Water Reducing Agents: Improving the Rheology and Workability of High-Strength Concrete

What Exactly is a Concrete Water-Reducing Agent?

Concrete superplasticizer is a vital part of concrete blends. It improves the consistency of concrete, making it simpler to mix and place, consequently increasing the workability of concrete for the construction industry.
The quantity of water-reducing agent is affected by factors such as particle size and compressive strength, among others, in relation to the performance of concrete, and its quantity is also affected by the environmental conditions and construction and building requirements. Proper application of water-reducing agents can enhance the consistency of concrete, reduce concrete splitting, and improve the strength of concrete. The role of water-reducing agents also includes reducing the water content of concrete, enhancing the robustness of concrete, and boosting the overall quality of concrete. Additionally, water-reducing agents can lessen dust formation, reduce concrete shrinkage, enhance concrete resilience, enhance the appearance of concrete, and increase concrete’s capability to corrosion.

Exactly what are the features of concrete water-reducing agent?
The concrete water-reducing agent is an mixture that decreases the water utilization of concrete while keeping its fluidity essentially unchanged, thus enhancing the strength and durability of concrete, or raising the fluidity of concrete and improving the workability of concrete in the same concrete quantity and water-cement ratio.

1. Soothing effect.

The polar hydrophilic groups in the water-reducing agent position themselves to adsorb onto the surface of cement particles and easily bond to water molecules through hydrogen bonds. The strength of this hydrogen bonding is much higher than the molecular attraction between water molecules and cement particles. When sufficient water-reducing agent is absorbed by the cement particles, using R-SO3θ and the hydrogen bonding in water molecules, in addition to the hydrogen bonding between water molecules, a stable solvated water film forms on the surface of cement particles. This film serves as a three-dimensional protective barrier, preventing direct contact between cement particles and functioning as a lubricant between particles.

2. Wetting effect.

After cement and water are mixed, the surface of the particles is wetted by water, and the factors of wetting have a significant impact on the effectiveness of fresh commercial concrete. The lowering in surface free energy caused by natural wetting can be computed using the formula advised by Glbbs.

3. Water-reducing effect.

After the addition of high-efficiency water-reducing agents in industrial concrete, the water-cement ratio can be significantly decreased while preserving fluidity. High-efficiency water-reducing agents have a water reduction rate of up to 10% to 25%, while regular water-reducing agents have a water reduction rate of 5% to 15%, therefore the name high-efficiency water-reducing agent. The water reduction effect is largely due to the adsorption and diffusion of water-reducing agents in industrial concrete.

4. Plasticizing outcome.

After adding a water-reducing additive to concrete, it can boost the workability while keeping the water-cement ratio constant. Common water-reducing agents, in the case of keeping the precise similar volume of cement, can produce the new industrial concrete depression increase by more than 10cm; high-performance water-reducing agents can create a slump of 25cm of industrial concrete.

Concrete water-reducing agent system of action presented

1. Distributing effect:
After the concrete is mixed with water, as a result of the hydration of cement particles, the surface of cement particles creates a twofold electrical layer structure, resulting in the creation of a solvent water film and anisotropic charged areas between cement particles creating a bridging effect. This guarantees that 10% to 30% of the mix water is enclosed by the concrete particles and cannot take part in free flow and lubrication, thus impacting the fluidity of the concrete mix. Whenever the water-reducing additive is added, the water-reducing agent molecules can orient themselves and adsorb on the surface of cement particles, creating a similarly charged surface (normally negative) on the cement particles. This triggers electrostatic repulsion, encouraging the cement particles to disperse from each other, breaking down the bridging structure, and releasing the covered water. As a result, the water can flow more effectively, hence improving the fluidity of the concrete mix.

2. Lubrication influence:
The hydrophilic group in the water-reducing additive is highly polar, permitting the adsorption film of the water-reducing substance on the surface of cement particles to create a stable layer of solventized water film along with water molecules. This water film offers effective lubrication, considerably lowering the friction between cement particles and further boosting the fluidity of concrete.

3. Spatial site-resistance effect:
The water-reducing agent structure with hydrophilic branched chains extends in a liquid mixture, developing a compact hydrophilic three-dimensional adsorption layer on the surface of adsorbed cement particles. When the concrete particles are near to each other, the adsorption layers start to overlap. This results in spatial site-resistance between cement particles, increasing the repulsion of spatial site-resistance and enhancing the cohesion hindrance between cement particles, therefore maintaining the desired slump of the concrete.

4. Slow-release impact of graft copolymerization branched chains:
New water-reducing agents, such as polycarboxylic acid water-reducing agents, have branched chains grafted onto the molecules of the water-reducing additive. These branched chains provide both spatial site-resistance effects and, in the highly alkaline environment of cement hydration, can be slowly emitted, resulting in the emission of polycarboxylic acid with dispersing result. This improves the scattering impact of cement particles and manages slump loss.

The amount of water-reducing representative is affected by the particulate size as well as compressive strength, etc., on the performance of concrete, and additionally its amount is also influenced by climatic problems and construction requirements. The correct use of water-reducing agents can improve the uniformity of concrete, reduce the fracturing of the concrete, also raise the strength of concrete. The function of water-reducing agents additionally consists of reducing the water substance of concrete, which improves the strength of concrete and makes the general performance of concrete premium. Furthermore, water-reducing agents can likewise decrease the formation of dirt, lower the shrinking of concrete, increase the sturdiness of concrete, enhance the appearance of concrete, and boost the corrosion resistance of concrete.

Concrete Water-Reducing Supplier

TRUNNANO is a reliable concrete additives supplier with over 12-year experience in nano-building energy conservation and nanotechnology development.
If you are looking for high-quality concrete additives Concrete water-reducing agent, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. ([email protected])
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