Workability of concrete with the addition of sugar in the mix processing

Abstract

Productivity in construction has concrete admixture as one of its important materials. Due to the complex problems of the project and climatological aspects, the use of sugar can be an alternative to commercial admixtures that represent certain difficulties in their acquisition for large batches. The study has used four doses of white sugar in order to evaluate the workability of the concrete without affecting its compressive strength. Consistency and setting time tests were performed to determine the workability of the concrete. The results revealed that, compared to a slump of 4 ½" of the standard sample, when sugar doses were added, the slump increased to 7" with 0.01%, to 7" with 0.07%, to 7 ¾" with 0.14% and to 9 ¼" with 0.20% sugar. With respect to the initial and final setting time, the standard sample reached 83 and 238 minutes, respectively, while when sugar was added, these values increased to 129 and 291 minutes with 0.01%, to 161 and 351 minutes with 0.07%, to 188 and 400 minutes with 0.14% and finally to 210 and 471 minutes with 0.20% sugar. On the other hand, the compressive strength of the concrete at 28 days also experienced increases whenever the sugar dosage was not higher than 0.14% of the weight of the concrete. It is concluded that sugar as an admixture in the preparation of concrete mixes improves its workability without affecting its strength.