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CONCRETE CHEMICALS & READY-MIXED CONCRETE

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, concrete is used for many purposes. In many
construction sites, we have to modify its nature to suit the
circumstances. For example, we may have a situation where we have
to increase the workability without decreasing its strength and
produce self competing concrete. We may have another situation
where we have to retard or accelerate the setting time. We may have
to make it rock hard in a very short time, to plug a leakage. There are
yet other situations as in concrete water tanks where we want
waterproof the concrete. Special chemicals are being manufactured
that can be added to the concrete for these purposes. In this chapter,
we will briefly deal with some of them. Another practice that is
becoming prevalent in our major cities is the use of mixed concrete
delivered at site of work in special trucks in rotating drums. This is
called Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC). In this chapter, we will also deal
briefly with the concrete chemicals used for these purposes.

CONCRETE CHEMICALS
Chemicals used in concrete construction can be divided into two
groups as follows:

1. Admixtures to concrete.: These are the chemicals added to


concrete at time of mixing to get the required properties- The most
popular ones are as follows:
(a) Water-reducing agents (Plasticizers)
(b) Set-retarding agents
(c) Set accelerators
(d) Combination chemicals
(e) Waterproofing admixtures
(f) Air-entraining agents
(g) Polymer-bonding agents
These admixtures are briefly dealt with in this chapter.
2.Construction chemicals.: There are many chemicals used as
aids in the construction industry for various purposes. Some of them
are the following:

The most commonly used chemical as retarder is calcium


sulphate . Common sugar, if added in dose of 0.2 per cent, also
retards setting of cement up to 72 hours.

Set Accelerators
Set accelerators are the substances added to concrete to accelerate
setting of concrete. Some of them are so active that a "stonehard
concrete" can be obtained in about two minutes. When cement is
mixed with silicate (available in the market in consistency of honey) to
form into the consistency of a putty, it can be pushed into crevices to
stop leakages as the mix sets hard in about 2 minutes. The product
by trade name aquarigid available in the market is one such
substance. A field trial must always be conducted when using these
materials.
BRAND NAME

DESCRIPTION

USE

Sikament FF (T)

A colourless high range Especially suitable for the tiles manufacturing.


waterreducer
and
superplasticizer
for
accelerated hardening

Sikament 600

A high range water reducer


and set retarding concrete
admixture with controlled
set retarding effect to
produce flowing concrete in
hot climate

It can be used as a superplasticizer for flowing concrete


in floor slabs, pre-stressed concrete girders, foundation,
slender components with packed reinforcement, walls,
columns, beams, ceilings etc.

Plastiment BV 40

A versatile and economical


concrete plasticizer with
wide dosage range for
varied applications

It is used wherever high quality structural concrete is


required. Its plasticizing effect is particularly useful
where exposed surfaces are important, maximum
performance is desired, placing conditions are difficult,
poor quality aggregates are found, pre-cast elements are
produced, piling, etc.

Plastiment R1

A medium range water


reducing cum seat retarding
concrete admixture with
normal plasticizing effect.

It can be used for high quality concrete in difficult


condition such as high temperatures, long hual, ready
mix concrete and where high quantity dense concrete is
required.

Plastocrete Plus

A
concrete
/
mortar
admixture in liquid form
that acts both as a highly
efficient
plasticizer
and
waterproofing compound.

It is recommended for use in structural and mass


concrete, particularly for water - retaining structures,
such as reservoirs and dams, sewerage works, canals,
culverts tunnels, roof slabs, rendering and wherever
waterproof concrete is required.

Sigunit L

A liquid cohesion agent and


rebound reducer for wet
spray-concreting
method
with momentary gluiging
effect.

It is used in producing an economical and high quality


wet shortcrete. To produce permanent gunite and
shortcrete elements, to secure lose and fragmented rock
foundations during mechanical or conventional tunnel
construction, to ensure construction pits and subterranean excavation, for rock and soil stabilization.

Sigunit Powder I

Sika
901

Sika
Finish

A ready to use accelearator


and waterproofing agent in
powder form for use with
dry gunite mixes. It allows
spraying to take place even
on wet surfaces subject to
slight infiltration.

It is suitable for dry spray gunite mixes of both mortar


and concrete such as those required for tunnels and
galleries,
securing
rockfaces,
embankment
and
excavation, thin section concrete shells, swimming pools,
concrete repair work, strengthening concrete structures.

FerroGard An active corrosion inhibitor.


It is added to the fresh
concrete mix and absorbs in
the reinforcement in a very
short time.

As corrosion protection agent of steel in the reinforced


concrete structures above and below ground. During
repair and maintenance of reinforced structures, as
treatment of reinforcing steel which is susceptible to
corrosion.

