Additives are the potent ingredients of concrete other than water and Portland cement. The additives are combined into the concrete mixture either before or after mixing and these are basically categorized according to their functions namely:

• Shrinkage reducers
  
• Water-reducing additives
  
• Corrosion inhibitors
  
• Coloring additives
  
• Plasticizers
  
• Hydration-control additives
  
• Acceleration additives

The basic purpose of additive is to make concrete workable, strong, durable, wear resistant and watertight. These qualities can be obtained in a seamless manner with the incorporation of concrete additives into the mixture.

When To Use Concrete Additives?

The additives for concrete can be essential for specific application and to overcome certain challenges that are often associated with usage. Therefore, you should consider having additives when there is a need for:

Tougher Surface: The concrete that will be poured near driveways, sidewalks or other areas that receive high traffic has to be tough, otherwise it will tend to wither in a short period of time. To ensure this, additives can be added to concrete, leading to a tougher surface with superior protection. In fact, with the presence of additives the lifespan of concrete increases upto to 10 years.

Lighter Load of Concrete: For concrete suspension slabs or beams, the lighter they are the better. Since carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are lightweight and stand over 120 times stronger than steel, the engineers and architects are able to achieve desired levels of integrity and structural strength with thinner pours or minimal steel reinforcement. This is possible only due to premium quality concrete additives.

Too Much Water Gets Involved: The permeability of concrete can be reduced by almost 60% and with this they can be used for construction of infrastructures such as dams, bridges, locks and piers, where corrosion of steel might be a concern. However, such a scenario will never arise in case of concrete and that too the one that is amplified with additives.

Weight Becomes a Concern: When the steel content present in the wall along with consolidation of concrete creates weight issues, then additives can play a critical role in mitigating this problem and even provide better options for the placement of the wall. But, do remember to choose the right additives for minimizing the weight of concrete.

From Where To Buy Premium Quality Concrete Additives?

Now that you are aware of the functions and properties of additives the next question is: from where should you buy them? At first, this might seem like a challenging task, but it does not have to be so. There are countless stores out there that feature concrete additives at the best value. Some of the stores have even ventured into online platforms.

When confused with multiple stores and not sure which one would be the right choice, then compare them, look for the kind of products that they have to offer, get to know about the reviews that are given by their previous customers and then make your move towards premium quality concrete additives.