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Unit 2
Admixtures and Testing of Harden Concrete
Admixture
“Admixture is defined as a material, other than cement, water and aggregates, which is used as
an ingredient of concrete and is added to the batch immediately before or during mixing.

These days concrete is being used for wide varieties 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.

 Classification of admixtures :

1. Plasticizers.
2. Superplasticizers.
3. Retarders.
4. Accelerators.
5. Air-entraining Admixtures.
6. Damp-proofing and Waterproofing Admixtures.
7. Pozzolanic or Mineral Admixtures.
8. Gas forming Admixtures.
9. Air-detraining Admixtures.
10. Alkali-aggregate Expansion Inhibiting Admixtures.
11. Workability Admixtures.
12. Grouting Admixtures.
13. Corrosion Inhibiting Admixtures.
14. Bonding Admixtures.
15. Fungicidal, Germicidal.
16. Insecticidal Admixtures.
17. Colouring Admixtures.

1) Plasticizers (Water Reducers) :

The action of plasticizers is mainly to fluidify the mix and improve the workability of concrete, mortar
or grout. The mechanisms that are involved could be explained in the following way:

Dispersion: Portland cement, being in fine state of division, will have a tendency to flocculate in wet
concrete. These flocculation entraps certain amount of water used in the mix and thereby all the water
is not freely available to fluidify the mix.

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When plasticizers are used, they get adsorbed on the cement particles. The adsorption of charged
polymer on the particles of cement creates particle-to-particle repulsive forces which overcome the
attractive forces. This repulsive force is called Zeta Potential, which depends on the base, solid content,
quantity of plasticizer used. The overall result is that the cement particles are deflocculated and
dispersed. When cement particles are deflocculated, the water trapped inside the flocs gets released
and now available to fluidify the mix.

When cement particles get flocculated there will be inter-particle friction between particle to
particle and floc to floc. But in the dispersed condition there is water in between the cement particle
and hence the inter particle friction is reduced.

Retarding Effect: It is mentioned earlier that plasticizer gets adsorbed on the surface of cement
particles and form a thin sheath. This thin sheath inhibits the surface hydration reaction between
water and cement as long as sufficient plasticizer molecules are available at the particle/solution
interface. The quantity of available plasticizers will progressively decrease as the polymers become
entrapped in hydration products.

2) Superplasticizers (high range water reducers)

 They are chemically different from normal plasticizers. Use of superplasticizers permits the
reduction of water to the extent up to 30 per cent without reducing workability in contrast to
the possible reduction up to 15 per cent in case of plasticizers.

 The use of superplasticizer is practiced for production of flowing, self leveling, self compacting
and for the production of high strength and high performance concrete.

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 The superplasticizers are more powerful as dispersing agents and they are high range water
reducers. They are called High Range Water Reducers.

 The superplasticizers also produce a homogeneous, cohesive concrete generally without any
tendency for segregation and bleeding.

Superplasticizers can produce:

 At the same w/c ratio much more workable concrete than the plain ones,

 For the same workability, it permits the use of lower w/c ratio,

 As a consequence of increased strength with lower w/c ratio, it also permits a reduction of
cement content.

Some Plasticizers and Superplasticizers are;

 Modified lignosulphonates (MLS), Acrylic polymer based (AP), Copolymer of carboxylic acrylic
acid with acrylic ester (CAE), Sulphonated malanie-formaldehyde condensates (SMF),
Sulphonated naphthalene-formaldehyde condensates (SNF), Cross linked acrylic polymer
(CLAP), Polycarboxylate ester (PC), Multicarboxylatethers (MCE)

Increased fluidity:

 Flowing
 Self-leveling
 Self-compacting concrete
 Penetration and compaction round dense reinforcement

Reduced W/C ratio:

 Very high early strength, >200% at 24 hours or earlier

 Very high later age strengths, >100 MPa or 15000 psi.
 Reduced shrinkage, especially if combined with reduced cement content.
 Improved durability by removing water to reduce permeability and diffusion.

3) Retarders:
 A retarder is an admixture that slows down the chemical process of hydration so that concrete
remains plastic and workable for a longer time than concrete without the retarder.

 Retarders are used to overcome the accelerating effect of high temperature on setting
properties of concrete in hot weather concreting.

 Retarders delay setting of cement either by forming a thin coating on the cement particles and
thus slowing down their dissolution in and reaction with water or by increasing the inter-

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molecular distance of reacting silicates and aluminates from water molecules by forming
certain temporary compounds in the system.

