Study on the Effect of Polycarboxylate Ether Molecular Structure on Slurry Dispersion, Adsorption, and Microstructure

This study synthesized polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PCE) with varying carboxyl densities and main chain degrees of polymerization. The structural parameters of PCE were characterized using gel permeation chromatography and infrared spectroscopy. The study investigated the impact of PCE’s diverse microstructures on cement slurry’s adsorption, rheology, hydration heat, and kinetics. Microscopy was used to analyze the products’ morphology. The findings indicated that an increase in carboxyl density led to an increase in molecular weight and hydrodynamic radius. A carboxyl density of 3.5 resulted in the highest flowability of cement slurry and the most considerable adsorption amount. However, the adsorption effect weakened when the carboxyl density was the highest. Decreasing the main chain degree of polymerization led to a significant reduction in the molecular weight and hydrodynamic radius. A main chain degree of 16.46 resulted in the highest flowability of slurry, and both large and small main chain degrees of polymerization exhibited single-layer adsorption. PCE samples with higher carboxyl density caused the greatest delay in the induction period, whereas PCE-3 promoted the hydration period’s acceleration. Hydration kinetics model analysis indicated that PCE-4 yielded needle-shaped hydration products with a small nucleation number in the crystal nucleation and growth stage, while PCE-7’s nucleation was most influenced by ion concentration. The addition of PCE improved the hydration degree after three days and facilitated the strength’s later development compared to the blank sample.