Trade Journals for the Concrete Industry

Concrete is a complex composite that incorporates a number of ingredients – cement, water, aggregates, mineral and chemical admixtures – each with differing properties. Chemical admixtures, particularly water-reducing chemicals, have become indispensable because of their beneficial effects in fresh concrete. However, with the increasing number of cements and water-reducing chemicals available in the market, issues of incompatibility between these ingredients are also on the rise. In this context, a research project was undertaken in order to address the issues of loss of workability, excessive set retardation and poor early strength gain of concrete, which arise as a result of cement-admixture incompatibility.