Surface A
universal
concrete
admixture
to
improve
pumpability of lean mixes
and to protect pumps &
pipes from excessive wear.

It is recommended where concrete mixes with varying


fines content, low cement or unsatisfactory aggregate
grading with poor water retention and tend to lead to
extremely high pump pressure. It facilitates that even
secondary raw material such as aggregates derived from
excavation or demolition work, may be utilized and
concrete made such aggregates can be pumped without
excessive energy demand.

Combination Chemicals

Chemicals with combination of the above properties are available in


the market as listed below:
1. Retarding superplasticizers
2. Accelerating superplasticizers
3. Retarding plasticizers
4. Accelerating plasticizers.

Waterproofing Admixture
Waterproofing admixtures are the chemicals which we can add to
cement mortars or to concrete mixes to make them waterproof.
Concrete is porous due to the presence of water in excess of that
required for hydration of cement. This water tends to form capillary
pores in the hardened concrete. Some of these chemicals when added
to concrete or cement mortar are meant to cause contraction of
capillaries. Some chemicals are meant to form crystallization products
and block the capillary. Others convert the water-absorbing capillary
forces into water-repelling capillary forces due to the hydrophobic
(tendency to repel-water) effect of the chemical constituents. They are
available either in the powder form or in the liquid form. They are also
mixed in cement mortar to form waterproof mortar. The following are
some of the popular dampproofers popular in India:

1. Aquaproof. It is a white powder to be mixed at 1 kg per bag


of cement. It increases
impermeability of concrete.
2. Cico. Cico No 1 is one of the very popular waterproofing
additive to cement. It is a colourless paste to be mixed at 3 kg of Cico
to 100 kg of cement (3%). The paste is dissolved in the concrete
mixing water and used for making concrete- (Cico company produces
manychemicals for different purposes.)

3. Impermo. This is also a waterproofing compound added to


cement to make it impervious.

There are many other products marketed by companies


manufacturing concrete chemicals.
Air-entraining Agents
Perhaps, the first concrete admixture used in concrete is the airentraining agent. It was discovered around 1930. These agents
incorporate millions of stable isolated air bubbles in concrete. Such
concrete has been found to resist action of frost much better than
ordinary concrete. As it also increases workability, it was used in
India on many projects before the advent of plasticizers to increase
workability of concrete. At present, as cold weather is not a problem
in most parts of India, it is not very popular in India. The materials
used as air-entraining agents are natural wood resins, animal and
vegetable oils, sulphonated organic compounds, etc.

Polymer Bonding Agents

While repairing old concrete with new concrete, we need good


bonding between the two. We discussed polymers and latex-based
(SBR) substances when added to cement mortar give excellent
bonding properties. These substances are extensively used for
concrete repairing work. Similarly, latex-based solutions when added
to cement tend to make the mortar or concrete impervious also. Such
additions are used for producing waterproofing properties in concrete
and cement mortars. They are known as polymer mortar (concrete)
or latex-modified mortar (concrete)

CONSTRUCTION CHEMICALS
In this section, we will give a brief account of some of the
construction chemicals.
1. Mould-releasing agents.
For easy release of the moulds (shuttering) from
hardened concrete, it was the practice to apply materials such as
burnt engine oil, crude oil, etc. on the shuttering before
concreting. (They are still used as they are very low in cost.)
These mould releasing oils do not leave a good surface for
subsequent plastering. Nowadays, we have specially
formulated efficient substances for this purpose. Separate
materials are available for timber, plywood, steel, etc.
2. Concrete-curing compounds.
Where it is difficult to cure concrete by water, we may
coat the moist concrete surface with curing compounds so that
the moisture in the concrete is retained for the concrete to get
cured. They usually get peeled off after 28 days. Most of them are
fully efficient only for 24 hours, reducing in efficiency to about
60% in 14 days. Usually, they consist of synthetic resins, wax,
chlorinated rubber, etc.
3. Bonding aids for plastering of concrete.
The traditional method for plastering a cast concrete
surface like the underside of a concrete floor (ceiling) is to hack
the surface to form a key between the structure and the plaster.
This is especially necessary when we use mould-releasing oils.
Liquid polymer bond aids in ready-to-use form are now available
for this purpose.
Plastering should be carried out as early as possible within a
waiting period of 60 to 90 minutes after the application of this
bonding agents. Most of them are latex based.

