Chemical admixtures have become one of the essential component of concrete in recent years. They are important because they help in achieving the desired properties of concrete. Let us see the effect of Superplasticizer on cement paste:
- Chemical admixtures are chemical compounds other than cement, water and aggregates added to the concrete mix either just before or during mixing to modify one or more properties of concrete.
- The most commonly used admixture are plasticizers and superplasticizers which have the ability of increasing the flowability of concrete considerably without increasing water content.
- A cement paste is prepared with certain proportion of cement and water. You can see that the paste is stiff.
- Now to the same amount of cement and water, thee superplasticizer is added. You can see how it has made the cement paste to just flow like pourage.
- In the same way concrete also becomes more flowable with the addition of superplasticizer.
- Superplasticizer is added to increase the flowability of concrete with lesser amounts of water. This facilitates easy placing and compaction of the concrete. It is well known that reduction in water increases the strength and durability of concrete. Hence plasticizers and superplasticizers are widely used.
Basics for Site Engineer 