Module 4

Admixture
Definition
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 is a material which is added at the time of grinding cement clinker at the cement
factory.
Uses
The following are some of the most important purposes for which admixtures are used:
● Improved workability without increasing water content or decrease water content at the
same workability level.
● Accelerated time of initial setting.
● Decreases of prevent settlement.
● Modify the rate or capacity for bleeding.
● Reduce segregation.
● Enhance pumpability.
● Decrease the rate of slump loss.
● Increase bond of concrete to steel reinforcement.
● Increase bond between existing and new concrete.
● Improve impact resistance and abrasion resistance.
● Inhibit corrosion of embedded metal.
● Produce colored concrete or mortar
Classification of admixtures
Plasticizers
Superplasticizers
Retarders and Retarding Plasticizers
Accelerators and Accelerating
Plasticizers Air-entraining
Admixtures
Pozzolanic or Mineral Admixtures
Damp-proofing and Waterproofing
Admixtures Gas forming Admixtures
Air-detraining Admixtures
Alkali-aggregate Expansion Inhibiting
Admixtures Workability Admixtures
Grouting Admixtures
Corrosion Inhibiting
Admixtures Bonding
Admixtures
Fungicidal, Germicidal, Insecticidal
Admixtures Colouring Admixtures

1. Plasticizers (Water Reducers)

These plasticizers can help the difficult conditions for obtaining higher workability without
using excess of water.
The plasticized concrete will improve the desirable qualities demanded of plastic concrete.
The organic substances or combinations 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.
The basic products constituting plasticizers are as follows:
(i) Anionic surfactants such as lignosulphonates and their modifications and
derivatives, salts of sulphonates hydrocarbons.
(ii) Nonionic surfactants, such as polyglycol esters, acid of hydroxylated
carboxylic acids and their modifications and derivatives.
(iii) Other products, such as carbohydrates etc.
Among these, calcium, sodium and ammonium lignosulphonates are the most used.
Plasticizers are used in the amount of 0.1% to 0.4% by weight of cement.At these doses, at
constant workability the reduction in mixing water is expected to be of the order of 5% to
15%.This naturally increases the strength.The increase in workability that can be expected, at
the same w/c ratio, may be anything from 30 mm to 150 mm slump, depending on the dosage,
initial slump of concrete, cement content and type.
One of the common chemicals generally used, as mentioned above is Lignosulphonic acid
in the form of either its calcium or sodium salt.
Action of Plasticizers
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.
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.

2. Superplasticizers (High Range Water Reducers)

Superplasticizers constitute a relatively new category and improved version of
plasticizer. They are chemically different from normal plasticiszers.
Use of superplasticizers permit the reduction of water to the extent upto 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 levelling,
self compacting and for the production of high strength and high performance concrete.
the superplasticizers are more powerful as dispersing agents and they are high range water
reducers.
It is the use of superplasticizer which has made it possible to use w/c as low as 0.25
or even lower and yet to make flowing concrete to obtain strength of the order 120
Mpa or more.
Superplasticizers can produce:
1) at the same w/c ratio much more workable concrete than the plain ones.
2) for the same workability, it permits the use of lower w/c ratio.
3) as a consequence of increased strength with lower w/c ratio, it also permits a
reduction of cement content.
4) The superplasticizers also produce a homogeneous, cohesive concrete generally
without any tendency for segregation and bleeding.
Classification of Superplasticizer
Following are a few polymers which are commonly used as base for
superplasticizers. Sulphonated malanie-formaldehyde condensates (SMF)
Sulphonated naphthalene-formaldehyde condensates (SNF)
Modified lignosulphonates (MLS)
 Other types in addition to the above, in other countries the following new generation
superplasticizers are also used.
Acrylic polymer based (AP)
Copolymer of carboxylic acrylic acid with acrylic ester
(CAE) Cross linked acrylic polymer (CLAP)
Polycarboxylate ester (PC)
Multicarboxylatethers (MCE)
Combinations of above

3. Bonding Admixture
Bonding admixtures are water emulsions of several organic materials that are mixed with
cement or mortar grout for application to an old concrete surface just prior to patching with
mortar or concrete. Sometimes they are mixed with the topping or patching material. Their
function is to increase the bond strength between the old and new concrete. This procedure is
used in patching of eroded or spalled concrete or to add relatively thin layers of resurfacing.
The commonly used bonding admixtures are made from natural rubber, synthetic rubber or
from any organic polymers. The polymers include polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate etc.
Bonding admixtures fall into two general categories, namely, re-emulsifiable types and non-
re-emulsifiable types. The latter is better suited for external application since it is resistant to
water.
These emulsions are generally added to the mixture in proportions of 5 to 20 per cent by weight
of cement. Bonding admixtures usually cause entrainment of air and a sticky consistency in a
grout mixtures. They are effective only on clean and sound surfaces.

