New Deveopments in Shrinkage-Reducing Admixtures

Concrete is one of the most widely used construction materials in the world. In applications where appearance, durability, and permeability are of concern, reduction of cracking is a key need. A common cause of cracking is restrained drying shrinkage. Until very recently, drying shrinkage cracking has been controlled by reducing joint spacing, increasing reinforcement, and using expansive cements and admixtures. In this paper a new shrinkage-reducing admixture (SRA) is discussed. SRAs provide a convenient means of reducing drying as they are added during batching and mix easily into the concrete, The SRA material discussed in this paper improved workability and finishing as an added benefit. The effects of mixture proportioning, curing conditions, and SRA content on the long-term drying shrinkage reductions of 50% can be achieved, and that there is a significant improvement in restrained shrinkage performance. Even though the lowest absolute values for drying shrinkage occur with proper curing, there is still a substantial reduction in drying shrinkage for specimens cured for short times. It is shown that shrinkage reduction is directly related to the SRA addition rate as a percentage of the mixing water. Furthermore, data on large-scale field experiments show that substantial reduction in cracking is obtained for concretes treated with SRA.