Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Applicability of rheological properties of superabsorbent polymer cement-based materials using apparent viscosity

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Materials and Structures Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Superabsorbent polymer (SAP) is usually used as an internal curing agent for concrete, while its water absorption and desorption properties could affect the rheology of cement-based materials. In this paper, the effects of different SAP particle size, content and extra water on the apparent viscosity of cement paste over time were studied. Further, the correlation between plastic viscosity, yield stress and apparent viscosity was evaluated. The results show that the SAP particle size had a significant impact on the apparent viscosity of cement paste, and the larger the particle size of SAP, the more obvious the change of water absorption and desorption. The addition of SAP and extra water would reduce the plastic viscosity and yield stress of the cement paste to promote its fluidity. At the same time, the correlation coefficients of apparent viscosity, plastic viscosity and yield stress of SAP cement paste with different content and particle size were all above 0.93. Therefore, apparent viscosity not only could explain the water absorption and desorption kinetics of SAP in cement paste well, but also could be used as an evaluation index for the rheological properties of cement-based materials cured in SAP.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Liu J, Shi C, Ma X et al (2019) An overview on the effect of internal curing on shrinkage of high performance cement-based materials. Constr Build Mater 146:702–712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhang X, Liu Z, Wang F (2019) Autogenous shrinkage behavior of ultra-high performance concrete. Constr Build Mater 226:459–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. De la Varga I, Castro J, Bentz D et al (2012) Application of internal curing for mixtures containing high volumes of fly ash. Cem Concr Compos 34(9):1001–1008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Jensen OM, Hansen PF (2002) Water-entrained cement-based materials. II. Experimental observations. Cem Concr Res 32:973–978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Justs J, Wyrzykowski M, Bajare D et al (2015) Internal curing by superabsorbent polymers in ultra-high performance concrete. Cem Concr Res 76:82–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Mechtcherine V, Reinhardt HW (2012) Application of super absorbent polymers (SAP) in concrete construction: state-of-the-art report prepared by technical committee 225-SAP. Mater Struct 54:80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kang SH, Hong SG, Moon J (2017) Absorption kinetics of superabsorbent polymers (SAP) in various cement-based solutions. Cem Concr Res 97:73–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Agostinho LB, Alexandre CP, Silva E et al (2021) Rheological study of Portland cement pastes modified with superabsorbent polymer and nanosilica. J Build Eng 34:102024

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Farzanian K, Ghahremaninezhad A (2018) Desorption of superabsorbent hydrogels with varied chemical compositions in cementitious materials. Mater Struct 51:3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Farzanian K, Ghahremaninezhad A (2018) On the effect of chemical composition on the desorption of superabsorbent hydrogels in contact with a porous cementitious material. Gels 4(3):70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Liu J, Khayat KH, Shi C (2020) Effect of superabsorbent polymer characteristics on rheology of ultra-high performance concrete. Cem Concr Compos 112:103636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ma X, Yuan Q, Liu J et al (2019) Effect of water absorption of SAP on the rheological properties of cement-based materials with ultra-low w/b ratio. Constr Build Mater 195:66–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Geng J, Chen M, Shang T et al (2019) The performance of super absorbent polymer (SAP) water-retaining asphalt mixture. Materials 12(12):1964

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Farzanian K, Ghahremaninezhad A (2011) Superabsorbent polymers: on their interaction with water and pore fluid. Cem Concr Compos 33(7):717–724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Schröfl C, Mechtcherine V, Gorges M (2012) Relation between the molecular structure and the efficiency of superabsorbent polymers (SAP) as concrete admixture to mitigate autogenous shrinkage. Cem Concr Res 42(6):865–873

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Meng W, Khayat KH (2017) Improving flexural performance of ultra-high-performance concrete by rheology control of suspending mortar. Composites B 117:26–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Nanthagopalan P, Haist M, Santhanam M et al (2008) Investigation on the influence of granular packing on the flow properties of cementitious suspensions. Cem Concr Compos 30:763–768

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Laskar AI, Talukdar S (2008) Rheological behavior of high performance concrete with mineral admixtures and their blending. Constr Build Mater 22:2345–2354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lura P, Lothenbach B, Miao C et al (2010) Influence of pore solution chemistry on shrinkage of cement paste. In: The 50-year teaching and research anniversary of Prof. Sun Wei on advances in civil engineering materials. RILEM Publications SARL, Nanjing, pp 191–200