Applications
1. They are also used in grouting oil wells. Oil wells are sometimes taken upto a depth of about
6000 meter deep where the temperature may be about 200°C. For all these works cement
grout is required to be in mobile condition for about 3 to 4 hours, even at that high
temperature without getting set. Use of retarding agent is often used for such requirements.

2. Sometimes concrete may have to be placed in difficult conditions and delay may occur in
transporting and placing. In ready mixed concrete practices, concrete is manufactured in
central batching plant and transported over a long -distance to the job sites which may take
considerable time. In the above cases the setting of concrete will have to be retarded, so that
concrete when finally placed and compacted is in perfect plastic state.

At normal temperatures addition of sugar 0.05 to 0.10 per cent have little effect on the rate of
hydration, but if the quantity is increased to 0.2 per cent, hydration can be retarded to such an extent
that final set may not take place for 72 hours or more.

Some commonly used Retarders are;

Calcium sulphate, gypsum, starches, cellulose products, sugars, acids or salts of acids, etc.

4) Accelerators:
Accelerating admixtures are added to concrete to increase the rate of early strength development
in concrete to:

 Permit earlier removal of formwork;

 Reduce the required period of curing;
 Advance the time that a structure can be placed in service;
 Partially compensate for the retarding effect of low temperature during cold weather
concreting;
 In the emergency repair work.

In past one of the commonly used accelerator was calcium chloride. But, now a day it is not used.
Instead, some of the soluble carbonates, silicates fluosilicates and some of the organic compounds
such as triethenolamine are used.
The recent studies have shown that calcium chloride is harmful for reinforced concrete and
prestressed concrete.

Some of the accelerators produced these days are so powerful that it is possible to make the
cement set into stone hard in a matter of five minutes are less. With the availability of such powerful

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accelerator, the underwater concreting has become easy. Similarly the repair work that would be
carried out to the water exposed structure in the region of tidal variations has become easy. The use of
such powerful accelerators have facilitated, the basement waterproofing operations. It is greatly use in
prefabrication works for faster constructions. As these could be used up to 10 0C, hence can be use in
cold weathering concreteing.

 Some of the modern commercial accelerating materials are Mc-Schnell OC, Mc-Schnell SDS, Mc-
Torkrethilfe BE, MC-Torkrethilfe BE.

5) Air-entraining Admixtures:
Air entrained concrete is made by mixing a small quantity of air entraining agent or by using air
entraining cement. These air entraining agents incorporate millions of non-coalescing air bubbles,
which will act as flexible ball bearings for lubrication of concrete and will modify the properties of
plastic concrete regarding workability, segregation, bleeding and finishing quality of concrete and
increases durability.

Air voids present concrete can be divide under two groups

1. Entrapped air any shape and size ranging - size ranging from 10 to 1000 microns

 The entrapped air is in the form of voids occurring in the concrete due to poor compaction.
It is of any shape and size, non-uniformly distributed along the contour of aggregate
surface.

2. Entrained air minute spherical bubbles of - size ranging from 5to80 microns

 The Entrained air is intentionally in corporate in the form of minute spherical bubbles
referred above.

The following types of air entraining agents are used for making air entrained concrete.

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1. Natural wood resins,

2. Animal and vegetable fats and oils, such as olive oil and their fatty acids such as stearic and
oleic acids.
3. Various wetting agents such as alkali salts or sulphated and sulphonated organic compounds.
4. Water soluble soaps of resin acids, and animal and vegetable fatty acids.
5. Miscellaneous materials such as the sodium salts of petroleum sulphonic acids, hydrogen
peroxide and aluminum powder. affecting amount of air entrainment

The amount of air entrainment in a mix is affected by factors;

1. The type and quantity of air entraining agent used.

2. Water/cement ratio of the mix.
3. Grading of aggregate.
4. Mixing time.
5. The temperature.
6. Influence of compaction.
50% entrained air by 2.5 min
90 % entrained air by 9 min
7. Admixtures other than air entraining agent used.

6) Waterproofing Admixtures:
In practice one of the most important requirements of concrete is that it must be impervious to
water under two conditions,
firstly, when subjected to pressure of water on one side,
secondly, to absorption of the surface water by capillary action.
Many investigators are of the opinion that the concrete, carefully designed, efficiently executed
with sound materials will be impermeable to water. However, since the usual design, mixing, placing,
curing at the site of work may be not properly executed therefore it is advice that use of a well chosen
admixture may reduce the permeability to extent.
Waterproofing admixtures may be obtained in powder, paste or liquid form and may consist of
pore filling or water repellent materials.
The chief materials in the pore filling class are silicate of soda, aluminium and zinc sulphates
and aluminium and calcium chloride. These are chemically active pore fillers. In addition they also
accelerate the setting time of concrete and thus render the concrete more impervious at early age.

