Surface and Intercalation Chemistry of Polycarboxylate Copolymers in Cementitious Systems.

International audience; The Ca–Al-layered double hydroxide, the so-called AFm phase, is a product of cement hydration. It is shown that the interaction of this phase with anionic polycarboxylate ether (PCE)-based dispersant polymers is not a simple adsorption but a more complex intercalation phenomenon leading to the transient sequestration of the PCE within the AFm crystallites. As a result, part of the PCE is immobilized, forming a layered organo-mineral composite, and does not play its role of a dispersing agent. This article presents, along general considerations on the links between cement chemistry and rheology, a detailed investigation of the formation, structure, and stability of a …