Sika ViscoCrete Technology

Sika ViscoCrete Technology

...will change your construction durability dramatically!

The Venetian, Macau, China

Woodrow Wilson Bridge, Washington, USA

The Bergisel Jumping Stadium, Innsbruck, Austria

Concrete Technology
Signicant water content reduction results in enhanced durability properties of the hardened concrete

The engineering of concrete structures is a continuous developmental process. Invention and development of new construction methods place ever higher demands on building materials. Concrete producers face this technological challenge daily alongside other factors such as economy, ecology, raw material and energy costs as well as increased logistical complexity. In the duration of the whole construction process time itself also becomes an increasingly important factor. Sika ViscoCrete technology brings several innovative options to concrete mix design. A major characteristic is the capability to substantially reduce the water content of a mix. Achievement of lower water / cement ratios results in dramatically enhanced durability, induced by remarkably low concrete permeability. Application of more economical mix designs is another option, with optimizations yielding more ecological and resource-friendly mixes at constant concrete quality. Sika ViscoCrete technology responds to the current trend to use owable concrete types. The trend demands new admixture technologies, and Sika ViscoCrete offers solutions for production of owable concrete types for ready mix, onsite production and for the precast concrete industry. The target is to produce concrete with high owability sufcient for a period of time and with no negative side

effects. Extended workability, controlled over several hours and without retardation is especially important for urban construction sites with congested trafc, or in remote areas resulting in long transportation times. Sika ViscoCrete technology also meets the challenge of ensuring target consistency in a concrete mix in high-temperature climates. Strength gain is a present and continuous challenge in concrete technology and the construction business. All participants in the construction process desire achievement of sufcient early strength to allow formwork removal as quickly as possible, whether on construction sites or in production of precast concrete. In industrialized precast concrete production, early strength development is crucial because it inuences the entire production process. High early strength development in concrete results in fast turnaround of formwork in a precast factory, in reduced or omitted heat or steam curing, more economical and ecological concrete mix designs, and earlier cutting of prestressing tendons.

Improved durability with low capillary porosity As durability and sustainability of constructions become more important, these properties must be considered in design of concrete. The water/ cement ratio has a crucial inuence on the impermeability of any concrete matrix. Application of Sika ViscoCrete can dramatically increase impermeability.

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capillar porosity

bility ura c ratio d ved w w/ pro o a lo m i et du

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water/cement ratio

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Enhanced strength due to lower water/ cement ratio Water / cement ratio and obtainable compressive strength stand in a materially factual relation. The water/cement ratio is therefore the decisive factor inuencing strength gain. Because of this relation, any strength increase in fresh concrete leads to reduced workability without addition of an admixture. On the other hand, targeting easy owability of fresh concrete through addition of water consequently reduces compressive strength, and risking the durability of the hardened concrete.

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Sika ViscoCrete surmounts natural limits With the application of Sika ViscoCrete it is possible to produce concrete which reaches substantially higher strength classes by reducing the water/ cement ratio at a dened owability (1). Furthermore the design and production of a more owable concrete at constant compressive strength can be realized with Sika ViscoCrete (2). Last but no least with the Sika ViscoCrete technology it is possible to target both effects simultaneously: higher strength in conjunction with improved fresh concrete behavior (3).

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ViscoCrete-Zone

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Overview

Sika ViscoCrete Technology

Polymer and Product Technology

Low water reduction

High water reduction

Modied Polycarboxylates

SikaPlast
Ligno Sulphonates Gluconates
OOOO-

Sika ViscoCrete

Naphtaline/Melamines

Vinyl copolymers
+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Traditional Technologies

