EFFECT OF PLASTICIZERS ON WORKABILITY AND COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE

Worldwide, a great deal of research is currently being conducted concerning the use of plasticizers in increasing the workability and strengthening of reinforced cement concrete and plain cement concrete members. Use of plasticizer application is a very effective way to increase workability, decreasing the water cement ratio and finally increasing the compressive strength of concrete. First of all in this thesis work literature review based on workability and compressive strength of concrete as experimental investigations are studied and need of the study is included. In the first phase of the study concrete mix design pr ocedure is adopted for M30 and M35 grade of concrete. For the determination of mix design various properties of concrete ingradients is conducted in the laboratory and results are recorded. In the second phase two sets of concrete cubes were casted for thi s experimental test program. In set A 36 cubes were casted of M30 grade out of which 18 cubes are made with keeping water cement ratio as 0.4 and remaining 18 cubes are made with keeping water cement ratio as 0.5 with variations in the amount of plasticize rs. In set B again 36 cubes were casted of M35 grade out of which 18 cubes are made with keeping water cement ratio as 0.4 and remaining 18 cubes are made with keeping water cement ratio as 0.5 with variations in the amount of plasticizers. Lastly the cube s are tested for Workability and Compressive strength using slump cone test apparatus and compression testing machine. Effect on workability and strength with variation in the dosage of plasticizers are studied from experimental data obtained for 7 days an d 28 days. Finally it has been concluded that use of plasticizers as admixtures results in improvement in workability and finally an increase in compressive strength of concrete. This leads to a step ahead in durability of the concrete and in turn is a du rability of the structure