DOI: 10.21276/sjet.2016.4.8.2

Pages: 338-343

This paper presents an experimental study on the effect of three types of water-soluble high molecular weight cellulose ethers on the rheological properties of cement mortars in fresh state. Vane-cylinder test was used to determine the rheological properties of fresh mortars. The flow curves, obtained in the tests, were exploited to determine the rheological parameters, including the yield stress, the consistency coefficient and the fluidity index. The results indicate a difference between the mixes corresponding to the different cellulose ethers at high shear rate, while at low shear rate, all the mortar mixes behaved as a shear thinning fluid. The investigation of the influence of molecular weight on the properties of fresh mortars has shown a similar observation to the reported research in literature. The yield stress of the mortar decreases with the increase of molecular weight. This decrease is not significant at low molecular weights, and becomes much more significant at high molecular weights. Inversely, the mortar consistency is found to increase with the increase of molecular weight.