Cementitious Self-leveling Compound
Self-leveling underlayment (also known as self-leveling compound or self-leveling floor compound) is a high-performance, cementitious (or gypsum-based) material engineered to create a perfectly smooth, flat, and level substrate for the installation of final floor coverings such as tiles, vinyl, carpet, wood, or laminate. Composed primarily of cement (or gypsum), fine aggregates, fillers, and a precisely balanced blend of chemical additives, it exhibits excellent flow properties when mixed with water, allowing it to self-spread and self-level with minimal manual intervention. Applied in thicknesses typically ranging from 3–50 mm, it corrects surface irregularities, fills depressions, and provides a durable, load-bearing base that ensures long-term performance and aesthetic quality of the finished flooring system.
Keiway Chemical’s Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (HPMC), Redispersible Polymer Powder (RDP), Polycarboxylate Ether (PCE), and Defoamer are premium, high-purity additives formulated with advanced polymer and surfactant technologies. They synergistically optimize rheology, flow behavior, air entrainment control, and mechanical properties, enabling low-water-demand formulations with exceptional workability, reduced defects (such as pinholes, cracking, or segregation), and superior long-term durability — even under challenging site conditions and varying substrate types.
The Most Commonly Used Admixtures
- HPMC: Provides superior water retention to prevent rapid moisture loss, ensuring uniform hydration and extended working time. It imparts excellent thixotropic behavior for controlled flow, anti-sagging, and segregation resistance, while enhancing surface smoothness, reducing shrinkage cracks, and improving overall consistency and ease of application.
- RDP: Forms a flexible polymer film within the matrix, significantly enhancing adhesion to substrates, tensile and flexural strength, impact resistance, and crack-bridging capability. It improves deformation tolerance, wear resistance, and long-term durability, making the underlayment resilient against mechanical stress, thermal cycling, and substrate movement.
- PCE: Acts as a high-performance superplasticizer, delivering outstanding water reduction (often 25–40%) while maintaining excellent fluidity and slump retention at low water-cement ratios. It promotes rapid dispersion of cement particles, minimizes bleeding and segregation, ensures homogeneous mix stability, and supports fast, efficient placement with self-leveling precision and high early strength development.
- Defoamer: Effectively controls and eliminates foam and entrapped air during mixing and pouring, reducing bubble formation and surface defects such as pinholes or voids. It increases material compactness and density, thereby enhancing compressive strength, abrasion resistance, and final surface quality for a smooth, professional finish.