CE 429 – INTRODUCTION TO

ADMIXTURES FOR CONCRETE

Asst. Prof. Şevket C. BOSTANCI 1

Introduction to Concrete
• Concrete is a composite material binding material mixed in
water with sand and gravel.

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Concrete History
• First American Concrete Street (Ohio) - 1891

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Concrete History
• The Hoover Dam (1936) – It was built along the Colorado
River, bordering Arizona and Nevada. It was the largest scale
concrete project ever completed.

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Concrete History
• Concrete Sports Dome (1967) – The first concrete domed
sports arena, known as the Assembly Hall. It was built at the
university of Illinois.

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Introduction
Primary ingredients in concrete:
• Aggregates (fine and coarse)

• Portland cement

• Water

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Introduction
Secondary ingredients in concrete:
• Pozzolans

• Admixtures

• Fibers

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Introduction
• Portland cement and lime are generally used as binding
materials.

• Sand is used as fine aggregates.

• Crushed stones, gravel, are used as coarse aggregates.

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Introduction
• Admixture is a material other than water, aggregates or
hydraulic cement used as an ingredient of concrete.

• Most commonly used admixtures are chemical solutions that

are carefully metered into concrete batches to lend or
enhance a specific property of the concrete.

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Introduction
• Freshly prepared concrete until it starts to set is called as
“Fresh (Wet) Concrete”.

• After it starts to set and hardens, it is called as “Hardened

Concrete”.

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Introduction

• Ready-mix concrete is type of concrete that is manufactured

in a factory or batching (concrete) plant, according to design.
• Then it is delivered to the construction site by a concrete
mixer.
• It is manufactured under computer-controlled operations and
transported and placed at the construction site.

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Introduction
Advantages of Ready-mix Concrete

• Better quality

• Storage space at site is not needed.

• Wastage is avoided.

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Introduction
• Admixtures are added to concrete batch immediately before
of during mixing to modify one or more specific properties of
concrete in fresh and hardened state.

• Modify only the cement paste

• Added in small quantity either in powder or liquid form.

• Combination is used when more than one property to be

altered.

• Dosed proportionally by weight to the total dry weight of the

binder (cement + pozzolan) 13
History
• History of admixtures is as old as the history of concrete.

• It embraces a very vast field, but a few type of admixtures

called Water Reducers or High Range Water Reducers,
generally referred as plasticizers, are of recent interest.

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History
• Especially developed in Japan and Germany around 1970.

• Later on these admixtures were made popular in USA and

Europe even in Middle East and Far East.

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 Early History
• The use of natural admixtures in concrete was a logical progression.
Materials used as admixtures included milk and lard by the
Romans; eggs during the middle ages in Europe; polished glutinous
rice paste, lacquer, tung oil, blackstrap molasses, and extracts
from elm soaked in water and boiled bananas by the Chinese; and
in Mesoamerica and Peru, cactus juice and latex from rubber
plants. The Mayans also used bark extracts and other substances
as set retarders to keep stucco workable for a long period of time.

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Early History
• Roman Times

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Recent History
• During the last 40 years, concrete technology has made
considerable progress.

• In the 1970s in the United States and Canada, concrete

structures were typically built with concretes having a
maximum compressive strength of 30 MPa and a slump of 100
mm. Nowadays, 80–100 MPa concretes having a slump of 200
mm are used to build the lower portions of the columns of
high-rise buildings

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Recent History
• 40 MPa self-compacting concretes are being used for the
prestressed floors in these high-rise buildings.

• Currently, 200 MPa ultra-high strength concretes are being

used. Such achievements are the result of a massive research
effort that has created a true science of concrete and a true
science of admixtures.

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Recent History
• After the Second World War, the price of Portland cement was
quite low because oil was not expensive. Thus, it was cheaper
to increase concrete compressive strength by adding more
cement to the mix rather than using concrete admixtures.

• Today, oil is no longer cheap and the price of Portland cement

has increased dramatically. Thus, it is now possible for the
admixture industry to base their admixture formulations on
more sophisticated molecules synthesised specifically for the
concrete industry.

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General Concepts
• As mentioned an admixture is defined as a material other than
water, aggregate, and hydraulic cement which might be added
to concrete before or during its mixing.

• This is not to be confused with the term, addition, which is

either interground with or blended into a portland cement
during its manufacture. An addition, is classified as being
either (1) a processing addition, which aids in the manufacture
and handling of the finished product, or (2) a functional
addition which modifies the use properties of the cement.

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General Concepts
Admixtures can function by several mechanisms

1. Dispersion of the cement in the aqueous phase of concrete.

2. Alteration of the normal rate of hydration of the cement, in
particular the tricalcium silicate phase.
3. Reaction with the by-products of the hydrating cement, such
as alkalies and calcium hydroxide.
4. No reaction with either the cement or its by-products.

• Those that function via the first two mechanisms are called
chemical admixtures in order to differentiate them from the
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others that perform by the last two mechanisms.
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The use of admixtures
• The use of admixtures varies greatly from one country to
another.

