1. Light Transmitting Concrete
LiTraCon
Light Transmitting Concrete

2. Introduction
LiTraCon is a trademark for a translucent concrete building material.
made of 96% concrete and 4% by weight of optical fibers
concrete based building material having light-Transmissive property.
mainly due to uniform distribution of high numerical aperture Plastic Optical Fibres (POF) throughout its body.

3. History
Litracon was invented by an architect from Hungary, Aron Losonczy.
In 2001, successfully a Litracon block was produced.
manufactured by the inventor's company, LiTraCon Bt, which was founded in spring 2004.
And started producing Litracon commercially.

4. OPTICAL FIBER
hair thin cylindrical fiber of glass or any transparent dielectric medium.

5. STRUCTURE

6. MATERIAL USED FOR TRANSLUCENT CONCRETE
two basic materials
Fine concrete Cement Fine aggregate(Sand)
Water
Optical fibres
Optical fibres:
Multimode graded-index fibre
Multimode step-index fibre
Single-mode step-index fibres.

7. + =
FINE CONCRETE
OPTICAL FIBRES
LIGHT-TRANSMITTING CONCRETE

8. WORKING PRINCIPLE (Total internal reflection)
When a ray of light travels from a denser to a rarer medium such that the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, the ray reflects back into the same medium.
In the optical fiber the rays undergo repeated total number of reflections until it emerges out of the other end of the fiber, even if the fiber is bent.

10. MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Small layers of the concrete are poured into the mould and on top of each layers, a layer of fibres is infused.
Fabric and concrete are alternately inserted into moulds at intervals of approximately 2 mm to 5mm.
Thousands of strands of optical fibres are cast into concrete to transmit light
Smaller or thinner layers allow an increased amount of light to pass through the concrete.

11. LITRACON - LIGHT TRANSMITTING CONCRETE
Turning PROCESS
PRODUCT
LITRACON - LIGHT TRANSMITTING CONCRETE
Form
Prefabricated blocks
Ingredients
96% concrete, 4% optical fibre
Density
Kg/m3
Block size
600mm x 300mm
Thickness
25-500mm
Colour
White, Grey or Black
Fibre distribution
Organic
Finished
Polished
Compressive strength
50 N/mm2
Bending Tensile strength
7 N/mm2
The casted material is cut into panels or blocks of the specified thickness and the surface is then typically polished, resulting in finishes ranging from semi-gloss to high-gloss.

12. Litracon vs concrete with opc
Compressive strength
Flexural strength

13. APPLICATIONS In furniture for the decorative and aesthetic purpose.
Light sidewalks at night.
Increasing visibility in dark subway stations.
Lighting indoor fire escapes, in the event of a power failure.
Illuminating speed bumps on roadways at night.
Transparent concrete blocks suitable for floors, pavements and load-bearing walls.
Facades, interior wall cladding and dividing walls based on thin panels.
Partitions wall and it can be used where the sunlight does not reach properly.

14. Advantages
Energy saving can be done by utilization of transparent concrete in building.
It has very good architectural properties for giving good aesthetical view to the building.
Less energy consumption.
Illuminated Pavements.
Homogeneous in structure.
Finishing Surface.
Routine maintenance not required

15. DISADVANTAGES
The concrete is very costly because of the optical fibres (about EUR 1300/sq.m or Rupees/sq.m.)
Casting of transparent concrete block is difficult
It’s a factory product.

16. EXAMPLES THE EUROPE GATE
It is located in Fortress Monostor in the Hungarian town Komarom by the Danube River. The sun illuminates the 37.6ft large Litracon piece of the statue
THE EUROPE GATE

17. 2) CELLA SEPTICHORA / PECS, HUNGARY
Cella Septichora Visitors Centre in Pécs, Hungary, which has a door made of Litracon Panels set in a steel frame.

18. 3) MONTBLANC, TOKYO
The illuminated interior wall of the new boutique of Montblanc in Tokyo is considered to be the most prestigious project of Litracon up-to-date. 

19. CONCLUSIONS
LiTraCon is an emerging trend in concrete technology. It’s considered as a special concrete which ensures future benefits.
Its initial cost is high. But, routine maintenance is not required and in long run it may be advantageous.
It’s a green building material reducing the lightning cost during day time. It’s proved to provide both aesthetic appearance and structural stability.
LiTraCon blocks can be used to build up to 20m high load bearing walls.
If the price of the product gets reduced, it is sure that the future construction industry will be in the hands of Litracon.
It is one of the best applications of optical glass fibers which is related to technical textiles.

21. “TRANSPARENT CONCRETE IS DEFINITELY THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE”