Modified poly(carboxylate ether)-based superplasticizer for enhanced flowability of calcined clay-limestone-gypsum blended Portland cement

Supplementary materials that are utilized to replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) decrease the workability of the cementitious mixtures and superplasticizers are usually added to cement to control their fluidity. In general, current superplasticizers are solely optimized for single component systems such as OPC. Here, we report the performance of a series of a modified poly(carboxylate ether)-based superplasticizers (PCEs) in a ternary OPC-calcined clay-limestone blend. We have utilized: i) a co-monomer with high ionic character, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) to be incorporated into the acrylic acid backbone of PCEs and ii) low density of polyethylene glycol (PEG) grafted chains < 0.01 mol/mol. The optimized polymer does not intercalate into the layered structure of calcined clay and preserves its steric size in the presence of high concentration of sulfate ions.