Developing a cold weather admixture system for low temperature masonry construction

Low temperatures in cold seasons generate diverse challenges for the construction industry in many northern countries. Construction based on cementitious material suffer from the low hydration rate at low temperatures and the possible damage caused by water to ice transition at below freezing temperatures. The common solution for this problem is to heat and protect the raw and finished material until it reaches an acceptable strength. The other solution, still under exploration by many authors, and adopted in this work, is to use chemical admixtures to avoid or at least to reduce the protection time of the finished cementitious material. This project aims to explore the possibility of combining commercial admixtures and test them as antifreeze agents for mortar used in masonry construction. The other objective is to understand the chemical active process of mortar hardening at low temperature when the admixture is used.

Faculty Supervisor:

Mohamed Boulfiza

Student:

Ouafi Saha

Partner:

Canada Masonry Design Centre

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Saskatchewan