Effect of the Adsorbing Behavior of Phosphate Retarders on Hydration of Cement Paste
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 29, Issue 9
Abstract
Phosphate is usually considered as an excellent retarder in cement-based materials. It is often thought that the mechanism behind this excellent retarding effect is attributed to the precipitation of calcium-based phosphate or the formation of a complex on the surface of the cement particles. However, the generally accepted theory cannot convincingly explain the difference in retarding effect between polyphosphates and monophosphates. In this study, the adsorbing behavior, both adsorption amount and the composition and structure of the adsorption layer of three kinds of phosphates (i.e., trisodium phosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate, and sodium hexametaphosphate), were investigated to illustrate the mechanism behind the different retarding effects. Specifically, the retarding effect of phosphate was evaluated with the analysis of hydration products, hydration heat, and setting time. Inductive coupled plasma (ICP) emission spectrometer was performed to assess the adsorption amount of phosphate, whereas the thickness of the phosphate layer was obtained with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The adsorption models were then proposed accordingly to illustrate the mechanism behind the different retarding effects. The results show that the retarding effect of phosphates is primarily decided by the thickness of the phosphate layer rather than the adsorption amount. The formation of an adsorption layer of monophosphate is because of the precipitation of calcium-based phosphate in the immediate vicinity of cement particles, whereas that for polyphosphates is attributable to the formation of a Ca-phosphate complex. The better retarding effect of polyphosphate than monophosphate is attributed to a thicker adsorption layer.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (51408448) and Science and Technology Support of Hubei Province of China (2015BAA084) and the testing support of Materials Research and Testing Center of Wuhan University of Technology is gratefully acknowledged.
References
Ataie, F. F., Juenger, M. C. G., and Taylor-Lange, S. C. (2015). “Comparison of the retarding mechanisms of zinc oxide and sucrose on cement hydration and interactions with supplementary cementitious materials.” Cem. Concr. Res., 72, 128–136.
AzariJafari, H., Kazemian, A., and Ahmadi, B. (2014). “Studying effects of chemical admixtures on the workability retention of zeolitic portland cement mortar.” Constr. Build. Mater., 72, 262–269.
Bénard, P., Garrault, S., and Nonat, A. (2005). “Hydration process and rheological properties of cement pastes modified by orthophosphate addition.” J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., 25(11), 1877–1883.
Bishop, M., Bott, S. G., and Barron, A. R. (2003). “A new mechanism for cement hydration inhibition: Solid-state chemistry of calcium nitrilotris (methylene) triphosphonate.” Chem. Mater., 15(16), 3074–3088.
Bu, Y., Liu, H., and Nazari, A. (2016). “Amphoteric ion polymer as fluid loss additive for phosphoaluminate cement in the presence of sodium hexametaphosphate.” J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng., 31, 474–480.
Coveney, P. V., Davey, R. J., and Griffin, J. L. W. (1998). “Molecular design and testing of organophosphonates for inhibition of crystallisation of ettringite and cement hydration.” Chem. Commun., (14), 1467–1468.
Coveney, P. V., and Humphries, W. (1996). “Molecular modelling of the mechanism of action of phosphonate retarders on hydrating cements.” J. Chem. Soc.-Faraday Trans., 92(5), 831–841.
Dean, J. A. (1999). Lange’s handbook of chemistry, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Ersoy, B., Dikmen, S., and Uygunoglu, T. (2013). “Effect of mixing water types on the time-dependent zeta potential of portland cement paste.” Sci. Eng. Compos. Mater., 20(3), 285–292.
Lesage, K., Cizer, O., and Desmet, B. (2015). “Plasticising mechanism of sodium gluconate combined with PCE.” Adv. Cem. Res., 27(3), 163–174.
Li, G., He, T., and Hu, D. (2012). “Effects of two retarders on the fluidity of pastes plasticized with aminosulfonic acid-based superplasticizers.” Constr. Build. Mater., 26(1), 72–78.
