Importance of coil-overlapping for the effectiveness of hydroxypropylguars as water retention agent in cement-based mortars

This paper is devoted to the role of hydroxypropylguars (HPG) on water retention (WR) capacities of cement-based mortars. WR and pore solution viscosity of mortars formulated with different dosage and kind of HPG were investigated. The results allowed us to rule-out that WR is only governed by pore solution viscosity. A sharp change in slope was observed on the curve WR vs. polymer dosage. This was attributed to the threshold dosage corresponding to the network formation of hydrocolloidal associated HPG molecules in pore solution. Below this dosage, no effect of HPG on WR was obtained. Above this dosage, HPG aggregates may stop the water flow by plugging the porous network of a thin HPG-enriched filter cake at the interface mortar-substrate. This study showed moreover that additional substitution of alkyl chain on HPG improves its effectiveness at low dosage. This was attributed to an enhancement of overlapping.