OOOO-

+ +

+ ++ + +

++

Plastocrete

Plastiment

Sikament

Sikament

Sika ViscoCrete Polymer Technology

Characteristics and Advantages of Polycarboxylate Ether Technology (PCE) The major characteristic of polycarboxylate ether-based superplasticizer technology is their targeted polymer design to achieve specic concrete properties. Characteristics that can be inuenced are: Adsorption speed Water reduction with high initial liquefaction/workability  Slump retention without retardation and subsequent fast strength development  Early strength development with sufcient workability time  Stickiness  Stability/viscosity Various combinations of these properties can be optimized. The polymers consist of backbones with carboxyl groups and side chains. The rst component backbone with carboxyl groups is responsible for the attainable water reduction/initial slump and mixing time respectively. The second one side chains determines the slump keeping capability of the superplasticizer, affected by an increasing number of side chains. The crucial factor is the limited space for carboxyl groups and side chains along the backbone. Either a carboxyl group or side chain can be attached at a certain location. This leads to the technological limitation that there are essentially three different types of polymers water reducing, slump controlling and slump retention polymers.

Polymer Structure PCE

Side chains

Backbone

Interaction Polymer/Cement

Water reduction

Adsorption of the polymer (backbone) on the cement grain.

Detail of the adsorption of the polymer (backbone) on the cement grain.

Improved workability due to steric hindrance.

Detail of improved workability due to steric hindrance.

Workability

Mutual attraction of cement grains.

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Sika ViscoCrete Product Technology

It is possible to design a PCE with a large number of carboxyl groups and consequently low number of side chains, leading to short mixing time with high water reduction and shorter slump life of the concrete-water reducing polymer. Another possibility is to have a balanced ratio between carboxyl groups and side chains with an average/medium length. The result is a medium water reduction with subsequent adsorption resulting in a delayed dispersion effect. A polymer so congured could be employed for slump controlling. The third variation could be to have a large number of side chains resulting in lower water reduction and longer slump life. Moreover the adsorption speed of this polymer would be slow and a certain depot effect would result; an extended slump retention would be achieved with this polymer.

Key-Performance Drivers: Slump life Water reduction Early strength Workability Raw Material Characteristics: Cement Aggregates Additives

high water reduction

Water Reducing ViscoCrete Polymers Slump Controling ViscoCrete Polymers

SCC for Precast Concrete for Tunnel Inner Lining

Slump Retention ViscoCrete Polymers low water reduction

Regular Ready Mix Concrete low early strength time

time

The Sika ViscoCrete technology offers more than the possibility to design PCE polymers with specic properties. It enables combination of various polymers to exploit the potential of each one. This compatibility is a major advantage of Sika ViscoCrete technology: tailor made solutions can be developed and adapted to the performance of the concrete mix. Moreover nal products can be optimized with regard to local market requirements to yield the best cost-performance solution.

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low slump

high early strength

high slump

Individual Solutions for Superplasticizers:

Requirements and Applications

A highly owable concrete helps simplify the entire construction process

Requirements The specication of a certain compressive strength of the hardened concrete usually ensures the functionality of a standard. Durability and lifetime as increasingly important factors, on the other hand, are determined by minimum cement content and maximum water/cement ratio. These two factors, which inuence strength and durability decisively, are normally associated with a workability of fresh concrete sufciently adjusted through application of a superplasticizer. The speed of the whole construction process is gaining importance, because uid concrete implies:  Fast casting  Fast discharge of mixer and truck  Easy placing and compaction  Good surface nish, which results in overall reduced effort and time saving. This factor leads to rising requirements regarding: Early strength development with sufcient slump life   Fast stripping time with efcient formwork operation  Cost control of material, energy, logistics and manpower.

Concrete with sufcient workability from batching plant to compaction leads to higher quality, as there is no need for redosage of superplasticizer. The durability is increased as the probability of defects and blowholes is signicantly reduced. Sustainability of concrete structures does not only imply prolonging the durability of concrete and with this the service life of a construction. Moreover engineers involved in the design of concrete have to take into consideration the carbon footprint of the production of a concrete mix. The limitation of carbon dioxide emission for the production of concrete can be realized with the following measures:  Optimization of binder content  Application of blended cement  Usage of secondary cementitious material  Increased application of ller Use of recycled aggregates In order to produce concrete that is as resource-friendly as possible while fullling all technological requirements, it is necessary to make use of sophisticated superplasticizer technology. The use of Sika ViscoCrete as a high performance superplasticizer based on PCE technology is virtually mandatory to target higher strength classes, fresh concrete with greater owability, and sustainable concrete production.

