Repulsion forces of superplasticizers on ground granulated blast furnace slag in alkaline media, from AFM measurements to rheological properties

The electrostatic and steric repulsion induced by different superplasticizers on ground granulated blast furnace slag in alkaline media have been studied. The superplasticizers were sulfonated naphthalene, sulfonated melamine, vinyl copolymer, and polycarboxylate- based admixtures. With these superplasticizers the slag suspensions had negative zeta potentials, ranging from -3 to -10 mV. For the first time the adsorbed layer thicknesses for superplasticizers on slag using colloidal probe atomic force microscopy has been measured. To model the interparticle force interactions an effective Hamaker constant was computed from dielectric properties measured on a dense slag sample produced by spark plasma sintering. The obtained results conclude that the dispersion mechanism for all the superplasticizers studied in the present work is mainly dominated by the steric repulsion. Results were then used in a yield stress model, YODEL, to predict the yield stress with and without the superplasticizers. Predictions of the yield stress agreed well with experimental results.