Influence of hydroxypropylguars on rheological behavior of cement-based mortars

Hydroxypropylguars (HPGs) are used as water retention agents in modern factory-made mortars. Nevertheless, these molecules can also impact the rheological behavior of cement-based materials. The influence of HPG and its dosage on mortar rheological properties was thus investigated thanks to a suitable measurement procedure. HPG allows keeping a positive yield stress value while the yield stress of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) mortars was found to decrease with an increase in dosage. HPG increases the shear-thinning behavior and the consistency of mortars. The study of pore solution viscosity suggests that the entanglement of HPG coils beyond a threshold dosage is crucial to understand the rheological macroscopic behavior of HPG-admixed mortars. Nevertheless, the increase in mortar viscosity induced by HPG was lower than expected which reveals additional and specific repulsive forces induced by polysaccharides.