In response to Bill Palmer's blog "Five Things I Learned at SCC Today," Chad Godwin provided some tips on forming:
Self consolidating concrete (SCC) is the most expensive to form. Your forms cannot have a single pin hole or the SCC mix will pour straight out. Your form joints and tie holes need to be sealed 100%. I recommend using Scotch 3M foam tape and compressing the joints.
You also need to throw your previous pour rates out the window because those are based on hardening rates per the ambient air temperature. SCC hardening rate is based on the chemical coefficients of the mix, which is often full liquid head, so beef up your forms to handle the additional pressure.
If you must use a vibrator I agree with a pencil vibrator between the rebar and form face and to avoid the smaller vibrator getting tangled in the rebar add a PVC sleeve to slide the vibrator through and keep the cord rigid. The vibrator should run about 1 second per foot on the rise. Never have the vibrator turned on when going down since this will cause the aggregate to separate and bring air into the mix.
Also, when using liners and and rustications leave them in place an additional 24 hours to avoid spalling the concrete when stripping.
