Admixtures are the ingredients in concrete other than portland cement, water, and aggregate that is added to the mix immediately before or during mixing. Concrete producers use admixtures primarily to reduce the cost of concrete construction; to modify the properties of hardened concrete; to ensure the quality of concrete during mixing, transporting, placing, and curing; and to overcome certain emergencies during concrete operations. BASF offers its advanced products in the admixtures segment.  MasterGlenium SKYInnovations in admixture have resulted in the changeover of concrete industry from normal grade concrete (M20/M30) to now M80/M100 grade concretes. The complexities involved in a construction site are mainly ranging from maintaining workability to pumping long distances vertically or horizontally that requires special admixtures to perform. The Burj Khalifa stands witness to the innovative MasterGlenium SKY range of admixtures that was used to pump the high strength concrete to over 600 metres high. The worsening traffic conditions today in busy cities portray another challenge to the ready-mix and the concrete producing fraternity in maintaining the workability of concrete for over 3 to 4 hrs. MasterGlenium SKY range of admixtures not only maintains workability but also allows contractors to strip the formworks earlier because of the faster gain in strength.
Mechanisation in the construction industry is the order of the day and it’s well understood that time is money. Today monolithic formwork, which has not only abolished the need for skilled carpenters but also enhanced the speed of construction and bringing down overall cost of the structure. The construction methods also call for special concrete that can adapt to such changes and also enhance the speed of construction.
Smart Dynamic ConcreteThe Smart Dynamic Concrete (SDC) is the solution that fits the modular formwork construction. Some of the key features delivered by SDC is that it enables time savings as high as 20 per cent, reduction in man-power and equipment requirements and eliminates the need for repair or finishing, resulting in considerable savings in the overall project cost.
Urbanisation have driven up the land cost in Metropolitan cities to the sky and therefore it is more viable for the cities to grow vertically than spread horizontally as there are lot of infrastructure to be set up is associated. In countries like Japan and US it is traditional to build tall structures which would require sleek columns to maximise the sellable area. The sleek columns therefore need to be made with ultra high strength concrete with M80 or M100 and above grade of strengths. This trend has caught up in India too; where currently the world’s tallest residential complex is being built in Mumbai with M95 grade strength of columns. Technically, the water content in the concrete mix is very low, but special admixture such as MasterGlenium SKY 8800 Series, which is used in this particular case, is expected to not only help in strength, workability but also improve the productivity by making the mix non-sticky at the same time capable of pumping to a height of more than 400 metres.
Admixtures therefore have become an inevitable ingredient in concrete today and it’s hard to imagine building the infrastructure for the country without admixtures. The concrete mix methodology also have changed from a volumetric batching (1:2:3 ratio) to weigh batching which ensure quality concrete.
Contact:BASF India LimitedConstruction Chemicals Division, Plot No.12, TTC Area,Thane Belapur Road, Turbhe, Navi Mumbai 400 705 Tel: 022 67917403 Email: shilpi.jain@basf.comWeb: www.basf-cc.co.in