Applications The Sika ViscoCrete technology offers solutions for all application elds within the concrete industry ready mixed concrete, precast concrete or site-batched concrete. Sika ViscoCrete achieves the ideal solution for your concrete challenge. Various construction process participants may have different requirements depending on their daily focus. Sika ViscoCrete adapts to these demands.

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Owner
Requirements An owner who enlists a designer to develop a structure focuses initially on the investment and maintenance cost in combination with the speed of construction.

Designer
Requirements A concrete construction designer is constantly looking for new construction methods and technological possibilities in order to make full use of all different material properties leading to cost efcient and timely construction. Furthermore importance is attached to: Appearance and aesthetics; these are the designers calling card Prevention of cracks, especially due to shrinkage Resource friendly design methods Ecologically sustainable building materials High concrete quality offering high durability with low maintenance

Contractor
Requirements In the construction process the contractor carries out the last part of this process onsite; it should be as easy, fast, safe and cost efcient as possible. Therefore the contractor has highest interest in concrete properties directly inuencing the construction process. This direct link means:  Sufcient workability offering easy and fast placing and compaction  Constant fresh concrete properties even in different ambient conditions, e.g. high temperatures  Time saving  Short stripping times and fast turnaround of formwork  Greatly improved working conditions

This implies: High concrete durability and quality Slender dimensions of structural members Aesthetics with fair faced concrete appearance Application of innovative fast construction methods

Solutions To achieve the aims listed, a technological challenge will be powerful water reduction in the concrete mix; this will result in increased impermeability leading to higher quality and durability. Sika ViscoCrete technology offers this as well as: High Strength Concrete and Ultra High Strength concrete Fair-faced concrete with outstanding owability Resource friendly building materials, i.e. optimized concrete mix  Self Compacting Concrete for slender structures and fast construction process

Solutions The ability to resist the ingress of pollutants enhances the durability of concrete, thereby guaranteeing the engineering properties of the concrete structure for an extended period. The Sika ViscoCrete technology offers solutions for this challenge including:  Impermeability of the hardened concrete facilitated by outstanding water reducing capability Signicant shrinkage crack reduction Excellent owability producing smooth, dense surfaces Development of cost efcient, sustainable concrete mixes  Design of watertight concrete, and frost and freeze/thaw resistant concrete

Solutions The vital property of sufcient workability can be achieved with Sika ViscoCrete technology; it offers high liquefaction power, extending workability with no retardation effects. Moreover this technology offers:  Installation with necessary owability and subsequent fast early strength development  Water reduction enabling economical mix designs  Fast construction process with pumpable concrete  Self Compacting Concrete offering fastest installation rates, easy handling and omission of vibration work

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Sustainability and Cost Optimization

The production of resource friendly concrete mixes is becoming more and more important
The design of concrete is more than merely a technical issue; it inevitably also deals with nding cost-efcient raw materials and developing ecologically friendly concrete mix designs. Concrete, as a vecomponent material, offers numerous parameters for change and thus for inuencing concrete performance in the fresh or hardened state. Additionally the interaction of all materials used as well as the demand to take ecological issues more and more into consideration makes the design of concrete a daily challenge. In the past the driving factor for concrete mix design was to develop a concrete mix that complies with standards and fullls the requirements at minimum cost. With changing ecological specications and restrictions the production of resource friendly concrete mixes is becoming more and more important, and with this the sustainable use of raw materials is needed. But this aim does not only refer to optimized use of binder, it is also essential to question all constituent materials incorporated in the mix.

