A new technology for air-entrainment of concrete

This paper describes a new technology for air-entrainment of concrete. The technology is based on the addition of dry superabsorbent polymers (SAP) to the concrete. A large amount of small internal water reservoirs are formed during mixing when SAP absorbs water and swells. The internal water reservoirs are distributed throughout the concrete. During the hydration process the cement paste imbibes water from the water-filled SAP voids. Thereby the water-filled SAP voids turn into partly air-filled voids. The advantages of the SAP-based technology compared to traditional chemical air-entrainment include stability of the air void system and improved control of both the amount of added air and the air void size. The new technology based on SAP has been tested in freeze-thaw experiments, where the amount of surface scaling was measured. The results clearly show that SAP is beneficial for frost protection of concrete. The amount of scaled material is reduced, when the SAP addition is increased. Furthermore, the results indicate that the amount of scaled material primarily depends on the volume of SAP voids in the concrete.