ABSTRACT
It is not necessary here to devote a chapter to the use of admixtures in general. The interaction between Portland cement and most admixtures has already been thoroughly treated from both a theoretical and practical point of view in various specialized books, such as Dodson (1990), Rixom and Mailvaganam (1999), and many others. Admixtures such as air entraining agents, water reducers, accelerators, and retarders will continue to be used as they have been for many years in normal strength concrete without any changes. But this is not the case for superplasticizers. This chapter will thus be devoted exclusively to superplasticizers because:
• they are key components of durable and sustainable concrete; • their behaviour in blended cements has not been studied thoroughly
(Saric-Coric, 2001; Roberts and Taylor, 2007; Bédard, 2005); and • the new family of polycarboxylates is still (2011) in development.
