The New York State Concrete Masonry Association (NYSCMA) has developed a program which will assure the availability of high strength concrete masonry units across New YorkState. Participating FM2000 block producers manufacture every stock, regular production concrete masonry unit to a higher standard for net area unit strength. NYSCMA oversees the program by maintaining a record of current initial tests, and managing a random testing program.
The FM2000 Assurance of Quality Program raises the bar for net area unit strength of stock, standard production concrete masonry units. All block from participating FM2000 manufacturers must comply with a 28 day net area unit compressive strength of 2800 psi, compared to the current ASTM C 90 “Standard Specification for Load Bearing Concrete Masonry Units” which requires only 1900 psi. When the unit strength method is employed to determine the “Compressive Strength of Masonry” (ƒ’m), 2800 psi net area unit strength equals ƒ’m 2000; when the prism test method (ASTM C 1314) is used, ƒ’m 2500 can be achieved. The current ASTM standard 1900 psi net area unit strength equates to ƒ’m 1500.
The FM2000program requires participating producers to test and submit the ƒ’m of their block using both the unit strength and prism strength methods. Now engineers will be given the physical properties of the block and wall assembly on every job during the submittal process.
Higher ƒ’m means a more efficient, cost effective design: less reinforcement will be required; lap lengths of vertical reinforcement will be reduced, and in some cases, thinner concrete masonry units can be used. These are just a few examples; consult your local FM2000 manufacturer for complete details.
The FM2000 Assurance of Quality Program offers architects and engineers consistently higher quality concrete masonry units. Design professionals can have increased confidence in the quality of concrete masonry across the state because FM 2000 producers have tested these higher strength units in advance at the National Concrete Masonry Associations’ (NCMA) Laboratory. To assure consistency and compliance to the program, NYSCMA randomly tests block from FM2000 producers stock.