Mix design of concrete

Target mean strength for mix design: The target mean compressive ( fck ) strength at
28 days is given by
f’ck = fck + 1.65 S
or
f’ck = fck + X
whichever is higher.
where
f’ck = target mean compressive strength at 28 days, in N/mm2;
fck = characteristic compressive strength at 28days, in N/mm2;
S = standard deviation, in N/mm2 (see 4.2.1); and
X = factor based on the grade of concrete, as per Table 1.
Selection of Water/Cement ratio
The preliminary free water-cement ratio (by mass) (w/c) corresponding to the compressive
strength at 28 days may be selected from the relationship shown in Fig. for the expected 28
days strength of cement.

The water-cement ratio selected shall be checked against the limiting water-cement ratio for
the requirements of durability and the lower of the two values adopted.
Estimation of Air Content
Approximate amount of entrapped air to be expected in normal (non-air-entrained) concrete
is given in Table 3.

Selection of Water Content and Admixture Content

The quantity of mixing water per unit volume of concrete may be determined from Table 4.
The water content in Table 4 is for angular coarse aggregate and for 50 mm slump.
The water estimate in Table 4 can be reduced by approximately 10 kg for sub-angular
aggregates, 15 kg for gravel with some crushed particles and 20 kg for rounded gravel to
produce same workability.
For the desired workability (other than 50 mm slump), the required water content may be
increased or decreased by about 3 percent for each increase or decrease of 25 mm slump.
The water so calculated can be reduced by use of chemical admixture. Water reducing
admixture or super plasticizing admixtures usually decrease water content by 5 to 10 percent
and 20 to 30 percent and above respectively
Calculation of Cement/Cementitious Materials Content
The cement and supplementary cementitious materials content per unit volume of concrete
may be calculated from the free water-cement ratio and the quantity of water per unit volume
of concrete. The maximum cement content shall be in accordance with IS 456
Estimation of Coarse Aggregate Proportion
Aggregates of essentially the same nominal maximum size, type and grading will produce
concrete of satisfactory workability when a given volume of coarse aggregate per unit volume
of total aggregate is used. Approximate values for this aggregate volume are given in Table 5
for a water-cement/water cementitious materials ratio of 0.5, which may be suitably adjusted
for other ratios, the proportion of volume of coarse aggregates to that of total aggregates is
increased at the rate of 0.01 for every decrease in water-cement/cementitious materials ratio by
0.05 and decreased at the rate of 0.01 for every increase in watercement ratio by 0.05.

Estimation of Fine and Coarse Aggregate Contents

With the completion of procedure given, all the ingredients have been estimated except the
coarse and fine aggregate content. These quantities are determined by finding out the absolute
volume of cementitious materials, water and the chemical admixture; by dividing their mass
by their respective specific gravity, multiplying by 1/1 000 and subtracting the result of their
summation from unit volume (excluding the volume of entrapped air). The values so obtained
are divided into coarse and fine aggregate fractions by volume in accordance with coarse
aggregate proportion already determined. The coarse and fine aggregate contents are then
determined by multiplying their volume with their respective specific gravities and multiplying
by 1000.

