As one of Australia’s largest construction materials companies, Boral is passionate about providing customers with superior quality products and reliable service. We are committed to remaining at the forefront of our industry by continually improving and refining existing products and developing new products to meet market needs.
The Boral Materials Technical Services (BMTS) Laboratory in Sydney is key to achieving our quality objectives. Not only are we the only Australian construction materials company to maintain a full-service laboratory with research and development capability, BMTS is also the largest facility of its kind in Australia, providing special and standard testing and product development services to Boral and our customers.
BMTS has its origins in two iconic Australian companies, Readymixed Concrete Industries Ltd. and Blue Metal Industries Ltd.
The Readymix Central Research Laboratory focused on concrete technology and had a strong research and development culture. The Blue Metal Industries Laboratory commenced operation in 1958 at Prospect Quarry, and developed testing capabilities in quarry products, asphalt and masonry. By 1982, both companies had been acquired by Boral and the two laboratories were merged to become BMTS.
Download the Boral Materials Technical Solutions Brochure.
The BMTS facility at Baulkham Hills in Sydney specialises in compliance testing of construction materials and offers quality control testing, R&D expertise and specialised technologies associated with:
- Concrete
- Admixtures
- Curing compounds
- Cement and supplementary cementitious materials (fly ash, slag, silica fume)
- Mortar and grout
- Asphalt and bitumen
- Building materials (bricks, pavers, dimension stone, masonry units, roof tiles)
- Road construction materials (natural and recycled)
- Aggregates and rock
In addition, BMTS provides comprehensive environmental services such as dust monitoring of ambient air and chemical analysis of water effluents from manufacturing sites. A key objective for all Boral manufacturing businesses is to maintain superior technical standards and supply high-grade construction materials for commercial application. It is the role of BMTS to support this objective and to ensure that Boral remains at the forefront of national and international technological standing.
- The Chemistry and Cement laboratories test and analyse construction materials and conduct environmental monitoring.
- The Chemistry and Cement laboratories are separate, but closely associated and staffed by some of our highest qualified and experienced personnel.
- The Chemistry Laboratory carries out chemical testing and analyses of construction materials, as well as environmental monitoring of quarries, asphalt plants, concrete plants, recycling depots and transport depots with regard to dust emissions and wastewater effluents.
The laboratory has extensive analytical capabilities covering classical, ISE (ion-selective electrode) and advanced techniques that include:
- ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy)
- XRF (X-ray fluorescence)
- UV/Vis (ultraviolet – visible spectroscopy)
- IR (infrared spectroscopy)
In addition to standard analyses, the following specialised testing is routinely undertaken:
- Heavy metal analysis of natural and recycled materials
- Chemical analysis of cement
- Cement compliance testing
- Evaluation of curing compounds
- Hardened concrete analysis
- Chloride diffusion in concrete