Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
ADMIXTURES
2.1 ACCELERATORS
The purpose of these is to accelerate the setting and hardening rates of
cement for the main purpose in precast work of getting a faster turnover
rate in demoulding and stacking and faster delivery times. The most
common and the cheapest accelerator is calcium chloride. Calcium
formate, sodium nitrite and others are not so effective as calcium chloride
and are extremely sensitive in their performance to the chemistry of the
Portland cement. This is particularly noticeable with the C3A (tricalcium
aluminate) content where the acceleration effect is less marked as the
C3A content increases, especially above the 8% level. (See Table 2.4,
later.)
Calcium chloride, largely due to abuse by either overdosing and/or use
in poor or mediocre quality concretes, resulted in a ban in some countries
on its use in concretes containing embedded metals. It is a pity that this
ban also applies to precast concrete companies who used calcium
chloride for over twenty years without a single performance claim ever
being lodged. The admixture is still permitted in many countries for
reinforced concrete, and in the countries where it is banned it is still
permitted in concretes not containing embedded metals. Most countries,
wisely, ban the use of chloride-containing admixtures (above a maximum
level) in prestressed concrete.
The main overriding advantage of calcium chloride compared to other
chemical accelerators is that it works exceedingly well in every type of
Portland cement irrespective of the chemistry of the cement. On the other
hand, the following disadvantages obtain.
2.1.1 Corrosion
At normal dosage rates of 0515% equivalent anhydrous material by
weight of cement it will promote corrosion in respect of:
(a) Accelerating the normal degradation of mediocre or poor quality
concrete.
(b) Migrating with moisture in the concrete towards the colder face
causing concentration gradients varying from, say 05 to 30%, from
an original uniform 15%.
(c) Accelerating the speed and deepening the depth of the carbonate
layer.
At excess concentrations, the pH becomes reduced below its average
level of 12 and when it approaches 9 corrosion will set in if air can get
to the steel as well. In addition, the hygroscopic nature of the material
will allow corrosion to occur even if protected from the weather areas.
The symbol pH is a logarithmic term related to the hydrogen ion
TABLE 2.1
RATIO TO CONTROL STRENGTH FOR 24 HOUR OLD 4/1 MORTAR CYLINDERS
is generally sodium chloride and this has not been found to be as effective
as calcium chloride in bringing about these retardations. One thing that
these findings do indicate is the danger of inter-laboratory comparative
testing with the same aggregates, cement, etc., unless distilled, de-ionised
or identical waters are used in all cases.
The retardation effect is only regained in part at later ages as Table 2.2
shows. It can be seen that early accelerated strengths are not maintained
at later ages. Chemical retarders act in the opposite way but, as already
stated, this retardation effect is thought to be due to physical causes.
TABLE 2.2
24 HOUR AND LATER AGE COMPARATIVE STRENGTH FOR 4/1, 0.5 W/C
MORTARS
It can be seen that the best results are obtained with a low C3A
cement, and ordinary Portland cements with levels of C3A well under
10% and sulphate-resisting cements are the only types that will
apparently benefit. The choice is between the use of plasticising and
superplasticising admixtures as indirect accelerators (through reduction
of the W/C) and the development of other economic accelerating
chemicals.
2.2 PLASTICISERS
These are available in three forms:
(a) Normalneither accelerating nor retarding
(b) Retarding
(c) Accelerating
They are usually based upon calcium lignosulphonate or carboxylic acid
and plasticise by placing negative electrostatic charges on particle
surfaces thus causing them to repel one another. As a group of
admixtures they have the most promise in both the precast and in situ
concrete industries because they enable one to reduce the W/C for the
same workability as the control mix (indirect accelerator effect), to
improve the workability for the same W/C as the control with the same
ensuing strengths, or to have a mixture of both. In effect, this means an
interim W/C with improved workability. Table 2.5 illustrates this effect.
TABLE 2.5
TYPICAL EFFECT OF PLASTICISING ADMIXTURE ON
PROPERTIES OF A VIBRATED CONCRETE PRODUCT
The dosage rates vary from 100 to 1000 ml/50 kg cement and each
type should be dispensed at the same time as the mixing water. As far as
2.3 SUPER-PLASTICISERS
These are more vigorously acting agents based upon chemicals such as
the naphthosulphonates and formaldehydes and work by the same
electrostatic mechanism as described in Section 2.2 but with stronger
dipole yet short-lived (3060 minutes) forces. Their addition rates are
rather higher than for plasticisers and range approximately from 200 to
2000 ml/50 kg depending upon the effect required. Their short active life
is exemplified by the workability characteristics, which return to those of
a no-admixture situation over 3060 minutes depending mainly upon
temperature. This makes them more applicable to precast rather than in
situ work due to the shorter times between mixing and usage. In readymixed concrete work the admixture needs to be added to the mixer truck
on site.
There are two ways in which these super-plasticisers can be used:
(a) By controlling the initial workability stringently before addition, to
give a flowing concrete requiring minimum compactive effort
coupled with little or no bleeding.
(b) By reducing the W/C for a vibratable type concrete workability.
System (a) is not only difficult to achieve but the mould work has to be
designed to resist what is, in effect, a liquid with an SG of about 2.4.
System (b) is far more attractive for precast work and is the only one that
should be considered.
concretes, mainly for frost and de-icing chemical durability, they have a
minimal application in precast work.
The admixture is in liquid form and based upon either the sodium salt
of the vinsol resin or complex sulphonates or similar agents which are
added at about 100500 ml/50 kg of cement (depending upon the mix
details and type of agent). They should impart to the mix a modified
capillary structure by producing a stable fresh concrete system containing
approximately uniformly sized and spaced bubbles, which act as safety
valves in the freeze-thaw mechanisms. This improved resistance is alleged
to obtain when de-icing chemicals are used, as well as when they are not,
but the evidence (discussed in Chapter 8) casts doubt upon the benefits in
the former case.
The only precast products that can benefit from proper air
entrainment are wet cast vibrated units that are used in and around
ground level, viz. paving slabs, kerbs, abutment units, flower pots, litter
bins, etc. However, the vast majority of slabs and kerbs are made by
machine-intensive methods where, due to their workability aiding effect,
air-entrainment-agent-containing products will generally have less air in
them than the control concretes.
Fresh concrete air content tests only reveal how much air there is in
the mix and not how much is entrapped and entrained, and not the
entrained form of air. A microscopic study or a standard freeze-thaw test
is necessary to assess the performance of such concrete. About 5% of air
v/v concrete is required and the efficiency is mainly a function of the
cement content and the fine aggregate grading.