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7) Pozzolanic or Mineral Admixtures:

 Pozzolanic materials are siliceous or siliceous and aluminous materials, which in themselves
possess little or no cementitious value, but will, in finely divided form and in the presence of
moisture, chemically react with calcium hydroxide liberated on hydration, at ordinary
temperature, to form compounds, possessing cementitious properties.

 Pozzolanic materials can be divided into two groups:

A. Natural pozzolana and

B. Artificialpozzolana.

A. Natural Pozzolans B. Artificial Pozzolans

1. Clay and Shales 1. Fly ash
2. Opalinc Cherts 2. Blast Furnace Slag
3. Diatomaceous Earth 3. Silica Fume
4. Volcanic Tuffs and Pumicites. 4. Rice Husk ash
5. Metakaoline
6. Surkhi.

 It has been demonstrated that the best pozzolans in optimum proportions mixed with Portland
cement improves many qualities of concrete, such as:

1. Lower the heat of hydration and shrinkage;

2. Increase the water tightness;
3. Improve resistance to attack by sulphate soils and sea water;
4. Lower susceptibility to termination and leaching;
5. Improve workability;
6. Lower costs.

 In India, the total production of fly ash is nearly as much as that of cement (75 million tons). But
our utilization of fly ash is only about 5% of the production. Therefore, the use of fly ash must
be popularized for more than one reasons

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Testing of Harden Concrete

Destructive Testing:

(1) Compression Test

(2) Flexural Test
(3) Tensile Test

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1. Compression Test
Compression test is the most common test conducted on hardened concrete, partly because it
is an easy test to perform, and partly because most of the desirable characteristic properties of
concrete are qualitatively related to its compressive strength.

The most common test for hardened concrete is the compressive strength, at a particular
period of time, from the time of casting the concrete cubes. It is very important for engineers and
technicians to obtain accurate results of compressive strengths of concrete. Compressive strength over
a period of time also indicates the extent of quality control being exercised at the site.

For cube test two types of specimens either cubes of 15cm X 15cm X 15cm or 10cm X 10cm x
10cm depending upon the size of aggregate are used. For most of the works cubical moulds of size
15cm x 15cm x 15cm are commonly used

Purpose of the test:

 It helps in determining whether correct mix proportions of various mix proportions of various
materials were used to get the desired strength.
 It helps in determining the time of removal of formwork or the time of taking the concrete
structure into service.
 It helps in determining the rate of gain of strength of concrete samples if cubes from the samples
are crushed at different periods of time.
 The variations in the results obtained at the site, from time to time for a particular grade of
concrete can help in determining the quality control exercised and uniformity of concrete
produced.

APPARATUS:
Cube Mould 150 mm X 150 mm X 150 mm Size, Curing Tank, Compression Testing Machine, Measuring
Jars, Trowel and Non-Absorbent Tray, Tamping Rod, Spanners, Mould Oil or Greece etc.
MATERIALS USED:
Cement, Fine aggregate (sand), stone chips (Coarse aggregate) and water.
Concrete Mix: 1:1.5:3 (W/C=0.4, 0.5, 0.6). The ingredients are by weight.

PROCEDURE:

1. Take three cube moulds for each mix. Assemble the mould with base plate so that it is rigidly held
together. Clean the inside of the mould and see that joints (at the edges) are perfectly tight.
2. Filling of cube moulds must be done in three layers each approximately of 50 mm thickness.
3. Compaction by needle vibrator will be preferred. If vibrator is not available, hand compaction is to
be done by placing concrete in three layers; each layer be compacted with the help of standard
temping rod by means of 25 blows.
4. Level the concrete at the top of the mould by means of trowel and give proper identification mark
of the specimen.