READY-MIXED CONCRETE
In the major cities in India, for construction in congested places, it
is difficult to find space for storing aggregates and mixing concrete at
the site. Also in many cases, it is difficult to lift the concrete to large
height by employing manual labour. Employing and managing a very
large team of labourers is very difficult. Moreover, the work by labour
is very slow and time consuming. If a work such as a machine
foundation has to be cast continuously without construction joints,
then we have to work continuously during day and night if we employ
labour. In such cases, concrete can be placed by concrete pumps
very fast and with ease. Pumpable concrete has to be produced using
designed mix and additives. Many companies have started ready mix
plants located away from the centre of the city where concrete can be
mixed by using batching plants. Any concrete required can be
designed and mixed here by these plants to specific requirements of
strength workability, pumpability, etc. The transporting trucks being
heavy, delivery can be made in places where there are good roads.
In city neighbourhoods, where the roads are meant to take only light
loads, these trucks can damage the roads and give trouble.
As the batching plants are located at large distances from the
site of work, the concrete has to be transported to the site in special
trucks with rotating drums. The concrete mixed at the plant is dosed
with retarding agents and discharged into these drums. The drums rest
inclined more or less horizontally on the trucks and rotate
continuously and slowly so that the concrete is kept agitated all along
the journey. This prevents premature setting of concrete and concrete
is delivered at the site in the plastic condition. The drums can be
tilted to discharge their contents at the site to the pumps to be
pumped to the exact place required.
Most of the ready mix concrete is placed by concrete pumps,
which are pumps specially designed for lifting concrete to large
heights (up to 400 m) and large horizontal distances (up to 2000 m).
In such cases, we design the concrete by the principles for "design of
pumpable concrete" which can flow through a pipe without
segregation. Ready mixed pumpable concrete is used today in most
of the multistoreyed building constructions in the major cities in
India. The owners of the ready mixed plants also give the necessary
concrete pumps on hire. However, it has been found in practice that
while ordering ready mix concrete, we have to make a very good

estimated of the quantity required


complete the work satisfactorily.

to

Rules to be followed for RMC

The Board has examined the issue of "RMC" afresh and


fi ns that a clear distinction needs to be made between
the two types - (a) concrete mix at site and (b) Ready
Mix Concrete. The Ready Mix Concrete plant consists of
stone crushers, conveyors, vibrator screen to segregate
diff erent sizes of stone aggregates, and a sand mill to
produce sand from stones. A central batching plant is
also installed in which all aggregates are weighed,
batched by electrical controls and limit switches.
Cement from silo is carried to the batching plant by a
screw conveyer operated with automatic weighing
gauges. Water is fed through fl ow meters after
subjecting such water to chemical analysis. The mixture
of stone aggregates, sand, cement and water is mixed in
a mixer. The shelf life of the mixture so obtained is
increased by addition of chemicals. This mix is loaded on
a transit mixer mounted on truck chassis which is
transported to the site of the customers and the same is
discharged at site for use in further construction of
building etc.

The qualities of Ready Mix concrete, are some what


diff erent to site mixed concrete. The fi nal product Ready
Mix Concrete is a material in plastic, wet process state
and not a fi nished product like blocks or precast tiles or
beams.

Ready Mix Concrete is thus an excisable product which


has a separate tariff entry under sub-heading 3824.20 of
the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. It is also known under
the Indian Standard IS: 4926-1976, which for the
purposes of that standard defi nes Ready Mix Concrete as
concrete delivered at site or into the purchaser's vehicle
in a plastic condition and requiring no further treatment
before being placed in the position in which it is to stay
and harden. Ready Mix Concrete attracts duty at the rate
of 13% prior to 21.10.97. subsequent to 21.10.1997 vide
Notifi cation No. 65/97-CE dt. 21.10.97 the duty on Ready

Mix Concrete classifi ed under sub-heading 3824.20 has


been reduced to 8%.

A doubt has been raised as to whether concrete mix


manufactured at site using large mechanical devices is a
form of ready mix concrete.

The matter has been examined and concrete mix implies


the
conventional
method
of
concrete
production
conforming to the ISI Standard 456-1978, which is
produced and used at the site of construction. It is this
concrete
mixture,
manufactured
at
the
site
of
construction which is fully exempt vide Notifi cation No.
4/97-CE dt. 1.3.97(S.No. 51). It is thus clarifi ed that
ready mix concrete or pre-mixd concrete, by its very
nature, cannot be manufactured at the site of
construction and is brought from the factory of
manufacturer for use in construction .

CONCLUSION
Concrete admixtures form an important class of modern
construction material. It is an essential component in production "of
high-strength, self-compacting ready mixed and pumpable
concretes. Ready-mixed pumpable concrete is becoming more and
more popular in all the principal cities of India. In addition there are
many other construction chemicals like mould reliasing agents we
use in the construction industry.

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