Tuesday, June 18, 2013

General Uses Of Concrete Plasticizer

By Margarita Joseph


Plasticizers, also known as dispersants, are a wide variety of chemicals used to intensify the plasticity of various materials. These materials include clays, concretes and other similar substances. The chemicals are used to enhance the characteristics of the material. While certain additives help to prevent the brittleness of dried paint, a concrete plasticizer is used to improve the workability of this material.

When used with cement, the chemicals are often called water reducers. A few are also known as superplasticizers, or high range water reducers. They are slightly different in composition to usual plasticizers, but ultimately serve the same purpose. One specific purpose is to lessen the water content within the cement mix so that it becomes a stronger substance.

It is important to use the correct amount of dispersant, as too little will be ineffective, and too much could have a negative effect on the cement, retarding its function. It is recommended to use between one and two percent dispersant per unit weight. This should result in a good that is workable, but strong.

Common water reducers are made from pop lignosulfonate, which is a by-product from the manufacture of paper. The traditional reducers made from lignosulfonate disperse separate the flocculated particles of cement by a process of electrostatic repulsion. In normal plasticizing circumstances, the active materials move towards the cement particles. This creates a negative charge around them, leading to repulsion between the particles.

A water reducer comes with a number of benefits when mixed with the material. You get high quality workable mixture using low doses of the reducer and at minimal workmanship. It also extends slump life for your mixture. A reducer provides good workability without having to increase the amount of water in your mixture. Educed water quantity therefore saves on money. It also improves on durability, pump ability as well as the mechanical properties of the mixture such as tensile strength, compression and flexibility.

A reducer also cuts down the chances of cracks and shrinkage. They also improve adhesion and reinforcement when the mixture works with pre-stressed steel. Mixing also helps to cut permeability of the material, which is also less noisy when working with, through fast agitation at the work site. It also increases the segregation resistance of the material that results to a closely packed mixture. Other limitations including bug holes and high slump bleedings are also reduced.

Within the construction industry, water reducers have many benefits, mainly because this is the type of industry where concretes are most often used. The buildings developed are much stronger, and the work completed is of a much higher quality. Since that the cement is now of a more flexible and free-flowing nature, it is much easier to apply, and is much more effective in its application.

A concrete plasticizer can be purchased from a wide variety of retail outlets, which can be found online or offline. They can be stored for about twelve months, but the directions on their label should be followed. Their instructions should also be read in terms of usage and measurements, and how the product should be washed off in case it has had contact with the skin.




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