1.

3 Admixture
• Is an ingredient other than cement,
aggregates & water added to concrete in
order to achieve desired property of concrete
as required
• Can be also defined as the additives to
concrete so as to obtain the specific
requirements of concrete
• Added to concrete at the mixing stage to
modify some of properties of mix
• Is an optional ingredient & should never be
regarded as a substitute for good mix
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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
Admixtures are mainly classified into two types:
Chemical admixture & Mineral admixture
1) Chemical admixture
• Admixtures containing basic ingredients as
various chemicals
• Normally available in liquid/powder form
• Use relatively low dosage, 0.04% to 5% by wt. of
cement
• Used to increase workability, to retard or
accelerate setting time/hardening process, water
proofing etc
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 Chemical
admixtures

Mineral
admixtures

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
2) Mineral admixture
• Admixtures basically obtained from various
natural or artificial minerals
• Normally available in finely divided powder
form
• Use relatively higher dosage than chemical
admixture, 10 to 80% by wt. of cement
• Fly ash, rice husk ash, blast furnance slag,
silica fume, brick dust, stone dust are use as
admixture due to its pozzolana property

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
Various categories of chemical admixtures
available in market are:
1. Water reducing admixture
2. Retarding admixture
3. Accelerating admixture
4. Air entraining admixture
5. Water proofing admixture

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
1. Water reducing admixture
• Reduces the requirement of water for given workability
• Increases the workability of fresh concrete & mortar
without increasing water content or maintain
workability with reduced water
• Two types: Plasticizers & Super-Plasticizers
• Plasticizers can reduce water requirement upto 15%
• Super plasticizers can reduce water requirement
significantly, upto 30%. So also called High range water
reducers
• Dosage based on cement per 100Kg (e.g 200ml/100Kg
(or 2 bag) cement)
• High dose may cause excessive retardation in setting
time
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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
1. Water reducing admixture

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
1. Water reducing admixture
• e.g. various lignosulphonate normally derived from wood
products, synthetic raw materials, polyglycol ester etc

#mechanism:
 When water is added to cement, being very fine particle,
they cling together and flocculated
 Lot of water is entrapped and unavailable for workability
 Water reducing admixture induces negative charge on
cement particles
 Flocculated cement particle get dispersed by repulsion &
entrapped water becomes free & available for workability

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
1. Water reducing admixture

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
2. Retarding admixture
• Delay the setting time of cement/concrete
• It delays the hydration process but does not affect the
eventual process
• Initial setting time can be delayed more than 3 hours
• Keep concrete workable for long period giving
additional time for mixing, placing, compaction &
finishing
• Used to eliminate cold joints, to overcome unwanted
effected of high temp. & to reduce slump loss
• E.g. calcium sulphate, starch/sugar, cellulose,
lignosulphonic acid etc.

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
2. Retarding admixture

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
3. Accelerating admixture
• To accelerate the setting time & hardening
process of cement
• Normally used when fast setting and early
strength gain is desirable e.g. concrete under
water, urgent/emergency repair works, advanced
service of structure
• Used in cold climate region for rapid strength gain
• e.g. soluble carbonates, silicates & flurosilicates,
organic compounds- triethanolamine etc.
• Chloride is one of the economic accelerating
admixture, but due to corrosive action on steel its
use is limited to 0.15% for RCC
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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
4. Air entraining admixture
• Surface active agents i.e. surfactants
• They form stable micro air bubbles of very small size
ranging from 5μ to 80μ
• Used to produce air entrained concrete
• Main function of air bubbles is to break capillary structure
within concrete and to act as roller/ flexible ball bearings so
that particles in mix move freely against each other
• Improves workability of concrete without adding more
water, reduce segregation & bleeding in freshly placed
concrete
• Hardened concrete have better resistance to freezing and
thawing
• e.g. natural wood resin, water soluble soap, aluminium
powder, animal & vegetable oil etc.

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
4. Air entraining admixture

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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
5. Water proofing admixture
• Used where water impermeability is desired
• two types: i) pore filler & ii) water repellent
Pore filler:
o reduce permeability by its pore filling action
o e.g chalk, talc, silicate & aluminate powders etc
Water repellent:
o Prevents its water penetration by its water repellent
action
o e.g. resin, vegetable oils, waxes, calcium soap, soda
etc
• Mineral admixture like silica fume, flay ash & air
entraining admixture can also used to improve
impermeability of concrete
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 1.3.1 Types of Admixture
5. Water proofing admixture

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 1.3.1 Effects of Admixture
Effects on green (plastic stage) concrete
• Depending upon the types of admixture, they modify the
property of concrete in green stage
• Water reducing admixture increases the workability/
fluidity of mix
• Accelerators accelerate the hardening process while
retarders slowdown setting process of concrete
• Air entrainers entrains the minute air bubbles in
concrete, reducing negative effects of segregation &
bleeding
• Water proofing admixture reduces the penetration of
water through concrete by water repellent action &
reducing permeability of concrete
• Minerals admixtures normally reduce segregation &
bleeding of concrete, some reduces water requirement
for given workability
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 1.3.1 Effects of Admixture
Effects on hardened concrete
• +ve/-ve effects on hardened concrete
• Normally upto 3% no bad effects can be seen, but
excessive addition shows retarding effects by
surfactants in both setting time and hardening process
• Increases resistance to penetration thus durability to
chemical deterioration is enhanced
• Higher creep with high W/C ratio, but at low W/C ratio
no effect is seen
• Drying shrinkage is not very much affected, in some
cases found improved
• Mineral admixture shows improvement in durability &
transition zone character of concrete. But in some case
delay in desired strength gain occurs due to slow
hydration process
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 1.3.2 local materials as Admixtures in
Nepal
Present possibilities
1. Rice husk ash
2. Calcined clay pozzolana (brick dust/ burned clay
dust)
3. Stone dust
Future possibilities with industrial development
1. Silica fume
2. Fly as
3. Blast furnace slag
4. Various chemical admixtures
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 ASTM C494
1. Type A: water reducing admixture (plasticizer)
2. Type B: retarding admixture
3. Type C: accelerating admixture
4. Type D: (A + B): water reducing + retarding
admixture
5. Type E: (A + C): water reducing + accelerating
admixture
6. Type F: high range water reducers (HRWR/ super
plasticizers)
7. Type G: (F + B): high range water reducers &
retarding admixture
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 IS 9103: 1999
1. Accelerating admixture
2. Retarding admixture
3. Water reducing admixture
4. Air entraining admixture
5. Super plasticizing admixture
6. Water proofing admixture

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