New lab facility for the testing of drymix mortars at Dubai Central Laboratory

The Dubai Central Laboratory, a Division of the Dubai Municipality, United Arab Emirates (DCL) and the Middle East Drymix Mortar Association MEDMA e.V., Munich/Germany have recently announced the completion of their state-of-the-art testing facility for cementitious tile adhesives and other mortars according to international standards. After calibration runs earlier this year, the opening ceremony took place at the location in Al Karama/Dubai on 04.02.2013. Eng. Hawa Abdullah Bastaki, Director of DCL, led the inauguration ceremony of the new Drymix Mortar Laboratory at DCL, assisted by Laith Haboubi, President of MEDMA and MEDMA Secretary General Ferdinand Leopolder. The new laboratory is fully equipped to test in accordance with ISO 13007, the legally binding standard endorsed by the Gulf Standardisation Organisation for Nations united under the Gulf Cooperation Council. The MEDMA Lab at DCL can test open time, slip-resistance and tensile adhesion strength (pull-out test) under all four storage conditions (normal climate, heat, underwater and freeze/thaw cycles).

Dubai Central Laboratories DCL is the sole and official testing and calibration body within the Dubai Municipality and has held a lighthouse function in the entire area for the specification and certification of construction materials for decades. The Drymix Mortar Laboratory at DCL was established using MEDMA technical expertise, advice and funding. DCL and MEDMA thus conclude a two-year process in which they defined the legal framework, cooperated to prepare the space and determined and ordered the special equipment to be used. The new lab will serve MEDMA members (who can test there at half the posted prices) and the general public in the UAE and the Middle East. Producers or importers of tile adhesives can now get their materials expertly tested for suitability for use in the harsh climate throughout the GCC Nations. Especially in light of the large new construction projects in the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Qatar, where tightly specified performance mortars are required in large volumes, the new lab will assist in the establishing of higher performance levels for such materials. With this new laboratory, DCL and MEDMA are enforcing the use of the ISO 13007 standard, which was adapted and made legally binding in all GCC Nations by the Gulf Standardisation Organisation GSO already in 2006. DCL will also use the results in the certification of tile adhesives for its DCL Quality Mark. The Opening Ceremony was sponsored by Wacker Chemie.

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