Li, W., Ma, S., and Zhang, S. (2014). “Physical and chemical studies on cement containing sugarcane molasses.” J. Therm. Anal. Calorim., 118(1), 83–91.
Ltifi, M., Guefrech, A., and Mounanga, P. (2011). “Effects of sodium tripolyphosphate addition on early-age physico-chemical properties of cement pastes.” Procedia Eng., 10, 1457–1462.
Lupu, C., Arvidson, R. S., and Luttge, A. (2005). “Phosphonate mediated surface reaction and reorganization: Implications for the mechanism controlling cement hydration inhibition.” Chem. Commun., (18), 2354–2356.
Lv, S. H., Gao, R. J., and Cao, Q. (2012). “Preparation and characterization of poly-carboxymethyl-beta-cyclodextrin superplasticizer.” Cem. Concr. Res., 42(10), 1356–1361.
Ma, S., Li, W., and Zhang, S. (2015). “Influence of sodium gluconate on the performance and hydration of portland cement.” Constr. Build. Mater., 91, 138–144.
Nylander, T., Samoshina, Y., and Lindman, B. (2006). “Formation of polyelectrolyte-surfactant complexes on surfaces.” Adv. Colloid Interface Sci., 123, 105–123.
Pan, W., and Wang, P. M. (2011). “Effect of compounding of sodium tripolyphosphate and super plasticizers on the hydration of alpha-calcium sulfate hemihydrate.” J. Wuhan Univ. Technol. Mater. Sci. Ed., 26(4), 737–744.
Pang, X., Boontheung, P., and Boul, P. J. (2014). “Dynamic retarder exchange as a trigger for portland cement hydration.” Cem. Concr. Res., 63, 20–28.
Peng, J., Qu, J., and Zhang, J. (2005). “Adsorption characteristics of water-reducing agents on gypsum surface and its effect on the rheology of gypsum plaster.” Cem. Concr. Res., 35(3), 527–531.
Plank, J., and Winter, C. (2008). “Competitive adsorption between superplasticizer and retarder molecules on mineral binder surface.” Cem. Concr. Res., 38(5), 599–605.
Shen, W., Gan, G., and Dong, R. (2012). “Utilization of solidified phosphogypsum as portland cement retarder.” J. Mater. Cycles Waste Manage., 14(3), 228–233.
Tan, H., Ma, B., and Li, X. (2014). “Effect of competitive adsorption between sodium tripolyphosphate and naphthalene superplasticizer on fluidity of cement paste.” J. Wuhan Univ. Technol. Mater. Sci. Ed., 29(2), 334–340.
Tan, H. B., Li, X., and Huang, J. (2015). “Effect of competitive adsorption between polycarboxylate superplasticiser and sodium tripolyphosphate on cement paste fluidity.” Adv. Cem. Res., 27(10), 593–600.
Tkaczewska, E., and Klosek-Wawrzyn, E. (2012). “Effect of phosphate ions on cement hydration.” Cem. Wapno Beton, 17(6), 401–408.
Wu, Y., He, T., and Song, X. (2011). “Effect of sodium gluconate on polynaphthalene sulfonate adsorption.” Adv. Cem. Res., 23(5), 249–254.
Zhang, D. F., Ju, B. Z., and Zhang, S. F. (2007). “The study on the dispersing mechanism of starch sulfonate as a water-reducing agent for cement.” Carbohydr. Polym., 70(4), 363–368.
Zheng, D., Qiu, X., and Lou, H. (2008). “Measurement of adsorption layer thickness of water reducer by using XPS.” J. Chem. Ind. Eng., 59(1), 256–259.
Zuo, Y., Zi, J., and Wei, X. (2014). “Hydration of cement with retarder characterized via electrical resistivity measurements and computer simulation.” Constr. Build. Mater., 53, 411–418.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 29 • Issue 9 • September 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 9, 2016
Accepted: Dec 30, 2016
Published online: Apr 12, 2017
Published in print: Sep 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Sep 12, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.