Shotcrete Accelerator Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 73.4% concentration. The top five assignees alone account for 168 of the 229 records in scope — this is a field dominated at the top, not a fragmented one.
- Filings doubled 2021→2024. From 5 records in 2021 to 10 in 2024, a +100% rise even before the most recent, still-incomplete years are counted.
- 93.9% sit in one IPC subclass. C04B (cement and refractories) covers 215 of 229 records, meaning nearly every filer is contesting the same core claim territory.
Filing growth compares 2021 (5 records) with 2024 (10) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 229 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Set accelerating admixtures for shotcrete sit at the intersection of hydraulic binder chemistry and spray-application engineering: additives that trigger fast setting and early strength gain in sprayed concrete without sacrificing long-term strength or increasing rebound at the nozzle. This landscape covers 229 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026, searched against terms spanning alkali-free accelerators, aluminium sulfate chemistries, rebound reduction and spraying-nozzle configurations. Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so filing activity in 2025 and 2026 is still being reported and will read low for a while yet.
The dataset is dominated by admixture and construction-chemicals specialists rather than general cement producers, and the claim activity clusters tightly around cementitious chemistry rather than spray equipment — a pattern worth keeping in mind when reading the IPC breakdown below.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 229-record dataset: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing trend
Filings peaked in 2017 at 18 records, then settled into a lower but rebuilding pattern — 2021's 5 records grew to 10 by 2024, a +100% increase over that span. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as provisional given publication lag.
IPC composition
C04B (cement, ceramics and refractories) covers 93.9% of the 229 records, confirming that most inventive activity is chemical rather than mechanical. Smaller but consistent shares in B05D, C01F, C08K and C08L point to coating, aluminium-compound and polymer-modifier work layered on top of the core cement chemistry.
Shares are the percentage of the 229 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Set Accelerating Admixtures for Shotcrete with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about set accelerating admixtures for shotcrete and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited prior art and a representative filing
WO2017001413A1 — Alkali free aluminate sulfate based shotcrete accelerator as stable suspension or redispersible solid
Described is a shotcrete accelerator which is a solid comprising at least one of jurbanite and hydronium alunite or an aqueous suspension or slurry of the solid, and a method of producing the shotcrete accelerator as a solid. The solid shotcrete accelerator is redispersible in water yielding stable aqueous dispersions or slurries. Extended shelf life of the solids and aqueous dispersions and reduced transport costs are the main advantages compared to existing technologies.Filed by Sika Technology AG, published 2017-01-05.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6648962B2 | Micro-granulose particulates | 89 |
| 2 | US5211751A | Hydraulic cement set-accelerating admixtures incorporating amino acid derivatives | 81 |
| 3 | US20030089281A1 | Micro-granulose particulates | 49 |
| 4 | EP0657398A1 | Process for accelerating the setting and hardening of a material which contains a hydraulic binder, setting a… | 49 |
| 5 | EP1878713A1 | Stable shotcrete accelerator dispersion with high content in active matter | 47 |
| 6 | EP1136507A1 | Cement dispersing polymers for high flow, high strength and selfcompacting concrete | 39 |
| 7 | US5560774A | Process for accelerating the setting and hardening of material which contains a hydraulic binder, setting and… | 33 |
| 8 | WO2011026825A2 | Sprayable hydraulic binder composition and method of use | 30 |
| 9 | US6548589B2 | Cement dispersing polymers for high flow, high strength and selfcompacting concrete | 26 |
| 10 | US5660625A | Use of basic aluminium sulphates as low-alkali set accelerators for cement | 26 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to be cited — read this as a map of influential prior art, not a ranking of current importance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three read-outs from the dataset that matter more for decision-making than the raw counts alone.
The field is led, not fragmented
With the leader alone at 85 records and the fifth-placed assignee at 13, the drop-off is steep. A new entrant is not filing into open space at the top of the ranking; freedom-to-operate work needs to start there.
