Effects of fineness of cement on polynaphthalene sulfonate based superplasticizer-cement interaction

The effects of fineness of portland cement procured from six different Turkish cement plants, on superplasticizer/cement interaction were investigated. CEM 142.5 type portland cements (PC) were ground into different finenesses ranging from 280 to 550 m(2)/kg Blaine values. The effects of PC fineness on initial fluidity and fluidity loss of superplasticized cement paste were evaluated. It was found that increasing the Blaine fineness of incompatible cement up to a certain level reduced the viscosity of cement pastes but had no marked effect on the yield stress of the paste mixtures. Nevertheless, flow loss and also saturation point at 60 min increased with increasing the cement fineness. In other words, pastes with lower viscosity can be produced by using finer cement and more superplasticizer. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.