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Contents

Introduction - What is Air-entrainment cement/concrete?.......................................3

Functions and Applications of Air Entrained Cement ............................................................ 4


Mechanisms of Air entrainment............................................................................................. 6
Properties of Air–Entrained concrete ..................................................................................... 8
Advantages and disadvantages of Air Entrained concrete .................................................... 11
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 13
Reference ............................................................................................................................ 13

Introduction

Cement
A cement is a binder, a substance used for construction that sets, hardens and adheres
to other materials, binding them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but
rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement is used with fine
aggregate to produce mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel aggregates to
produce concrete.

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Cements used in construction are usually inorganic, often lime or calcium silicate
based, and can be characterized as being either hydraulic or non-hydraulic,
depending upon the ability of the cement to set in the presence of water.
Non-hydraulic cement will not set in wet conditions or underwater; rather, it sets as
it dries and reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. It is resistant to attack by chemicals
after setting.
Hydraulic cements set and become adhesive due to a chemical reaction between the
dry ingredients and water. The chemical reaction results in mineral hydrates that are
not very water-soluble and so are quite durable in water and safe from chemical
attack. This allows setting in wet condition or underwater and further protects the
hardened material from chemical attack.

Air- Entraining Cement


Invented in 1930 Air Entraining Cement is used for all types of concrete specially to
improve resistance to freezing when exposed to water and deicing chemicals. This
cement is made by mixing a small amount of an air-entraining agent with ordinary
Portland cement clinker at the time of grinding. The different types of air entraining
agents are as follows (a) Alkali salts of wood resins.
(b) Synthetic detergents of the alkyl-aryl sulphonate type.

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(c) Calcium lignosulphate derived from the sulphite process in paper making. (d)
Calcium salts of glues and other proteins obtained in the treatment of animal
hides.

In powder, or in liquid forms these agents are added to the extent of 0.025–0.1 per
cent by weight of cement clinker. There are other additives including animal and
vegetable fats, oil and their acids could be used. Wetting agents, aluminium powder,
hydrogen peroxide could also be used. Air-entraining cement will produce at the
time of mixing, tough, tiny, discrete non-coalescing air bubbles in the body of the
concrete which will modify the properties of plastic concrete with respect to
workability, segregation and bleeding. It will enrich the properties of hardened
concrete with respect to its resistance to frost action. Air-entraining agent can also
be added at the time of mixing ordinary Portland cement with rest of the ingredients.

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This report will include description of what Air-entrained concrete is, what it is used
for, how it is made, its properties and the pros and cons of its usage.

FUNCTIONS AND APPLICATIONS OF AIR ENTRAINED


CEMENT

This special cement is used for different scenarios such as scaling caused by deicing
chemicals as well as freezing conditions as it resistant to such conditions. But how?
Air entrained cement produces the concrete which contains small quantities of air
entrained admixtures. This concrete contains microscopic well distributed air
bubbles that provide space for freezing water to expand without causing any damage
to the concrete. Air entrained cement is used in pavements as well as other building
structures especially in areas where structures are prone to freeze thaw attack.

Freeze thaw action

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The diagram shows an example of damage caused by freeze thaw action in railway
concrete. This happens when water continually seeps into cracks, freezes and
expands which eventually results in the damage as shown above. There air entrained
cement is applied to the concrete to prevent such from happening. The air bubbles
in air entrained concrete relieve the pressure build up caused by freezing ice by
allowing free expansion without damage to the concrete. The air bubbles act as tiny
expansion chambers.

Air voids in air entrained concrete also protect structures from scaling. Scaling is
the flaking away of hardened
concrete and this is due to the
freezing and thawing of concrete
especially when chemicals
(deicing salts) are used. Chances of
the damage caused by deicing salts
are greatly reduced by using air
entrained concrete. The air bubbles
serve as expansion chambers
because without the air entrained
concrete, there is no room for
expansion and as we all know
concrete pavements already
contain moisture hence large forces can develop which rapture the surface, resulting
in flaking. Air entrained cement is used in cases where freeze thaw resistance is
required.

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Mechanisms of Air Entrainment

How air entrained cement and concrete are formed


The manufacturing of air entrained cements began in the twentieth century around
the 1930’s and since then it has been a common way of manufacturing modern
concrete as well. Air entrained cements are manufactured by adding of very little
organic agent that causes entrapment of fine bubbles. In addition to this we may also
include the formation of air entrained concrete since the main purpose of
manufacturing cement is to make concrete. Just as in air entrained cement formation
the formation of air entrained concrete also involves the adding bubbles, but in this
case the bubbles are being added to the concrete.

In most cases a
concrete mixer is used,
were it brings out air
bubbles to the
concrete mix through
the addition of an
entraining agent which
is a substance that is
surface active and
constitutes of
detergents.

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Usually the addition of these bubbles is introduced during the plastic stage of the
concrete whereby it is easier and not so difficult to mix that is the concrete will not
have hardened that much. Most of these bubbles will be there when the concrete
transits to becoming hardened concrete.