Activity is rebuilding after the 2017 peak
Filing volume fell from its 2017 high but has since doubled between 2021 and 2024, the last year that can be read as complete. That is a genuine reacceleration, not noise from partial recent years.
Almost everyone is claiming cement chemistry
Coating (B05D), aluminium compounds (C01F) and polymer modifiers (C08K/C08L) each sit near 5% — present, but clearly secondary to the core binder chemistry that nearly every filer touches.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to set accelerating admixtures for shotcrete, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and what is still open
The ranked leaders sit alongside a long tail — of 48 ranked companies, most hold only a handful of records each, which is where opportunity for differentiated claims tends to concentrate.
One assignee dominates the ranking
The top-ranked filer holds 85 of the 229 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 13. That gap defines the competitive shape of this field more than any other single figure.
A tight cluster below the leader
From fifth to tenth place the counts fall from 13 to 4, forming a genuine second tier rather than an even spread — these are the companies most likely to be actively defending or extending specific claim families.
Most ranked filers hold a handful of records
Beyond the top 10, the remaining ranked companies each hold small counts, often single filings tied to specific formulations or regional filings rather than platform claims.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Construction Research & Technology GmbH | 0 | -100% |
| GCP Applied Technologies Inc | 0 | — |
| W.R. Grace & Co.-Conn. | 0 | — |
| Sika Technology AG | 0 | -100% |
| SUBLIME SYSTEMS INC | 0 | -100% |
| Holcim Technology Ltd | 0 | -100% |
| Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) | 0 | — |
| Sika AG, formerly Kaspar Winkler & Co. | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The landscape points to a concentrated field with specific secondary branches still open. The next steps depend on whether you are clearing a product or building a filing strategy.
Run a freedom-to-operate check against the leaders
With 73.4% of records held by five assignees, any new formulation should be checked against their claim families before development spend increases.
Check claims in EurekaExplore the under-claimed branches
Coating, aluminium-compound and polymer-modifier classes each sit near 5% of records — thin enough to leave room for a differentiated first claim.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions on shotcrete accelerator patents
One assignee leads the ranking with 85 of the 229 records in scope, well ahead of the rest of the field — the fifth-placed company holds 13. The top five assignees combined account for 73.4% of all records, so the field is concentrated rather than fragmented. Any competitive or freedom-to-operate analysis should start with this leading group before looking at the long tail of 48 ranked companies.
Aluminium sulfate and related aluminate chemistries recur across the highest-cited records, and the IPC data confirms cement and refractory chemistry (C04B) covers 93.9% of the 229 records in scope. Secondary classes like coating processes and polymer additives each sit around 5%, showing they are layered onto core binder chemistry rather than being separate lines of invention. A representative filing, WO2017001413A1, centres on jurbanite and hydronium alunite based solids as an alkali-free route.
Filing volume peaked in 2017 at 18 records and has not returned to that level, but the more recent, complete-year data shows real rebuilding: 2021's 5 records grew to 10 by 2024, a +100% increase. Data for 2025 and 2026 will look artificially low because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. Read the trend as reaccelerating off a lower base rather than declining.
Highly concentrated at the top: the top five assignees hold 73.4% of all 229 records in scope, and the top ten hold 89.5%. Beyond that, the ranking extends to 48 companies, most holding only a handful of records each. This shape — a dominant leader, a defined second tier, and a long tail of single or low-count filers — is typical of a mature specialty-chemicals niche rather than an emerging field.
WO2017001413A1, filed by Sika Technology AG and published January 2017, claims a shotcrete accelerator that is a solid comprising jurbanite and/or hydronium alunite, usable either as the solid itself or as a redispersible aqueous suspension or slurry. Its stated advantage over prior alkali-free accelerators is extended shelf life and lower transport cost because the solid form can be redispersed in water rather than shipped as a dilute suspension. Anyone developing an alkali-free, aluminium-sulfate-based accelerator in solid or redispersible form should review this filing's claim scope directly rather than relying on the abstract alone.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.