Interactive Effects of Admixtures on the Compressive Strength Development of Portland Cement Mortars

Abstract

The interaction effects of four chlorine-free admixtures such as calcium formate (CF), triethanolamine, (TEA), triisopropanolamine (TIPA), and sodium sulfate (SS) on the compressive strength development of Portland cement mortars were investigated based on the design of experiment (DoE). The results showed that both the addition of CF and SS contributed significantly to the strength of cement mortars at early curing age. However, the interaction of CF and SS could hinder their respective positive effect on the strength of cement at 1 d. At later curing ages, CF was still beneficial in improving the late strength of cement, but SS had a negative effect on the strength of cement at 28 d. A negative effect of TIPA on the strength of cement was found at 3 d. However, the positive interactive effect of TIPA and CF was sufficient to offset the negative effect of TIPA on the strength of mortars at 3 d if the dosage of CF exceeded 2%. In addition, TEA had a positive influence on 7 d strength until a turning point was reached and the optimum dosage of TEA was approximately 0.013%.