Special Concrete:
Fibre reinforced concrete:
Plain concrete possesses a very low tensile strength, limited ductility and little resistance to
cracking.
Fibre reinforced concrete can be defined as a composite material consisting of mixtures of
cement, mortar or concrete and discontinuous, discrete, uniformly dispersed suitable fibres.
Continuous meshes, woven fabrics and long wires or rods are not considered to be discrete
fibres.
Fibres Used
Fibre is a small piece of reinforcing material possessing certain characteristic properties. They
can be circular or flat. The aspect ratio of the fibre is the ratio of its length to its diameter.
Typical aspect ratio ranges from 30 to 150.
● Steel fibre is one of the most commonly used fibre. Generally, round fibres are used.
The diameter may vary from 0.25 to 0.75 mm. The steel fibre is likely to get rusted and
lose some of its strengths. It has been extensively used in various types of structures,
particularly for overlays of roads, airfield pavements and bridge decks. Thin shells and
plates have also been constructed using steel fibres.
● Polypropylene and nylon fibres are found to be suitable to increase the impact strength.
 They possess very high tensile strength.
● Asbestos is a mineral fibre and has proved to be most successful of all fibres as it can
be mixed with Portland cement. Tensile strength of asbestos varies between 560 to 980
N/mm2.
● For unimportant fibre concrete, organic fibres like coir, jute, canesplits are also used.
● Glass fibre is a recent introduction in making fibre concrete. It has very high tensile
strength 1020 to 4080 N/mm2. Glass fibre which is originally used in conjunction
with cement was found to be effected by alkaline condition of cement.
● Carbon fibres perhaps posses very high tensile strength 2110 to 2815 N/mm2 The use
of carbon fibres for structures like clading, panels and shells will have promising
future.
The typical proportions for fibre reinforced concrete is given below:
Cement content : 325 to 550 kg/m3
W/C Ratio : 0.4 to 0.6
Percentage of sand to total aggregate : 50 to 100 per cent
Maximum Aggregate Size : 10 mm
Air-content : 6 to 9 per cent
Fibre content : 0.5 to 2.5 per cent by volume of mix
: Steel —1 per cent 78 kg/m3
: Glass —1 per cent 25 kg/m3
: Nylon —1 per cent 11 kg/m3
Applications
⮚ Fibre reinforced concrete is increasingly used on account of the advantages of increased
static and dynamic tensile strength, energy absorbing characteristics and better fatigue
strength.
⮚ Fibre reinforced concrete has been tried on overlays of air-field, road pavements,
industrial floorings, bridge decks, canal lining,explosive resistant structures, refractory
linings etc.
⮚ The fibre reinforced concrete can also be used for the fabrication of precast products
like pipes, boats, beams, stair case steps, wall panels, roof panels, manhole covers etc...
⮚ Fibre reinforced concrete in also being tried for the manufacture of prefabricated
formwork moulds of “U” shape for castinglintels and small beams.

Polymer Concrete
Polymer concrete is part of group of concretes that use polymers to supplement or replace
cement as a binder. The types include polymer-impregnated concrete, polymer concrete, and
polymer-Portland-cement concrete.
⮚ In polymer concrete, thermosetting resins are used as the principal polymer
component due to their high thermal stability and resistance to a wide variety of
chemicals.
⮚ Polymer concrete is also composed of aggregates that include silica, quartz, granite,
limestone, and other high quality material.
⮚ Polymer concrete may be used for new construction or repairing of old concrete.
⮚ The low permeability and corrosive resistance of polymer concrete allows it to be used
in swimming pools, sewer structure applications, drainage channels, electrolytic cells
for base metal recovery, and other structures that contain liquids or corrosive chemicals.
⮚ It is especially suited to the construction and rehabilitation of manholes due to their
ability to withstand toxic and corrosive sewer gases and bacteria commonly found in
sewer systems.
 ⮚ It can also be used as a replacement for asphalt pavement, for higher durability and
higher strength.
⮚ Polymer concrete has historically not been widely adopted due to the high costs and
difficulty associated with traditional manufacturing techniques.

Self-compacting concrete
Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is an innovative concrete that does not require vibration for
placing and compaction. It is able to flow under its own weight, completely filling formwork
and achieving full compaction, even in the presence of congested reinforcement.
The hardened concrete is dense, homogeneous and has the same engineering properties and
durability as traditional vibrated concrete.
Very close to the Kolhapur there is project of steel industry, sand used for the formation of
mould when the moulds are opened the waste sand is dumped for the filling the low lying areas
while doing this the agriculture areas is converted into barren area. Because there is no space
for the waste other than the land filling. similar case is in case of aluminum industry where red
mud is concluded to be waste, which contains lot amount of bauxite and that is why red mud
is also dump in the nearby areas here it is causing big threat for the society and it is disturbing
the eco system of the environment. So it is the need to use this particular otherwise waste
material for the constructive in such fashion in the case of concrete so that concrete which
became cost effective as well aseco- friendly.
Types:
1. Powder type of self-compacting concrete: This is proportioned to give the required self-
compatibility by reducing the water-powder ratio and provide adequate segregation resistance.
2. Viscosity agent type self-compacting concrete: This type is proportioned to provide self-
compaction by the use of viscosity modifying admixture to provide segregation resistance.
3. Combination type self-compacting concrete: This type is proportioned so as to obtain self-
compatibility mainly by reducing the water powderratio.