Example sand replacement in Ready Mix Concrete, Ireland Natural sands from glacial deposits in Ireland are becoming scarce; it is thus difcult to receive permission to extract natural sands. Consequently concrete plants have to source sand from a number of locations, and therefore variations in material characteristics can occur. Besides that many ready mix concrete plants are located in or near rock quarries where dust (crushed rock nes) is a by-product of the aggregate production process. The use of stone dust material is therefore a reasonable approach although undesirable properties can be the consequence. The ne aggregate causes unsmooth grading curve, irregular particle shape and excess ne fraction, which leads to increased water demand as well as poor placing and nishing characteristics of the concrete. To compensate for this, the application of a high quality, sophisticated superplasticizer balances increased water demand and enhances rheology to improve placing and nishing characteristics. In this specic example the natural sand should be changed to crushed sand. The target was to achieve equal fresh concrete behaviour regarding workability as well as nishing and hardened concrete properties concerning compressive strength and durability respectively. These challenging technological requirements could be fullled with the application of Sika ViscoCrete-10, in detail the resulting hardened concrete compressive strengths are indicated in the table below. Replacement of natural sand by crushed rock nes Strenght Class 25 MPa 30 MPa 35 MPa 40 MPa 50% 41 43 53 62.5 100% 41 43 52.5 57

Compressive strength in N/mm with sand replacement in %

With half the price for the crushed sand compared to the natural sand the saving potential per cubic meter concrete is as follows: Sand Cost Crushed Sand Cost Consumption Savings Additional admixture costs Nett Savings 9.00 per tonne 4.50 per tonne 0.75 tonnes per cubic metre concrete 3.38 per m concrete 1.15 per m concrete 2.23 per m

In order to keep the required fresh and hardened concrete properties it was necessary to use the high performance superplasticizer Sika ViscoCrete-10. This led to some additional cost for the admixture which was more than compensated by the huge savings resulting from the more cost-efcient crushed sand.

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References

Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland

Project The Gotthard Railway Tunnel is 57 km long and consists of two single line tubes which are connected every 325 meters. The system of all tunnels, access tunnels and connections has a total length of 153.5 kilometres. The project is subdivided into ve sections and the opening is planned for 2017. Requirements Due to the logistics onsite and the long transportation distance a good workable concrete up to 7 hours is needed. To follow the pace of TBM a fast setting after placing the concrete is required. In addition to these main tasks, the concrete should be not too sensitive to the hot climate and the aggregates fabricated from the excavated tunnel material. Overall a service life of 100 years is requested. Sika ViscoCrete Solution Sika is active in 3 of the 5 sections in the Gotthard Base Tunnel Project. With a supply of more than 5000 tons Sika ViscoCrete customized superplasticizers the high requirements regarding fresh and hardened concrete characteristics can be fullled. The Sika ViscoCrete-Technology is used for various applications:  Long time retarded Shotcrete  Concrete for Innerliner with extended workability time and high early strength development  Invert concrete with extended workability time and high early strength development

Freedom Tower, USA

Project The Freedom Tower is a high-rise building project being erected on the location of Ground Zero, where the World Trade Centre was located until its destruction on September 11, 2001. The total height of the building is projected to reach 1776 feet, which is equal to 514 m, and represents the year of declaration of US independence. The construction time is scheduled from 2006 2013 and after its completion the 114 oors will offer a total space of 250000 m. The overall concrete volume amounts to 230000 m, whereas the superstructure consists of 190000 m concrete being installed within 4 5 years. Requirements Several different high strength concrete types are needed to full the changing requirements with increasing construction height. Concrete installed at the bottom in the rst ve oors has to reach a compressive strength of 96 MPa and as the building progresses the mix design will be altered for lower compressive strength to 83 MPa, 70 MPa and 60 MPa, respectively. Due to the complicated and intricate reinforcement the application of self-compacting concrete is mandatory with a very low water/cement ratio of 0.27, which is necessary to reach the target high compressive strength. Sika ViscoCrete Solution The Sika solution to the challenging fresh and hardened concrete requirements is the use of Sika ViscoCrete-2100. With its substantial water reducing capability the requested high owability of the fresh concrete can be ensured at a water/cement ratio of 0.27. With the Sika ViscoCrete-Technology it is possible to reach a slump ow spread of 700 mm, which can be maintained for more than one hour.

