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CONCRETE MATERIALS

What Goes into the Mix

Cool Climate Concrete.

We all know that concrete is primarily portland cement, aggregate, and water. And in
general it's best to keep it simple, since more ingredients can make it more difficult to
control.

The single most important thing to start with is the water-cement ratio (w/c). Nearly 100
years ago Duff Abrams discovered the direct relationship between w/c and strength
the less water used the higher the strength of the concrete since too much water leaves
lots of pores in the paste portion of the concrete. For most applications, w/c should be
between 0.4 and 0.5lower for lower permeability and higher strength. The trade off,
of course, is with placeability, since very low water content results in very stiff mixtures
that are difficult to place.
Aggregate gradation is important for obtaining high quality concrete. Portland Cement
Association.

But with slabs and floors, looking beyond w/c is important. Pat Harrison, the current
chairman of ACI Committee 302, Construction of Concrete Floors, wrote an
outstanding article in the March 2004 issue of Concrete International on the ideal slab
mixture. In that article he noted that a low w/c ratio "may increase strength and improve
durability, but it is not likely to reduce shrinkage." He recommends lowering the total
water content and even the cement content to reduce shrinkage, even if it means that the
w/c goes above 0.5. Although this article was written specifically for industrial floors,
it's wisdom applies equally to decorative floors.

Aggregate is the other main ingredient in concrete, but it is often overlooked. With our
goal of reducing shrinkage, though, aggregate becomes critical. To reduce shrinkage, we
need to reduce the total amount of cement paste in the mixthe aggregate doesn't
shrink. To reduce the cement paste, we need to minimize the spaces between the
aggregate particles. That is accomplished with a "well-graded" aggregate mixture that
starts with the largest aggregate size possibleideally 1 inches, although it should be
less than 1/3 of the slab thickness and few stamping contractors will want to stamp a
mix with aggregate that large. "I specify inch," says Bob Harris of the Decorative
Concrete Institute. "Most of our stamp mixes are somewhere around inch top size
aggregate but if we're pouring thick concrete we can successfully stamp inch or #57
stone."

Various admixtures are used in concrete to create specific effects. Portland Cement
Association.
Supplementary cementitious materials. From left to right, fly ash (Class C), metakaolin
(calcined clay), silica fume, fly ash (Class F), slag, and calcined shale. Portland
Cement Association.

But regardless of the largest aggregate size, we want to have aggregate of all sizes.
When aggregate is evaluated, it is run through a series of sieves to determine the size
distribution. The classic distribution is to have between 8% and 18% of the total
aggregate on each of the standard sieves. A well-graded mix, as opposed to a more
traditional gap-graded mix, will have less cement and less shrinkage.

Water is, of course, essential to a placeable mix. We just don't want to add too much
"water of convenience," which is the water added to increase slump. Harrison, in his
article, suggests that the minimum water content for a finishable mix (with a 3-inch
slump using 1 inch maximum sized aggregate) is about 275 pounds per cubic yard
(since water weighs 8.34 pounds per gallon, that would be about 33 gallons). Often
specifications will allow some addition of water on site to adjust the slumpslump is
typically increased 1 inch by adding 10 pounds of water per cubic yard (1.2 gallons).

Admixtures are the other primary ingredient of modern concrete and the most important
is air-entraining admixture. Any concrete that will be exposed to freeze-thaw and
deicing salts must have entrained air to prevent spalling of the surface and even
complete breakdown of the concrete. In severe exposure areas, the air content should
vary from 7.5% for 3/8 inch maximum sized aggregate to 5.5% for 1 inch aggregate
(typically with a tolerance of plus or minus 1%). As noted before, some air is beneficial
for all concrete since it improves workability and reduces or even eliminates bleeding
although that may not be an advantage with color hardeners. Be careful not to specify
air, though, for hard-troweled interior floors. Hard troweling seals the surface and can
cause air to accumulate under a thin surface layer leading to blistering of the surface.

Another very useful admixture is water reducer. These come in various ranges, with
high range often called superplasticizer. Water reducers can be used to maintain a
specific slump with less waterreducing water content up to 30% or even turning
concrete into self-consolidating concrete (SCC) that has a soupy consistency that is very
useful for detailed decorative walls or when you want concrete to flow easily around
embedded objects or congested reinforcing steel. SCC is also ideal for producing glassy
surfaces on sculpture, furniture, or countertops.

Retarders and accelerators are also useful admixtures, especially when dealing with the
variations in set time from cold or hot temperatures. One technique every decorative
contractor should understand is set retardation (see Concrete Construction, July 2002, p.
46). This involves adding retarder on the job site to keep the concrete from setting so
quickly that it becomes too hard to stamp.

One last ingredient in many concrete mixtures today is supplementary cementitious


materials (SCM)--also called pozzolans. These materials include fly ash, slag cement
(sometimes called ground granulated blast furnace slagGGBFS or slag cement), silica
fume, and metakaolin. SCMs are used as replacement for cement and since they have a
very small particle size they reduce the permeability of concrete, which is good.

Fly ash is the most common SCM and it improves finishability although it tends to slow
the set time, especially in cold weather. SCMs can be used to replace as much as 40% of
the cement in a mix. Slag and metakaolin lighten the color of concrete which can be
beneficial with integrally colored concrete. Metakaolin also helps to reduce the danger
of efflorescence.

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