Fresh SCC Properties

1. Filling ability (excellent deformability)
2. Passing ability (ability to pass reinforcement without blocking)
3. High resistance to segregation.
• It has been observed that the compressive strength of self-compacting concrete produced
with the combination of admixtures goes on increasing up to 2% addition of redmud.
• After 2% addition of red mud, the compressive strength starts decreasing, i.e. the
compressive strength of self-compacting concrete produced is maximum when 2% red mud is
added.
The percentage increase in the compressive strength at 2% addition of red mud is +9.11 .

Ready mixed concrete (RMC)

Ready mixed concrete (RMC) is a concrete, delivered at site or into the purchaser's vehicle,
in plastic condition and requires no further treatment before being placed in a position in which
it is to set and harden.
It is a high quality concrete of required grade produced under strictly controlled conditions in
a centralised automatic batching plant and supplied to the customer in a transit mixer truck for
its placement at site. The concrete can be mixed either dry at the batching plant, loaded into
agitator truck mixers and water added during transportation; or it can be mixed wet at the
batching plant, discharged into the agitator truck mixers and transported to site.
Admixtures of RMC
 Generally RMC is transported to sites which are located at long distances from the batching
plants. At the delivery point, concrete should be workable and plastic. The transit period is
sometimes four to five hours. The ordinary concrete will suffer slump loss due to the time lost
in transit and evaporation of water due to atmospheric conditions such as high temperature.
Therefore, admixtures will be required to extend the setting time and, retention of specified
slump of concrete. Superplasticizers are, therefore, used to assure quality, workability, and
strength of ready mixed concrete. Two types of admixtures are in use-the high performance
water reducing admixtures and a high range water-reducing super-plasticizers. High
performance water reducing admixtures have been specially designed to retain workability
even in high ambient temperature. The examples are conplast RMC P 333 and conplast RMC
P 505. The advantages of using high performance water reducing admixtures are:
1. Improved cohesion and reduced bleeding and segregation.
2. Makes the mix cohesive even if the aggregates are of slightly poor grading.
3. Since chloride free it is safe for use in reinforced and prestressed concrete.
4. Improved workability and workability retention with controlled extended setting time and
hence ideal for use in hot weather condition.
5. Workability increases without extra water addition.
6. Assists in producing dense, close textured, low permeability concrete thus enhancing
durability.
7. Water reduction helps in improvement of compressive strength at all ages.
Advantages of RMC
1. Enhanced quality and durability resulting in lower maintenance costs and increased speed of
construction.
2. Ready mix concrete is consistently of the same quality and provides a high quality of
construction material; construction time is also reduced.
3. It reduces congestion at the site and prevents traffic jams.
4. It hastens infrastructure development and thus provides more employment opportunities.
5. It is an environmentally safer alternative.
6. With ready mixed concrete, modern construction techniques can be followed.
7. Convenience-Ready Mix Concrete is delivered at the site with minimum logistical hassles.
8. Different types of concretes can be made for different applications.
9. Use of RMC obviates the need to set up the infrastructure required for site manufactures of
concrete. This also reduces the working capital to be invested by the customers, as they will
not be required to maintain stock of aggregates, cement, plant and machinery etc.

Non Destructive Testing

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is a testing and analysis technique used by industry to evaluate
the properties of a material, component, structure or system for characteristic differences or
welding defects and discontinuities without causing damage to the original part.
Non-destructive testing refers to the use of testing techniques that do not alter any of the
properties of the tested product. These properties could be its strength, integrity, appearance,
corrosion resistance, conductivity, wear resistance, toughness and so on.
Ultra Sonic Pulse Velocity Method
Ultrasonic testing remains the most popular nondestructive testing method.
 In this method, a high-frequency sound wave generated by a transmitter travels through the
object under test.

Rebound Hammer Test:

It is also known as surface hardness test.