Dr Pascal Boustingorry, the Interface Physical Chemistry team manager at Chryso France, recently visited South Africa to give a short course on the ‘Effect of Admixtures on Concrete Rheology’. This was part of a two-day programme arranged by the South African Society of Rheology (SASOR) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
“I focussed on superplasticisers as these admixtures have the greatest effect on concrete rheology. It is extremely important to realise that one superplasticiser will not suit every type of concrete application and every type of cement. This is the reason why Chryso has such a large range of superplasticisers, as each superplasticiser is specifically designed to achieve a maximum performance with a certain type of cement chemistry. Chryso has the ability to manufacture and design polymers (the building blocks for admixtures) that can achieve targeted performances and can be modified to suit certain conditions,” explains Boustingorry.
“Chryso is a global company, with 20 subsidiaries and a presence in over 70 countries. It is therefore important to acknowledge that people do not work with concrete in the same way in every country and each country faces a different set of technical challenges with regard to concrete. Therefore the same admixture will not work everywhere,” he says.
Boustingorry noted that customer requirements for concrete are increasing: “Traditionally, customers were only concerned with water retention, workability retention and strength. Today, customers are demanding greater performance and a lot more properties from concrete. For instance, they want concrete to flow in a certain way and they are looking at finishability. This ties in with concrete rheology.”
More information from Kirsten Kelly, Tel: +27 11 395 9700/www.chryso.com
Caption:Dr Pascal Boustingorry, the Interface Physical Chemistry team manager at Chryso France, recently visited South Africa to give a short course on the ‘Effect of Admixtures on Concrete Rheology’.
