Abstract:
Abstract. Shrinkage Reducing Admixtures (SRA) are being used more often in concrete structures
in order to better control shrinkage cracks. High-performance concrete, nowadays with large
application, has more proneness to crack at very early age due to the lower W/C. In this type of
concrete, autogenous shrinkage is usually more important than drying shrinkage. Autogenous
shrinkage is due to the volume decrease inherent to binder hydration reactions. The rate of these
reactions is influenced not only by the type of binder but also by the presence of chemical
admixtures. It is recognized that SRA delay the hydration, being a secondary effect of this type of
admixtures. In this work changes on the degree of hydration of cement pastes with SRA and
different binders are presented, using the chemical shrinkage test.
