Retarding and Water Reducing Admixtures

The addition of a water-reducing admixture to a cement suspension can be shown to disperse the agglomerates of cement particles into smaller particles [33,38, 47] and can be seen clearly in photomicrographs as shown in Fig. 1.21. Maximum dispersion occurs at a level of 0.3-0.5% by weight of calcium lignosulfonate [33, 34] which would indicate the presence at the surface of about 0.2-0.4% calcium lignosulfonate. The separation of particles results in an increase in the surface area of the system by 30-40% [33, 38], which may explain the more rapid rate of cement hydration after the initial retardation period. 

As far as the final hydration products of ordinary Portland cement are concerned, there is an indication from isothermal calorimetry [57] that there is very little difference in the presence or absence of a calcium lignosulfonate water-reducing admixture. In this work, the heat evolved per unit of water incorporated into the hydrate has been determined for two cements, with the results shown in Fig. 1.25. It can be seen that the relationship between the amount of heat evolved and the amount of water combined with the cement is maintained whether the admixture is present or not. This work also indicated that the retardation in the early stages is compensated for at later times by an acceleration. 

When a normal, accelerating, or retarding water-reducing admixture is utilized to increase the workability of a concrete mix by direct addition, it would be reasonable to assume that the extent of the effect would be markedly affected by changes in mix design parameters such as cement content, aggregate size, shape and grading, and the water-cement ratio. A study of many hundreds of results, however, indicates that this is not the case and Fig. 

It was shown earlier that aggregate types do not materially affect the performance of water-reducing admixtures. This is not true for cement and mixes containing special cements require particular care. Examples here are increased retardation with low C3A cement (for example, sulfate-resistant cement) and... 

The silica fume is said to decrease the formation of ettringite by reducing the concentration of calcium (Ca" +) and hydroxyl (OH ) ions involved in the formation of ettringite [146]. The expansion of lime-based admixtures is not affected by water-reducing admixtures to the same extent as observed for CSA-based admixtures. However, set retardation may result due to the increased amounts of calcium hydroxide produced in the presence of the WRA. 

Tuthill, L.H., Adams, R.F. and Hemme, J.M. Jr. (1960). Water Reducing Admixtures and Retarding Admixtures, ASTM Special Technical Publication No. 266, Philadelphia, 101-8. 

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