Right after being mixed the air entrained concrete seems to be a bit fatty and appears
to be slightly sticky as well as cohesive (that is joining together of particles of the
same type). As a result of the significant air content in entrained concrete it weighs
less than concrete that has not been air entrained.

The bubbles that are produced by air entrainment are very tiny in size that is they
range between fifteen to about five hundred and fifty micrometers. These bubbles
are tightly packed and they are compressible to ensure that they can act as stress
absorbers during freezing.

Agents used in the making of air bubbles in air entrained Cement and concrete

Air entraining agents indirectly reduce permeability because they allow the use of
low water Cementitious materials.

The air bubbles can be formed by using the following agents:


● Foaming agents based on natural resins
● Vegetable and animal fat
● Synthetic agents which result in bubble formation during mixing
● Gas producing chemicals as aluminum or zinc powder which react with
cement to produce bubbles.

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However, the method of using zinc is the most effective compared to the rest hence
it is widely used.

Uses of air entraining agents


● Improve the workability of a concrete
● Cohesiveness is also improved
● Reduce segregation as well as bleeding (when water in concrete rises to the
surface)
● These results in reduction of cracks on the concrete
Chemicals used in Air Entraining
These can be referred to as the chemical composition of the air entraining agents
● Alkali salts of wood resins(sodium abietate)
○ The common one is known as vinsol and is derived
from pinewood and then neutralized with salt ● Alkyl aryl
sulphates
○ Also a salt
● Salts of fatty acids that are taken from vegetable oils and animal oils
○ These include oleic and caproic ● Alkyl sulphates
○ Sodium dodecyl sulphate, sodium cetyl sulphate and sodium oleyl
sulphate

Properties of Air–Entrained concrete

Concrete that is mixed for severe frost conditions should approximately have 14
billion bubbles per cubic meter. With decreasing void size, resistivity to frost

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increases. Moreover, smaller voids reduce strength less than the larger ones. For a
given air content, the voids should not be bigger than specific size so as to maintain
the proper spacing factor. “specific surface” is a term used to describe the average
size of air voids in concrete per unit volume. The fineness of measure by specific
surface index which is the total surface area of voids in a unit volume of concrete.
For frost resistance, the index should
exceed 23,600 m2/m3
(600 in.2/in.3).

instrument used to measure air volume in fresh


concrete

The entrained air voids should in


proper amount in the proper size and
spacing factor to be able to endure
freezing and thawing.
“Spacing Factor” Is the maximum
distance water needs to move through to reach an air void. The spacing factor should
not be greater than 0.2mm (0.008 in), to provide adequate protection against harsh
freezing and thawing environment.
The density of the air entrained concrete is greatly reduced with the amount of air
entrained. All concrete contains entrapped air voids, usually with diameters of 1mm
or lager which roughly contributes to 0.2 to 3% of the concrete volume. Entrained
air voids however, have diameters between 0.0004 and 0.02mm and are closely

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spaced. The entrained voids are not connected and contribute a total volume of 1%
to 7.5 % of the total concrete volume.

The table below described the total volume of entrained air recommended by ACI
committee 201 for normal strength concrete. The table is based on exposure
conditions, aggregate sizes and shows the specified air contents that are required to
meet the spacing factor and specific surface requirements.

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Air entrainment provides other benefits apart from durability. Air Entrainment can
also improve concretes resistance to deicers, salts, sulfates and alkali-silica
reactivity. Though air entrainment decreases the strength, a moderate-strength
concrete can be achieved by lowering the water cement ratio and increasing the
cement factor.
Advantages and disadvantages of Air Entrained concrete

Advantages of Air-entrained concrete.


● Air entrained concrete magnificently increased durability compared to regular
concrete. It can withstand the internal stresses caused by the freezing and
thawing of concrete.

● Air entrainment improves concrete’s resistance to several destructive factors,


such as freeze-thaw cycles, deicers and salts.

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● It helps to increase the workability of fresh concrete due to surface tension
caused by the Air bubbles in concrete

● Allows expansion of concrete with minimal damage

● Air -entrained concrete have discrete cavities in the cement paste and does not
merge and form capillaries in the concrete.

● Greatly reduces cost in maintenance and management of air entrained


roadways.

● More reliable and safe in regions with low temperature

Disadvantage of Air-Entrained Concrete

● Air entrainment decrease the compressive strength of the concrete


significantly compared to regular Portland cement concrete.

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● Air entrainments reduces water cement ratio and strength reduction due to air
may be offset. This may cause suppliers to improvise and mix in more cement
to meet the specification required by the client.

Conclusion

Air entrained cement and air entrainment admixture is currently widely used around
the world in areas subjected to freezing temperatures. Though they have
considerably lower strength, air-entrained concrete is more durable s and is an
innovation that provided a safe and reliable alternative.

Reference

Greene, T. (2013). Chemical Admixtures for Concrete. ACI Education Bulletin


E4-12.
Illston, J. (1994). Construction materials. London [etc.]: E & FN Spon.

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Jackson, N. and Dhir, R. (1996). Civil engineering materials. Basingstoke:
Macmillan.
Mamlouk, M. and Zaniewski, J. (2005). Materials for civil and construction
engineers. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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