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5. After finishing the concrete, cube mould should be immediately covered with damp hessian cloth
or transferred to a room wherein the relative humidity is 90% and the temperature is 27 +2 or -2
degrees. Keep the cubes in laboratory for 24 hours.
6. After 24 hours, dismantle the plates of cube mould and take out the hardened concrete cubes
carefully so that edges specimens are not damaged.
7. Immerse the cubes in curing tank filled with water. Keep it for required curing duration.
8. Remove the cubes after completion of curing duration from the curing tank and keep it for drying
and then test it on CTM for finding its compressive strength.
9. The cube should be placed in compression testing machine in such a manner that the smooth
faces of the cubes rest on the steel plates. The face of the cube which is trowel finished should
never be brought into contact with the machine platens as it will cause asymmetrical loading of
the cube due to an uneven surface as compared to the faces which are moulded smooth.
The compressive strength is given by

σ=

Fig. Compression Testing Machine

The strength of concrete increases with age. Table shows the strength of concrete at different ages in
comparison with the strength at 28 days after casting.
Compressive strength of concrete at various ages:
Age Compressive Strength in
(Curing days) per cent
1 day 16%
3 days 40%
7 days 65%
14 days 90%
28 days 100%

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2. Flexural Test
The determination of flexural tensile strength is essential to estimate the load at which the
concrete members may crack. The flexural tensile strength at failure or the modulus o f rupture is thus
determine and used when necessary. Its knowledge is useful in the design of pavement slabs and
airfield runway as flexural tension is critical in these cases.
The systems of loading used in finding out the flexural tension are central point loading and
third point loading. In the central point loading, maximum fibre stress will come below the point of
loading where the bending moment is maximum. In case of symmetrical two point loading, the critical
crack may appear at any section, not strong enough to resist the stress within the middle third where
the bending moment is maximum. It can be expected that the two point loading will yield a lower value
of the modulus of rupture than the centre point loading. Following Figure shows the modulus of
rupture of beams of different sizes subjected to centre point and third point loading. I.S. 516-1959,
specifies two point loading.
The standard size of the specimens are 150 x 150 x 700 mm. Alternatively, if the largest nominal
size of the aggregate does not exceed 20 mm, specimens 100 x 100 x 500 mm may be used.
The mould should be of metal, preferably steel or cast iron and the metal should be of sufficient
thickness to prevent spreading or warping. The mould should be constructed with the longer
dimension horizontal and in such a manner as to facilitate the removal of the moulded specimens
without damage. The tamping bar should be a steel bar weighing 2 kg, 40 cm long and should have a
ramming face 25 mm square.

APPARATUS:
Beam Mould 150 mm X 150 mm X 700 mm Size or 100 mm x 100 mm x 500 mm , Universal Testing
Machine, Measuring Jars, Trowel and Non-Absorbent Tray, Tamping Rod, Spanners, Mould Oil or
Greece, Curing Tank, etc.
MATERIALS USED:
Cement, Fine aggregate (sand), stone chips (Coarse aggregate) and water.
Concrete Mix: 1:1.5:3 (W/C=0.4, 0.5, 0.6). The ingredients are by weight.

PROCEDURE:

1. Take three beam moulds for each mix. Assemble the mould with base plate so that it is rigidly held
together. Clean the inside of the mould and see that joints (at the edges) are perfectly tight.

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2. Filling of moulds must be done in three layers each approximately of 50 mm thickness.

3. Compaction by needle vibrator will be preferred. If vibrator is not available, hand compaction is to
be done by placing concrete in three layers; each layer be well compacted.
4. Level the concrete at the top of the mould by means of trowel and give proper identification mark
of the specimen.
5. After finishing the concrete, beam mould should be immediately covered with damp hessian cloth
or transferred to a room wherein the relative humidity is 90% and the temperature is 27 +2 or -2
degrees. Keep the cubes in laboratory for 24 hours.
6. After 24 hours, dismantle the plates of cube mould and take out the hardened concrete beam
carefully so that edges specimens are not damaged.
7. Immerse the specimen in curing tank filled with water. Keep it for required curing duration.
8. Remove the specimen after completion of curing duration from the curing tank and keep it for
drying and then test it on UTM for finding its flexural strength.

The load is applied through two similar roller mounted at the third points of the supporting
span, that is spaced at 200 or 133 mm centre to centre. The load is divided equally between the two
loading rollers.

