After several years of development and growing interest from the market, we’re pleased to announce that Egcodorn® Lock has officially arrived in Australia.
Developed by Max Frank, Egcodorn® Lock is a new generation Temporary Movement Joint (TMJ) dowel for post-tensioned slabs, engineered from the ground up to address the capacity, congestion, and efficiency challenges that contractors and designers have long encountered with conventional TMJ systems.
Why a New Approach to TMJ Design?
Most post-tensioned slab construction in Australia relies on TMJ dowels that were developed years ago. While these systems have served the market, they come with familiar trade-offs: bulky units that crowd reinforcement zones, multi-component assemblies that add complexity on site, and designs that haven’t evolved to keep pace with modern construction demands.
Egcodorn® Lock represents a step change, delivering higher structural performance in a significantly more compact and site-friendly package.
Higher Capacity Where It Matters Most
Egcodorn® Lock offers the highest shear and tension capacity per unit in slabs under 210 mm thick, the range that covers the vast majority of post-tensioned floor construction in Australia.
With a design tension capacity of 150 kN (grouted), each unit carries more load than conventional alternatives. For structural designers, this means greater flexibility to reduce total TMJ quantities along a joint line or increase spacings between units, subject to project-specific design.
In practical terms, higher capacity per unit means fewer dowels on the slab. For projects with long TMJ runs, reducing the total number of units is often the single largest driver of material cost savings.
A Compact Footprint for Cleaner Joints
At approximately 300 mm in length, Egcodorn® Lock is significantly smaller than conventional TMJ dowels, which can extend to nearly 500 mm. In typical 180 to 200 mm PT slabs, where space at movement joints is already tight, this compact form factor makes a real difference.
Less congestion at the joint means easier rebar placement, simpler detailing, fewer coordination clashes, and a cleaner build overall.
What’s Next
In our next post, we’ll take a closer look at what sets Egcodorn® Lock apart on site and over the life of the building, from its simplified installation process and lower grout volumes, to its all-steel load path and fire performance credentials.
In the meantime, if you’d like to discuss suitability for an upcoming project or walk through the system in more detail, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with the Silva team today.