Addressing Foam Problems in Construction Materials Defoamer Insights and Recommendations

The quality of building materials is universally acknowledged as critical. However, foam issues in these materials remain a significant challenge that requires effective solutions. Common building materials such as cement mortar, water reducers, concrete, asbestos tiles, putty powder, and gypsum are prone to foaming during production or usage. To address this, the construction industry relies on specialized defoamers.

Why Do Building Materials Foam Easily?

Building materials tend to foam because they are composed of a wide variety of raw materials, such as cement, sand, lime, and various additives, many of which possess inherent foaming properties. Defoamers play a crucial role in quickly resolving foam issues, thereby enhancing production efficiency. Foam in building materials can trap a significant amount of air, leading to voids in the final product, which severely impacts quality and adhesion. This highlights the necessity of using defoamers to ensure product integrity.

Types of Bubbles in Concrete

Concrete contains numerous bubbles before vibrating, including air bubbles introduced during mixing, transportation, and placement, as well as bubbles from water reducers and air-entraining agents.
Air Bubbles Introduced During Mixing, Transportation, and Placement: These bubbles are typically large, unevenly distributed, and highly unstable, easily merging into larger bubbles and bursting. Known as unstable bubbles, they adversely affect concrete's fluidity and its mechanical properties and durability after hardening.

Bubbles from Water Reducers: Water reducers introduce a certain amount of bubbles due to electrostatic repulsion, causing cement particles to disperse like ball bearings. These bubbles, however, are irregular, unstable, and tend to merge into larger bubbles during transportation and vibration, leading to surface defects. Superplasticizer defoamers are needed to address this issue.

The Significance of Defoamers in the Construction Industry

The workability of fresh concrete significantly impacts its pumpability, workability, mechanical properties, and durability. Workability largely depends on the air content in the concrete. Therefore, professional defoamers are essential for managing foam in concrete.
Powder defoamers for concrete help eliminate large bubbles, prevent surface defects like honeycombing and roughness, and improve the surface smoothness and glossiness. Additionally, defoamers reduce the air content and internal porosity of concrete, enhancing its mechanical properties and durability.

Recommended SIXIN New Products

GX-810: GX-810 is a solid defoamer product. It is mainly recommended for dry mix mortar, powder coating, diatom mud, drilling and cementing and other industries.

GX-830: Suitable for secondary layers and underlayments, offering fast foam suppression and elimination.

SP-870: A general-purpose product for water reducers, performing well at temperatures above 15°C, also effective in ready-mixed concrete.

SP-871: Used for powdered active water reducers.

By understanding and addressing foam issues with specialized defoamers, manufacturers in the construction materials sector can significantly improve the quality and durability of their products, ensuring better performance and longevity.