• In Japan and Canada, almost 100% of concrete contains at

least a water reducer and an air-entraining agent. But, in the
United States and France, more than 50% of concrete contains
admixtures.

• The chemical system operating during cement hydration is

becoming more and more complex due to the normal intrinsic
complexity of Portland cement and hydraulic binders
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Purpose
To modify fresh property;
• Increase the workability without increasing the water/cement
(w/c) ratio or decrease the water content at the same
workability.

• Retard or accelerate the time of initial setting.

• Reduce or prevent the settlement or create slight expansion.

• Modify the rate or capacity of bleeding.

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• Reduce segregation.
Purpose
To modify harden property;
• Reduce the heat of evolution.

• Accelerate the rate of strength development at early stages.

• Increase the durability.

• Decrease the permeability of concrete.

• Prevent shrinkage.
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Why admixtures?
The major reasons for using admixtures in concrete are;

• To reduce the cost of concrete production

• To achieve certain properties in concrete more effectively than

by other means.

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Why admixtures?
• To maintain the quality of concrete during the stages of
mixing, transporting, placing, and curing in adverse weather
conditions.

• To overcome certain emergencies during concreting

operations.

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What are they used for?
Concrete should be;
• workable,
• finishable,
• strong,
• durable,
• watertight,
• and wear resistant.

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What are they used for?
• These qualities can often be obtained easily and economically
by the selection of suitable materials rather than by resorting
to admixtures (except air-entraining admixtures when
needed).

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What are they used for?
• Increase slump and workability
• Retard or accelerate initial setting
• Reduce or prevent shrinkage
• Modify the rate or capacity for bleeding
• Reduce segregation
• Retard or reduce heat evolution during early hardening
• Increase strength (compressive, tensile or flexural)

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What are they used for?
• Decrease permeability of concrete
• Increase bond of concrete to steel reinforcement
• Increase bond between existing and new concrete
• Improve impact and abrasion resistances (hardness)
• Inhibit corrosion of embedded metal
• Anti-washout & produce colored concrete.

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How are they applied?
• Most admixtures are supplied in a ready-to-use form and
added at plant or jobsite.

• Pigments and pumping aids are batched by hand in very small

quantities.

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• The effectiveness of an admixture depends upon factors such
as type, brand, and amount of cementing materials; water
content; aggregate shape, gradation, and proportions; mixing
time; slump; and temperature of the concrete.

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Classification of
Admixtures

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Classification of Admixtures
• Chemical Admixtures

• Mineral Admixtures

• Polymer base

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Classification of Admixtures
Mindess et al. (2003) recognized that admixture terminology is
complex and proposed a classification of concrete admixtures
into four different categories:

• Air-entraining agents (ASTM C260) that are added primarily to improve the
frost resistance of concrete
• Chemical admixtures (ASTM C494 and BS 5075) that are water-soluble
compounds added primarily to control setting and early hardening of fresh
concrete or to reduce its water requirements
• Mineral admixtures that are finely divided solids added to concrete to
improve its durability or to provide additional cementing properties (slags
and pozzolans are important categories of mineral admixtures)
• Miscellaneous admixtures, which include all those materials that do not
come under one of the foregoing categories, many of which have been 38
developed for specialized applications
Classification
• Admixtures can be classified by function
as follows:
1. Air-entraining admixtures
2. Water-reducing admixtures
3. Plasticizers
4. Accelerating admixtures
5. Retarding admixtures
6. Hydration-control admixtures
7. Corrosion inhibitors
8. Shrinkage reducers
9. Alkali-silica reactivity inhibitors
10. Coloring admixtures
11. Miscellaneous admixtures such as workability, bonding,
dampproofing, permeability reducing, grouting, gas-forming,
antiwashout, foaming, and pumping admixtures 39
Chemical Admixtures
• According to characteristics effects produced by them
chemical admixtures used are as follows:
- Plasticizers
- Super Plasticizers
- Retarders and retarding admixtures
- Accelerators and Accelerating Plasticizers
- Air-entraining admixtures

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Chemical Admixtures
• Grouting admixtures
• Air-detraining admixtures
• Gas-forming admixtures
• Corrosion inhibiting admixtures
• Shrinkage reducing admixtures
• Water or damp proofing and permeability reducing
admixtures

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Mineral Admixtures
• Cementitious
• Pozzolanic
• Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS)
• Fly ash (FA) (or Pulverized Fuel Ash, PFA)
• Silica Fume (SF)
• Rice Husk Ash

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Standards

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Specifications (EN 934-2)

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EN 934-2

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EN 934-2

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EN 934-2

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Global Suppliers

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References
• Dodson, V. H. (1990) Concrete Admixtures. 1st Ed., Springer
Science and Business Media, New York.

• Proceeding of the International RILEM Symposium. (1990)

Admixtures for Concrete. Edited by E. Vasquez., 1st Ed.,
Chapman and Hall, UK.

• Ramachandran, V.S. (1995) Concrete Admixtures Handbook.

2nd Ed., Noyes Publication, New Jersey, USA.

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