: Used to create chamfers on concrete edges

2. Insert Magnets: Embedded in concrete to provide a secure attachment point

3. Baffle Magnets: Used to secure side rails and blocks

Magnetic formwork system

 

In the production process of precast concrete components, precision control has always been a key problem. Traditional formwork systems have many problems in terms of dimensional deviation, component consistency and rework rate. Especially in mass production, these problems will be further amplified, seriously affecting production efficiency and product quality. However, with the emergence of magnetic formwork systems, this situation has been significantly improved. With its unique design and function, the magnetic formwork system has brought unprecedented precision improvement to precast concrete production and has become the "new favorite" of the construction industry.

 

Precise positioning and dimensional deviation control

The Precast Concrete Formwork Magnet uses strong magnetic force to firmly fix the formwork on the prefabricated platform. This magnetic connection method can ensure that the formwork remains stable during the concrete pouring process and will not be displaced by external force or vibration. Compared with traditional bolt or welding fixing methods, the installation and removal of magnetic formwork is simpler and faster, and at the same time avoids dimensional deviation caused by loose installation or welding deformation. In actual operation, workers can quickly adjust the position and angle of the formwork according to the design requirements of the prefabricated components to achieve precise positioning, thereby effectively controlling the dimensional deviation of the components and enabling the dimensional accuracy of the prefabricated components to reach higher standards.

 

Improved component consistency

When mass-producing precast concrete components, it is crucial to maintain component consistency. The Precast Concrete Magnetic Formwork, through its modular design and standardized magnetic connection parts, can ensure that the formwork system of each precast component has the same structure and size. This means that during the production process, each component can be cast and formed under the same formwork conditions, which greatly improves the consistency of the components. In addition, the magnetic formwork system can also flexibly combine and adjust the formwork modules according to the different shapes and sizes of precast components, achieving diversified production while maintaining high quality consistency.

 

Reduce rework rate

Since the magnetic formwork system can effectively control dimensional deviations and improve component consistency, the component failure rate caused by formwork problems in precast concrete production has been greatly reduced. During the use of traditional formwork systems, problems such as formwork deformation and loose connections are prone to occur. These problems often lead to quality problems such as cracks and dimensional discrepancies in precast components, which require rework. The magnetic formwork system reduces the occurrence of these problems, reduces the rework rate, and improves production efficiency through its stable magnetic connection and precise positioning function. In mass production, this not only saves time and cost, but also improves the market competitiveness of enterprises.

 

Ideal for mass production

Magnetic formwork systems are particularly suitable for mass production of precast concrete components. In mass production, production efficiency and product quality stability are the two aspects that companies pay most attention to. The rapid installation and removal function of the magnetic formwork system can significantly shorten the replacement time of the formwork and improve production efficiency. At the same time, its high precision and high consistency can ensure that each precast component meets the quality standards, reducing production interruptions and rework caused by quality problems. In addition, the magnetic formwork system has a long service life and can be reused, which reduces the replacement cost of the formwork. These advantages make the magnetic formwork system extremely cost-effective in mass precast concrete production.

 

concrete embedded magnets

 

Precast concrete magnets (also known as embedded magnets or concrete embedded magnets) are widely used in construction, industrial equipment, exhibitions and other fields to fix, hang or dock metal parts. Choosing the right precast concrete magnet requires comprehensive consideration of multiple technical indicators to ensure its performance, durability and safety. The following are some important influencing factors:

 

1. Magnet pulling force (adsorption force) The pulling force of the magnet is the core indicator, which directly determines its load-bearing capacity.

Things to note when purchasing:

Clear requirements: Determine the required pulling force according to the actual application scenario (such as hanging tools, fixed steel structures, exhibition props, etc.). Common specifications range from tens of kilograms to hundreds of kilograms.

Test standard: Magnet pulling force is usually marked as "vertical pulling force" or "shear force", and the test conditions (such as how thick the steel plate is in contact with) need to be confirmed.

Safety margin: It is recommended to choose a model with a pulling force 20%-30% higher than the actual demand to cope with dynamic loads or magnetic attenuation after long-term use.

