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tions causes a marked fall in the shear threshold and facilitates the ascent of air to the
surface. The higher the value for spread or
slump may be (or the lower the shear threshold value), the more readily entrapped air
can escape.
Air bubbles generated by water evaporation
During the compaction process, water droplets originating from unused mixing water
in cement hydration can gather at the interface between concrete and formwork.
Once the formwork has been stripped, this
water evaporates but leaves behind voids or
air bubbles.
Air bubbles caused by the utilisation of
formwork release agents
Air bubbles occurring on a concrete surface
can also arise from an excess dosage of
formwork release agent. Most of these
release agents exhibit stable behaviour in
contact with an alkaline water environment.
Even if a minute part does get mixed in with
the interstitial concrete solution, the hydrophobic characteristics of these molecules act
in such a way that this tends to lead to a
reduction in their surface contact with the
water.
The molecules deposit themselves instead at
the water-air interface, i.e. around the air
bubbles. And so that their contact surface
with the water can be lessened still more, air
bubbles surrounded by formwork release oil
molecules have a tendency to fix themselves
to the molecules present on formwork walls,
especially during compaction. When the
formwork is stripped, the thin film of release
oil agent is dislodged and spherical cavities
become visible.
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Vineya
Vin
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Posts
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Lintel
Lin
telss
T-Beam
T-B
eamss
I-Beams
Inverted
d Doubl
ble T Slab
l bs
U Panells
Inverted
d Doubl
ble T Beams
1000 mm High
Hollow Core
Hollow
Core Sla
Slabs
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600 mm - 3+3 holes
2x600
2x
Hollow Core
Hollow
Core Sla
Slabs
bs
1200 mm - 5 holes
Hollow Co
Hollow
Core
re Sla
Slabs
bs
2400 mm - 4+4 holes
Hollllow C
H
Core Sl
Slab
bs
1000 mm High
Stadi
St
dium Seati
ting P
Panels
l
Wallll Panel
W
P
ls
with exposed aggregates
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Fig. 1: Scale of average air bubble formation according to French NF P 18-503 standard
pertaining to the characteristics of concrete surfaces
Fig. 2: Digitalisation of a photo for
determining air bubble formation
Air bubble distribution can be represented by the number of air bubbles in relation to their diameter in order to be able
to ascertain the most appropriate air
bubble category (fig.3) or else in relation to their surface distribution so as to
determine the predominant air bubble
category with regard to the surface
affected by air bubbles (fig.4).
Diameter (mm)
Diameter (mm)
total of 400 cm2. A repeatability study carried out several times with the same photographic images enabled the exactitude of
measurements assisted by video microscope
to be calculated at 0.5%.
Experimental study
The objective of the experimental study carried out was to quantify more precisely the
impact of each of these parameters on air
bubble formation at facing concrete surfaces
made from high performance concrete. The
first stage consisted in defining a production
process that could serve as reference and
in verifying the processs repeatability for
generating air bubble formation at facing
concrete surfaces. In the second stage, a
variation was made to one parameter at a
time in order to be able to quantify the
effect of differing factors on air bubble formation. For the first stage, three identical
high performance concrete test mixes
were produced (tab.1) following the different phases in the manufacturing procedure
and quantification method for air bubble
formation. The standard deviation calculated for the three test mixes amounted to
0.5% in respect of absolute value at an average value of approximately 5% for the surface affected by air bubbles (fig.5). The
expanded value of uncertainty for surface
air bubble formation incorporating the
manufacturing process and the statistical
recording method for the air bubbles is 1%.
In the second stage, the influence of the
concrete mix composition, the mixing cycle,
spreading and compacting the concrete,
the formwork material and also the release
agent was investigated.