    Google Scholar 

  20. Vikan H, Justnes H, Winnefeld F et al (2007) Correlating cement characteristics with rheology of paste. Cem Concr Res 37(11):1502–1511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Snoeck D, Schaubroeck D, Dubruel P et al (2014) Effect of high amounts of superabsorbent polymers and additional water on the workability, microstructure and strength of mortars with a water-to-cement ratio of 0.50. Constr Build Mater 72:148–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Min Li, Yu-jiang W, Wen-bin W et al (2016) Quantitative characterisation of absorption capacity and dosage of SAP in cement paste. Adv Cem Res 28(8):518–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Mechtcherine V, Secrieru E, Schröfl C (2015) Effect of superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) on rheological properties of fresh cement-based mortars—development of yield stress and plastic viscosity over time. Cem Concr Res 67:52–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Paiva H, Esteves LP, Cachim PB et al (2009) Rheology and hardened properties of single-coat render mortars with different types of water retaining agents. Constr Build Mater 23(2):1141–1146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Jensen OM, Hansen PF (2001) Water-entrained cement-based materials I. Principles and theoretical background. Cem Concr Res 31(4):647–654

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Schröfl C, Snoeck D, Mechtcherine V (2017) A review of characterisation methods for superabsorbent polymer (SAP) samples to be used in cement-based construction materials: report of the RILEM TC 260-RSC. Mater Struct 197:50

    Google Scholar 

  27. Ma X, Zhang J, Liu J (2015) Review on superabsorbent polymer as internal curing agent of high performance cement-based material. J Chin Ceram Soc 43(8):1099–1110

    Google Scholar 

  28. Roussel N, Stéfani C, Leroy R (2005) From mini-cone test to Abrams cone test: measurement of cement-based materials yield stress using slump tests. Cem Concr Res 35:817–822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Lh A, Df A, Ak B (2020) How do different testing procedures affect the rheological properties of cement paste? Cem Concr Res 137:106189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Jin Y (2017) Microstructure and performance of cementitious materials internally cured by superabsorbent polymers. Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan

    Google Scholar 

  31. Roussel N (2006) A thixotropy model for fresh fluid concretes: theory, validation and applications. Cem Concr Res 36:1797–1806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Yim HJ, Kim JH, Shah SP (2013) Cement particle flocculation and breakage monitoring under Couette flow. Cem Concr Res 53:36–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Wang F, Yang J, Cheng H et al (2015) Study on mechanism of desorption behavior of saturated superabsorbent polymers in concrete. ACI Mater J 112:463–470

    Google Scholar 

  34. Zhu Q, Barney CW, Erk KA (2015) Effect of ionic crosslinking on the swelling and mechanical response of model superabsorbent polymer hydrogels for internally cured concrete. Mater Struct 48(7):2261–2276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Esteves LP (2011) Superabsorbent polymers: on their interaction with water and pore fluid. Cem Concr Compos 33:717–724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Mönnig S (2009) Superabsorbing additions in concrete applications, modeling and comparison of different internal water sources. Stuttgart University, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  37. Mounanga P, Khelidj A, Loukili A et al (2004) Predicting Ca(OH)2 content and chemical shrinkage of hydrating cement pastes using analytical approach. Cem Concr Res 34(2):255–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Brüdern AE, Mechtcherine V (2010) Multifunctional use of SAP in strain-hardening cement-based composites. In: International RILEM conference on use of superabsorbent polymers and other new additives in concrete. RILEM Publications S.A.R.L, Lyngby, pp 11–22

    Google Scholar 

  39. Lothenbach B, Winnefeld F, Alder C et al (2007) Effect of temperature on the pore solution, microstructure and hydration products of Portland cement pastes. Cem Concr Res 37(4):483–491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Zhang Shouqi Lu, Zhenbao AY et al (2020) Effect of super-absorbent polymer water absorption characteristics on performance of concrete. J Chin Ceram Soc 48(08):1278–1284

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by Ningbo Science and Technology Innovation 2025 Major Special Project (2019B10048), Jiangxi Transportation Science and Technology Project (2016C0005), Key R&D Program Funding Project of Shaanxi Province (2018SF-380) and the Special Fund for Basic Scientific Research of Central Colleges, Chang’an University (300102310301, 300102311404).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chang’an University, Middle Section of NanErhuan Road, Xi’an, 710064, China

    Jiuguang Geng, Leilei He, Mingyuan Chen & Yanhui Niu

Authors
  1. Jiuguang Geng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Leilei He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mingyuan Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yanhui Niu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Leilei He or Yanhui Niu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Geng, J., He, L., Chen, M. et al. Applicability of rheological properties of superabsorbent polymer cement-based materials using apparent viscosity. Mater Struct 55, 79 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-022-01924-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-022-01924-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation