Effect of an admixture on the physical properties of concrete

EFFECT OF AN ADMIXTURE ON THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE (M.Sc. Thesis) Hüseyin Yılmaz ARUNTAŞ GAZI UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY June 1988 ABSTRACT In this study, the effect of an admixture on the phy sical and mechanical properties of concrete has been in vestigated. A super fluidifer called "Sikament" was used as an admixture and the change in compressive and tensile strengths and workability of concrete were closely obser ved. During the tests the amount of admixtures were incre ased gradualy by keeping the w/c ratio constant in the first set and then varying the w/c ratio in the second set. Half of 15x30 cm cylinder specimens were cured whereas the rema ining half were treated under existing atmospheric conditi ons. The resets of the study have shown that, the workabi lity of the concrete increases by 129-243 % when w/c ratio is kept constant and 29-114 % if w/c ratio is lowered. "Si- kament" seems to influence the compressive strength of conc rete adversely for specimens having constant w/c ratios. It was found out that, exclusive of curing conditions, "Si- kament" decreases the compressive strength of concrete by 2-39 % for constant w/c ratio specimens. For specimens ha ving low w/c values, "Sikament" added 19-54 % extra comp ressive strength both for cured and atmosphere exposed spe cimens. "Slkament" as an admixture improved the tensile properties of concrete. An increase of 10-26 % in tensile strength were achieved for concrete specimens having low w/c ratios. Ill