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Metro Shanghai, China

Project The Metro Shanghai is a 13.5 billion infrastructure project with a total of 300 km of tunnel constructed with Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM). The project is scheduled to be completed in 2010 when the Expo will take place in Shanghai. This 300 km extension of the Shanghai Metro system is part of a government long-term plan with a total of 970 km subway extension. Requirements In order to ensure a constant supply of this huge number of tunnel segments needed for such an outstanding infrastructure project the early strength development of the concrete being applied is of great importance. The concrete has to reach an early strength of at least 22 MPa after 24 hours including steam curing. Furthermore with optimised concrete mix designs as well as innovative superplasticizer technology the steam curing time should be optimised. Regarding fresh concrete performance a high water reducing capability of the superplasticizer is required to ensure sufcient workability at low water/binder ratio of 0.34. Sika ViscoCrete Solution With the application of Sika ViscoCrete-20 HE 20 it was possible to reach the target workability with a slump life of 15 minutes in combination with a low stickiness of the fresh concrete at a water/ binder ratio of 0.34. Furthermore the signicant liquefaction power of Sika ViscoCrete-20 HE 20 enabled shortening of the steam curing time by one hour, saving energy resources. The production process consequently became more cost-efcient regarding energy consumption as well as wear and tear of molds. In addition to Sika ViscoCrete-20 HE 20, the product was adapted to changing production circumstances, with which the concrete properties could be kept constant and a efcient production could be ensured. To date more than 150000 concrete tunnel segments were successfully produced representing a volume of 1115000 m concrete generating a consumption of 4600 tonnes of Sika ViscoCrete.

Sustainable Wet Precast Concrete Production, Mexico

Project The Sonora State Government launched a project named Plan Sonora Proyecta in order to improve the regional infrastructure with approximately 100 important construction projects. The project is scheduled to be nished in June 2009 including several bridges. One supplier for this important project is TRABIS, a wet precast concrete producer with a total yearly output of over 30.000 m producing all kinds of wet precast structural elements. Requirements Rapid concrete strength development and the providing of delivery times is one challenge in the production of wet precast concrete. TRABIS used steam curing of the precast concrete to ensure sufcient strength gain of 35 MPa after 15 hours for the production of prestressed concrete elements. But several handicaps are connected with this approach such as high energy consumption, excessive water use, process sensitivity as well as poor working conditions. Sika ViscoCrete Solution The Sika solution was to develop a concrete and admixture concept which enabled the elimination of any steam curing process and to nd an economical and ecological alternative to meet the high early strength requirements. Based on several laboratory trials the solution was a combination of Sika ViscoCrete-PC 2500 and Sikas hardening accelerator SikaRapid-1, offering sufcient slump life, low air content, excellent nishing and accelerated strength development. With the synergy action of the two admixtures the target strength of 35 MPa was reached after just 12 hours, so that the prestressed tendons could be released 3 hours earlier in the prestressed concrete element production. Due to the fact that the steam curing process could be omitted, fuel as well as water consumption could be eliminated. Therefore this approach offered a high economical value in combination with a substantial degree of sustainability. The whole process was simplied, the working conditions were greatly improved and variations could be minimzed, which resulted in an overall enhanced quality of the precast elements. Last but not least Sika offers constantly ongoing technical support as well as the necessary dosing equipment.

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Sika a Global Player in Specialty Chemicals for Construction and Industry

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continents 70 countries  90 production and marketing companies  Approx. 12,000 employees

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Sika is a leading Swiss company, globally active in specialty chemicals. Our local presence worldwide links us directly with customers and ensures the success of Sika and its partners. Every day highly motivated people strive to provide the best customer service.

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Sika Services AG / BU Concrete / ViscoCrete Technology / 06.2009 / CMS / RB

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