5 Things you need to Know about Construction Chemicals
In developed markets, stringent environmental regulations create a vast market for acrylic water-based adhesive technologies that result in low or zero volatile organic compound emissions. However, with this influx, contractors and manufacturers have a few challenges to overcome to keep the sector going. The study covers concrete admixtures, waterproofing, industrial flooring, grouts and concrete repair mortars, as well as adhesives and sealants. It presents trends to 2023. Being a price-sensitive market is also plagued by a lack of a skilled labour force; customers gravitate toward low-cost, easy-to-apply products. The competition from imports is further exacerbating the price wars, restricting margins and market growth.
In this environment, manufacturers are severely marketing their existing products and systems instead of creating value-added solutions. Commoditized products will continue to occupy a major part of the market share but will gradually decrease due to rising consumer awareness of speciality and sustainable products. The push for sustainability will shake the market up and help contractors produce better projects. The construction chemicals manufacturers in India that thrive in this challenging market will be the ones that are capable of offering innovative, cost-effective and green solutions to customers across the spectrum. Likewise, contractors that work with those that provide these solutions will have success in the market. 1. Concrete Admixtures
Concrete being the most popular material nowadays, it is used for numerous purpose under different site conditions. However, in some conditions, ordinary concrete fails to give the required quality performance or durability. In such situations, admixtures are used to modify the properties of ordinary concrete to match the requirement, thereby making it more suitable for the situation. Admixture is a material that is one of the concrete ingredients apart from cement, water and aggregates. It is added to the batch immediately before or during mixing, as stated by the concrete admixture company in Delhi. There are plenty of concrete admixtures available in the market. Gharpedia has listed down most of those chemicals and explained them in detail as well. 2. Plasticizers The organic substances or the combinations of organic and inorganic substances, which permit a reduction in water content for the given workability, or offer higher workability at the same water content, are known as plasticizing admixtures. The benefits are considered in both cases. In the former, concretes are stronger, and in the latter, they are more workable.
The basic products constituting plasticizers are: (i) Anionic surfactants like lingo sulphonates, their modifications and derivatives, salts of sulphonates hydrocarbons. (ii) Non-ionic surfactants such as poly glycol esters, acid of hydroxylated carboxylic acids and their modifications and derivatives. (iii) Other materials such as carbohydrates etc.
The function of plasticizers is to fluidify the mix, decrease the friction between particles and improve the workability of concrete, grout or mortar. One of the common chemicals generally used is Lignosulphonic acid. It is used either in the form of calcium or sodium salt. 3. Super Plasticizers Superplasticizers are a new category and a modified version of plasticizer. According to the top construction chemical company in India, they are chemically distinct from normal plasticizers. Use of superplasticizers allows the reduction of water to the extent of up to 30 % without reducing workability, in contrast to the possible reduction of up to 15 per cent in the case of plasticizers. Superplasticizer is used to produce easy flowing, self-levelling, self-compacting concrete and for the production of high strength and high-performance concrete. 4. Retarders and Retarding Plasticizers Retarders are admixtures that slow down the chemical process of hydration so that concrete remains in the plastic state and it remains workable for a longer time than concrete without the retarder. Retarders are used to overcome the accelerating effect of high temperature on the setting properties of concrete in hot weather concreting. These retarders are also used in casting and consolidating many pours without the formation of cold joints. Retarding admixtures are sometimes used to obtain an exposed aggregate look in concrete. The most commonly known retarder is calcium sulphate. However, there are many other materials found to be suitable for this purpose by construction material manufacturers. They are – starches, cellulose products, sugars, acids or salts of acids. If you want to dive deep into this subject & want to have indepth information regarding its mechanism, uses, pros and cons etc. 5. Accelerators and Accelerating Plasticizers Accelerating admixtures are added in the concrete to increase the rate of early strength development in concrete to: 1) Permit earlier removal of formwork 2) Reduce the required period of curing 3) Advance the time that a structure can be placed in service 4) To a certain extent, compensate for the retarding effect of low temperature during cold weather concreting in the emergency repair work. Concrete accelerators play an important role in construction, and hence you need to know the same.