The flexural strength of the specimen is express as the modulus of rupture fb

fb =
where,
P= Maximum load applied on specimen
L= Span of beam on which beam is supported
b and d = width and depth of beam respectively

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3. Tensile Test or Splitting Tensile Test

Concrete as we know is relatively strong in compression and weak in tension. In reinforced
concrete members, little dependence is placed on the tensile strength of concrete since steel
reinforcing bars are provided to resist all tensile forces. However, tensile stresses are likely to develop
in concrete due to drying shrinkage, rusting of steel reinforcement, temperature gradients and many
other reasons. Therefore, the knowledge of tensile strength of concrete is of importance.
The methods used to determine the tensile strength of concrete can be broadly classified as
direct and indirect methods. The direct methods suffer from a number of difficulties related to holding
the specimen properly in the testing machine without introducing stress concentration and to the
application of uniaxial tensile load which is free from eccentricity to the specimen. Even a very small
eccentricity of load will induce bending and axial force conditions and the concrete fails at apparent
tensile stress other than the tensile strength. Because of the difficulties involved in conducting the
direct tension test, a number of indirect methods have been developed to determine the tensile
strength. In these
In indirect method tests, in general a compressive force is applied to a concrete
specimen in such a way that the specimen fails due to tensile stresses induced in the specimen. The
tensile stress at which failure occur is the tensile strength of concrete.

The splitting test is well-known indirect tests used for determining the tensile strength of concrete,
sometimes referred as the splitting tensile strength o f concrete.

Advantages of the splitting test for determining the tensile strength are as follows.
1. The test is simple to perform and gives more uniform results than other tension tests
2. The strength determined is closer to the actual tensile strength of the concrete than that given by
the modulus o f rupture test.

APPARATUS:
Cylindrical Mould 150 mm diameter X 300 mm, Universal Testing Machine, Measuring Jars, Trowel and
Non-Absorbent Tray, Tamping Rod, Spanners, Mould Oil or Greece, Curing Tank, etc.

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MATERIALS USED:
Cement, Fine aggregate (sand), stone chips (Coarse aggregate) and water.
Concrete Mix: 1:1.5:3 (W/C=0.4, 0.5, 0.6). The ingredients are by weight.

PROCEDURE:

1. Take three Cylindrical moulds for each mix. Assemble the mould with base plate so that it is rigidly
held together. Clean the inside of the mould and see that joints (at the edges) are perfectly tight.
2. Filling of moulds must be done in three layers each approximately of 50 mm thickness.
3. Compaction by needle vibrator will be preferred. If vibrator is not available, hand compaction is to
be done by placing concrete in three layers; each layer be well compacted.
4. Level the concrete at the top of the mould by means of trowel and give proper identification mark
of the specimen.
5. After finishing the concrete, Cylindrical mould should be immediately covered with damp hessian
cloth or transferred to a room wherein the relative humidity is 90% and the temperature is 27 +2
or -2 degrees. Keep the cubes in laboratory for 24 hours.
6. After 24 hours, dismantle the plates of Cylindrical mould and take out the hardened concrete
beam carefully so that edges specimens are not damaged.
7. Immerse the specimen in curing tank filled with water. Keep it for required curing duration.
8. Remove the specimen after completion of curing duration from the curing tank and keep it for
drying and then test it on UTM for finding its flexural strength.
the splitting tensile strength o f concrete is given by

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Shrinkage & Creep

• In addition to the deformation due to load a concrete exhibits to other types of deformations.

 Shrinkage
The shrinkage, a contraction suffered by concrete even in the absence of load.
 Creep
The creep is the deformations suffered by concrete when it is subjected to a sustained load
Types of Shrinkage:

Plastic Shrinkage

• The hydration of cement causes a reduction in the volume of the system of cement plus water
to an extent of about one per cent of the volume of dry cement.

• This contraction is plastic strain and is motivated due to loss of water by evaporation from the
surface of concrete, particularly under hot climates and highwinds. This can result in surface
cracking.

Drying Shrinkage

• The shrinkage that takes place after the concrete has set and hardened is called drying
shrinkage and most of it takes place in the first few months.

• Withdrawal of water from concrete stored in unsaturated air voids causes drying shrinkage. A
part of this shrinkage is recovered on immersion of concrete in water . It is termed moisture
movement.

Carbonation Shrinkage

• The carbon dioxide (CO2) present in atmosphere reacts in the presence of moisture with the
hydrated cement minerals, carbonating Ca(OH)2 to CaC03.

• The carbonation penetrates beyond the exposed surface of concrete only slowly. Carbonation
is accompanied by increase in weight and shrinkage.

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• The shrinkage due to carbonation occurs mainly "at intermediate humidity. Carbonation also
results in increased strength and reduced permeability.

Creep

• Concrete creep is defined as: deformation of structure under sustained load.

• Basically, long term pressure or stress on concrete can make it change shape. This deformation
usually occurs in the direction the force is being applied like a concrete column getting more
compressed, or a beam bending. Creep does not necessarily cause concrete to fail or break
apart. Creep is factored in when concrete structures are designed.

RCC I Unit 2 Prof V K Rahman