 

2. Shell material

The magnet shell needs to have the dual functions of protecting the magnet and facilitating installation. Common materials include:

Stainless steel (such as 304/316): Strong corrosion resistance, suitable for humid or outdoor environments (such as swimming pools, coastal buildings).

Galvanized steel: High cost performance, but not as rust-proof as stainless steel, suitable for dry indoor environments.

Engineering plastics: Lightweight and insulating, but with low load-bearing capacity, mostly used for electronic equipment or temporary fixation.

Recommendation: Stainless steel shells are preferred, especially in humid, acidic and alkaline environments.

 

3. Rust prevention and sealing treatment

Prefabricated magnets are embedded in concrete for a long time, so rust prevention is crucial:

Surface treatment: Check whether it has been nickel-plated, epoxy-coated or passivated to resist alkaline corrosion of concrete.

Sealing design: High-quality magnets will use rubber rings or glue-filling technology to prevent moisture from penetrating into the magnet.

Weather resistance: For outdoor use, products with IP65 or above protection level must be selected.

 

4. Ease of installation and removal

Prefabricated magnets need to be embedded before concrete pouring, and the installation method affects the ease of construction:

Threaded hole design: allows the position to be adjusted with bolts later, suitable for scenarios that require flexibility.

Welded brackets or anchors: suitable for heavy-duty fixation to ensure that the magnets do not shift in the concrete.

Embedded vs. surface installation:

Embedded: The magnets are completely embedded in the concrete, with a flat surface, suitable for floor or wall applications.

Surface installation: The magnets are exposed, which is easy to replace, but may affect the appearance and safety.

Purchase advice: Confirm the thickness of the concrete pouring and ensure that the magnets are embedded deep enough (usually ≥50mm).

If later adjustment is required, choose models with threaded or removable designs.

 

5. Temperature and environmental adaptability

Different magnet materials have different temperature sensitivities:

NdFeB: The strongest magnetic force, but high temperature (>80°C) may cause demagnetization.

Ferrite: High temperature resistant (up to 250°C), but weak magnetic force.

AlNiCo: Good high temperature stability, but high cost.

Purchase suggestions:

Avoid using NdFeB in high temperature environments (such as workshops and boiler rooms), and use ferrite or AlNiCo magnets instead.

 

Other key considerations

Anti-vibration design: If used in vibrating equipment, the magnets need to have cushioning rubber or a locking mechanism.

Certifications and standards: Check for compliance with industry standards such as ISO 9001, CE or ASTM.

Supplier reputation: Choose a professional manufacturer like LSC to ensure material authenticity and after-sales service.

After a long time of use, will the magnetic force weaken, how to maintain?

Shutter magnets

The Shutter magnets may indeed weaken their magnetic force after prolonged use, mainly due to the following factors:

1、Effect of high temperature: The temperature resistance of NdFeB magnet is usually about 80℃. If it is in a higher temperature environment for a long time, it may lead to a weakened magnetic force.

 

2、Material problems: If the magnet material contains more impurities, or uses low-quality materials, it may lead to insufficient magnetic force, and even degaussing in a short period of time.

 

3、Physical impact: High frequency of impact or impact may cause the magnet structural demagnetization.

 

4、High magnetic field environment: In a high magnetic field environment, the magnet may lose its magnetism or the magnetic pole changes (e. g., in the magnetic charging machine or demagnetic machine).

 

 

Therefore, in order to maintain the fast disconnecting magnet, extend its service life and maintain its magnetic force, the following measures can be taken:

1、Avoid high temperature: try to avoid exposing magnets to a high temperature environment, especially in high temperature operations such as injection molding, hot pressing or oven baking.

2、Choose high quality materials: When buying magnets, choose reputable suppliers and ensure that high quality materials such as N35 or higher nedFeB magnets are used.

3、Avoid physical impact: Avoid high frequency impact during transportation and use.

4、Regular inspection: check the magnetic force of the magnet regularly. If the magnetic force is found to weaken, replace it in time or take measures for maintenance. 

5、Use lubricant: For the cam structure of the quick removal magnet, the regular addition of grease can reduce wear and maintain its good working condition.

6、Correct installation: ensure that the quick removal magnet is installed correctly to avoid magnetic weakening or damage caused by improper installation.

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