First steps to the molecular structure optimization of polycarboxylate ether superplasticizers: Mastering fluidity and retardation

Understanding structure function relationships of chemical admixtures is a long-standing objective of researchers in this field. In this paper, we determine how to optimize the PCE structure to change retardation without compromising workability of cementitious materials. For this, we establish a relationship between molecular structure of PCEs and yield stress of suspensions. We combine the obtained relationships with a previously published correlation between the molecular structure of PCEs and the retardation that they cause to produce an optimization plot allowing to select the molecular structure giving any desired combination of fluidity and retardation in cement pastes. This plot represents the first tool for mechanistically based molecular optimization. The advantages of using such an optimization chart, its industrial implications, as well as the potential limitations coming from its experimental development are discussed.