Use of Chemical and Mineral

Admixtures in Concrete

What is admixtures ?

Admixtures are the chemical compounds in

concrete other than Portland cement, water,
and aggregates that are added to the mixture
immediately before or during mixing .
Admixtures
have
formulated
chemical
composition and special chemical action, and
are used to modify certain properties of
concrete.

FUNCTIONS OF
ADMIXTURES

Admixtures can be classified by

function as follows:

Accelerating admixtures
or accelerator

The general action of accelerators is to cause more

rapid dissolution of compounds of cement , particularly
Tricalcium silicate , in water and hence facilitate more
rapid hydration of these compounds.

The generally used accelerators consist of NaCl,

Na2Co3, K2SO4 , KOH.

An admixture used to speed up the initial set of the

concrete is called ac accelerator.

These are added in concrete either

(1) To increase the rate of hydration of cement ,and
hence to increase the rate of development of strength .
(2) To shorten the setting time

An increase in the rate of early strength development

may help in
(1) Earlier removal of forms,
(2) Reduction of required period of curing
(3) Early placement of structure in service.

Retarding Admixtures or
retarder

The set-retarding admixtures slow down the initial rate

of hydration of cement or prolong the setting of the
cement paste in concrete.
A retarding admixture holds back the hydration
process, leaving more water for workability and
allowing concrete to be finished and protected before
drying out.

Air entraining admixtures

Air entering admixtures help to incorporate a controlled

amount of air , in the form of million of minute noncoalescing bubbles distributed throughout the body of
concrete ,during mixing, without significantly altering
the setting or the rate of hardening of concrete.
In airentrained concrete ,the air bubbles provide
space to relieve the pressure of expanding ice as
shown fig.(1)

It is generally recognized that a proper amount of

entrained air result in improved properties of plastics
concrete like workability ,easier placing and finishing ,
increased durability ,better resistance to frost action
and reduction in bleeding and segregation.

The beneficial amount of entrained air depends upon

the type and quantity of air-entraining agent; water
cement ratio of mix; type grading and maximum size of
the aggregate ; mixing time ; the temperature and time
of cement.

Water reducing admixtures

or Plasticizers

Water reducing admixtures enable a

given fresh concrete mix to have higher
flowability (workability) without
increasing the water content increasing
the water content which results in faster
rate of concrete placement , easy
placement in relatively poorly accessible
location without vibration ,true shutter
finish for highly reinforced members and
reduction in cement content .

Working of superplasticizers

TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE

The performance of concrete is normally optimized in

one of the following four ways :1. To produce flowing concrete
2. To produce concrete with varying low water cement
ratio
3. To produce high performance concrete
4. To produce concrete mix with reduced cement
content.