ADMIXTURES

Admixture: Admixture is defined as a material, other than cement, water and

aggregates that is used as an ingredient of concrete and is added to the batch
immediately before or during mixing.
Additive: Additive is a material which is added at the time of grinding cement
clinker at the cement factory.
These days concrete is being used for wide variety of purposes to make it suitable in
different conditions. In these conditions ordinary concrete may fail to exhibit the
required quality performance or durability. In such cases, admixture is used to
modify the properties of ordinary concrete so as to make it more suitable for any
situation.
It will be slightly difficult to predict the effects and the results of using admixtures
because, many a time, change in the brand of cement, aggregate grading, mix
proportions, and richness of mix alter the properties of concrete. Sometimes many
admixtures affect more than one property of concrete. At times, they affect the
desirable properties adversely. Sometimes, more than one admixture is used in the
same mix. The effect of more than one admixture is difficult to predict. Therefore,
one must be cautious in selection of admixtures and in predicting the effect of the
same in concrete.
As per the report of ACI Committee 212, admixtures have been classified into 15
groups according to type of material constituting the admixtures, or the characteristic
effect of the use.
Plasticizers (water reducers)
Requirement of good workability is the essence of good concrete. Concrete in
different situation require different degree of workability. A high degree of
workability is required in situations like deep beams, thin walls of water retaining
structures with high percentage of steel reinforcement, column and beam junction,
tremie (under water) concreting, hot weather concreting, for concrete to be conveyed
for considerable distance and in ready mix concrete industries. The conventional
methods followed for obtaining high workability is by improving the gradation, or
by the use of relatively higher percentage of fine aggregate or by increasing the
cement content. There are difficulties and limitations to obtain high workability in
the field for a given set of conditions. The easy method generally followed at the site
in most of the conditions is to use extra water unmindful of the harm it can do to the
strength and durability of concrete. It is an abuse, a criminal act, an un-engineering
to use too much water than necessary in concrete. This addition of extra water in
concrete to satisfy the need for workable concrete is amounting to sowing the seed
of cancer in concrete.
These plasticizers can help the difficult conditions for obtaining higher workability
without using extra water. Addition of extra water will only improve the fluidity or
the consistency but not the workability of concrete. The excess water will not
improve the inherent good qualities such as homogeneity and cohesiveness of the
mix which reduces the tendency for segregation and bleeding. Whereas plasticized
concrete will improve the desirable qualities demanded of plastic concrete.
The practice all over the world is now to use plasticizers and super plasticizers for
almost all the reinforced concrete work and also mass concrete to reduce water
requirement for making concrete of higher workability or flowing concrete. This
reduction in water/cement ratio increase strength and durability of concrete.
The organic substances or the combination of organic and inorganic substances,
which allow a reduction in water content for the given workability, or give a higher
workability at the same water content, are termed as Plasticizing admixtures.
Plasticizers are used in the amount of 0.1% to 0.4% by weight of cement. The
reduction in mixing water is expected to be of the order of 5 to 15% at constant
workability. This naturally increases the strength.