Influence of mix design on air bubble
formation
Mix design parameters were investigated,
such as the relationship Weff/C, the charac-
116
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Test mix
Fig. 5: Facing concrete surface with air bubble formation for 3 high performance concrete test
reference mixes
Tab. 2: Modification of the parameters of the high performance concrete test mix composition
Slump
a
- W ter
at
e
W r
ith
ou
t
Lim fille
r
e
slu
rry
Ph
on
oli
the
Ad
di
t
Lim ive
e
sa
nd
Ai
rb
inh ub
ib bl
ito e
r
Te
mi st re
xtu fe
r re
+ e nce
W
Any reduction of air bubble formation attained by increasing the proportion of water,
the utilisation of sand or filler containing
hydrated lime in slurry form, a phonolithic
additive or an admixture with polyacrylate
base is significant as it is greater than the
Entrapped air(%)
Speed
Slump
Addition of additives
Addition of water
Dry premixing
Mixing for
homogenisstion
Trockenvormischung
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Mixing cycle
117
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Tab. 3: Air bubble formation at the concretes surface as a function of the filling method
Tab. 4: Air bubble formation at the concretes surface in relation to vibration for self-compacting high performance concrete
118
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In contact with the concrete (that contains water), the release agent
must exhibit a small wetting angle and more hydrophilic characteristics
but still simultaneously maintain its non-adhesive properties between
the formwork and the concrete. The hydrophilic characteristics of
release oils can be outlined by the term, surfactant (surface tension
active). The surfactants contained in certain release agents are composed of amphiphile molecules i.e. they possess two different chemical affinities simultaneously (Fig.11):
one part is lipophilic, mostly aliphatic chains, illustrated in fig.11
as an elongate side chain;
another part is hydrophilic, in most cases a cation or an anion,
illustrated as a spherical structure
The tests carried out on these oils (fig.12) show that the phase separation speed decreases with increasing HLB value i.e. the better the
oils can be mixed with water. Moreover, this development is not
dependent on the type of oil (vegetable or synthetic base, or emulsion). With oil-in-water emulsions, the phase separation speed is
practically zero i.e. these oils are stable in the presence of water.
Testing was then continued with a similar batch of high performance
concrete but employing different release oils with lower or higher
HLB values. The mineral oils were not tested as their industrial utilisation has become increasingly restricted. Tab. 7 highlights the
capacity of oils belonging to the oil-in-water emulsion category of
both a vegetable and synthetic base in terms of a reduction of air
bubble formation. The miscibility of these oils with water is confirmed
by their greater HLB values and separation speeds of zero phases.
For water-in-oil emulsions, the reduction in air bubble formation is
less pronounced and is probably dependent on oil properties. Fig.
13 illustrates the development of average air bubble formation at
the concretes surface. It demonstrates clearly the relevance of the
miscibility test in characterising an oil in relation to the reduction in
potential air bubble formation.
Influence of formwork characteristics
The interface potentially generated by a release agent between
concrete and formwork must exhibit the following properties:
Prevent any sort of adherence between material and formwork
Avoid stabilising air bubbles against the surface of the formwork
Hydrophilic
component
Lipophilic
component
Partial wetting
Full wetting
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Turn-key Precast
Turn-key
P
Precas
t Concrete
Concrete Plants
ffor
or mode
rn Building Systems
Systems
e
modern
Experience & Individual Solutions
The German family business weiler founded
d in 1954
19
near Bingen/Rhine has a long heritage of experience
per
erience
er
ience
with more than 200 installed machines and factories
ies
world wide.
Pure synthetic
Synthetic oil emulsion
Synthetic oil emulsion
Vegetable base
Vegetable oil emulsion
HLB value
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Tab. 7: Air bubble formation at the concretes surface in relation to oil properties
HLB-value
Fig. 13: Average air bubble formation at the concretes surface in relation to the HLB value
and phase separation speed
test carried out with the polystyrene formwork, a facing concrete surface could be
obtained that was free from air bubbles.
Conclusion
Air bubble formation in differing types of
concrete and here, specifically, in high performance concrete is a complex phenomenon. From a mix design viewpoint, high per-
122
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BASED
ON
AutoCAD
CAD - Software
for precast
concrete parts
Tab. 9: Average air bubble formation at the concretes surface in relation to the material
characteristics of the formwork
IDAT GmbH
Dieburger Strae 80
64287 Darmstadt | Germany
Fon +49 6151 7903-0
www.idat.de
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Moulds
for Precast elements
Industrial Buildings
0%
# 1 %
#2%
# 3 %
#4%
# 5 %
#6%
# 7 %
Civil Buildings
SRL
w w w. b i a n c h i c a s s e f o r m e. i t
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