From the course: Construction Management: Concrete Construction
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Introduction to chemical admixtures
From the course: Construction Management: Concrete Construction
Introduction to chemical admixtures
- We just finished talking about pozzolans, and we also called these materials mineral admixtures. And in the examples I discussed, we really used these mineral admixtures to replace some of the cement in our concrete mix. Now I wanna take a look at chemical admixtures, and we're gonna say that chemical admixtures are things we put in the concrete that are in addition to our cement, our water, and our aggregates. And we can add these chemicals before, during, or after mixing, and we use them to alter some of the properties of the concrete. Now these chemicals can be liquids or they can be powders, and they can be used to do things like alter the concrete in its plastic state, or alter the concrete in its future hardened state. Now, the primary reason I would wanna add chemicals to my concrete mix, would be to improve cost or constructibility on a project. And I can do this by adding chemicals designed to make the concrete easier to work with. For example, I can speed up the hydration…