Standards & Documentation

What you can verify, and what you have to confirm.

Every supplier says on-spec. The useful question is which published standard, what the standard actually requires, and what paperwork arrives with the truck. This page answers all three, and is explicit about the difference between a requirement of a standard and a typical commercial value.

With Every Shipment

The paperwork.

Certificate of analysis

Available with every shipment so your mud engineer, plant QC or process operator can verify the material against the fluid program or mix design before it goes in. If your QC process needs it before the truck arrives, ask at order time.

Safety data sheet

Current SDS for every product on request. Review it before handling — several of these materials are caustic, hygroscopic or respirable dusts.

Traceability

Every load traceable back to its source and test record, so a question three months later has an answer.

Pre-shipment testing

Drilling-grade barite and bentonite evaluated against API 13A; Class F fly ash against ASTM C618. Specific gravity, viscosity and filtrate, loss on ignition and fineness are the properties that decide whether a load ships.

The Standards

What each one actually requires.

These are the published requirements, not our claims about them. Where a figure below carries a number, it comes from the standard cited.

API 13A / ISO 13500
Drilling Fluid Materials

Governs the materials used in drilling fluids, including barite, hematite, bentonite, OCMA-grade bentonite, attapulgite, sepiolite, starch, CMC, PAC and xanthan gum. We supply the barite and bentonite covered by it.

  • Barite 4.2 — density 4.20 g/mL minimum
  • Barite 4.1 — density 4.10 g/mL minimum, an alternate specification API issued in 2010 as high-grade 4.2 reserves tightened worldwide
  • Both barite grades — water-soluble alkaline earth metals as calcium 250 mg/kg max, residue greater than 75 µm 3.0% max, particles smaller than 6 µm 30% max
  • Bentonite — viscometer dial reading at 600 rpm 30 minimum, yield point to plastic viscosity ratio 3 maximum, filtrate volume 15 mL maximum, residue greater than 75 µm 4.0% max
API also operates a Monogram licensing programme under this specification. The Monogram belongs to the producing plant, not to a distributor — and the plants we source barite and bentonite from hold it. Ask us for the licence number on a quote and we will give it to you.
ASTM C618
Coal Fly Ash & Raw or Calcined Natural Pozzolan for Use in Concrete

The baseline standard for Class F fly ash in concrete and in oilwell cement blends.

  • SiO₂ + Al₂O₃ + Fe₂O₃ — 70.0% minimum for Class F
  • Loss on ignition — 6.0% maximum
  • Fineness, amount retained on the 45 µm sieve — 34% maximum
AASHTO M295 is the parallel standard used by state transportation departments and is closely aligned with C618.
TxDOT DMS-4610
Fly Ash — Texas Department of Transportation

Applies to fly ash used in concrete on Texas DOT work, which is where most precast drainage structures, box culverts and manholes end up. It is materially stricter than ASTM C618 and this catches people out.

  • Loss on ignition — 3.0% maximum for Class C and Class F, against ASTM C618's 6.0%
  • Moisture — 2.0% maximum
  • CaO variation — within ±4.0 percentage points of the 10-sample running average
  • Material Producer List — the producing source must be pre-qualified through the Fly Ash Quality Monitoring Program and appear on the MPL
The MPL requirement is a gate, not a preference. If your job is TxDOT-funded, the source has to be listed regardless of what the certificate of analysis says. Our own fly ash beneficiation plant is being built now; its C618 certification and MPL listing are in process and not yet issued.

How To Read Our Numbers

Two kinds of value, marked differently.

Every specification table on this site tags each value. Per standard means the figure is a requirement of the cited specification and is verifiable against the published document. Typical means it reflects normal commercial ranges for that material and is not a specification — the certificate of analysis for your specific shipment governs. We mark the difference because a buyer who discovers it themselves stops trusting everything else on the page.

Have A Spec We Have Not Listed?

Send it over. We will tell you honestly whether we can meet it before you place an order — including when the answer is no, or when the material would have to come from a different source than the one we normally run.

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