Applications
Dry Mortar Mixes
Process and performance additives from Evonik support the dry mortar mix industry to improve energy and resource efficiency for new and existing structures, while also reducing climate-damaging emissions.
Where powder meets power. As a key component of modern construction systems, our specialty drymix mortar products offer the latest high-performance, cost optimized and sustainable construction methods. Designed to meet the needs of these high-performance systems, our drymix product portfolio enhance features and properties, while guaranteeing reproducible performance and processing every time.
Under our leading SITREN® and SITREN AirVoid® brand families we offer our drymix construction customers four different management systems and their functions, and support them with our extensive experience, specialized technical expertise and in-depth knowledge of applications and markets.
- Air entraining agents and defoamers for Air Void Management
- Hydrophobing agents for Protection Management
- Shrinkage reducing agents for Curing Management
- Dispersants, wetting agents and defoamers for Formulation Management
With more than thirty years’ experience in product design, we continuously improve and evolve our products. As a result, our solutions set new standards in terms of efficiency, performance and environmental protection.
Air Void Management
Our air entrainers and defoamers can actively control the quantity, the distribution and the size of the air voids in cement and gypsum-based building materials and mortars.
Our range of synthetic SITREN AirVoid® air entrainers do not suffer from the quality fluctuations associated with natural active ingredients by creating stable, and homogeneously distributed air voids with the main purpose of stabilizing the air entrained with the water during mixing. Depending on the requirements, our portfolio of air stabilizing additives can optimize the size, content, and distribution of the air voids to provide more efficient construction.
Benefits of choosing SITREN AirVoid® Air entrainers
- Fast, safe and stable consistency for better handling and workability to optimize construction costs
- Increased air content spreading rate reduces material costs
- Thermal resistivity improves insulation properties to save energy
- Reduced capillary suction improves durability and service life through better freeze-thaw resistance
- Cost-effective design and lightweight construction improve processing to optimize construction costs and a building’s entire life cycle management
As architecture design becomes more sophisticated and creative, optimized aesthetics and mechanical strength for increased durability play a crucial role. Our SITREN AirVoid® powder defoamers eliminate surface defects caused by unwanted air voids, whilst their wetting and dispersing properties ensure homogeneous, even surfaces, making them ideal for self-leveling flooring, where smooth, compact and defect-free surfaces are a seal of quality.
Based on a broad range of modified anionic surfactants and organo-modified siloxanes, our high-quality defoamers allow air voids to be selectively removed from the system resulting in easier workability and an optimized surface finish but also in higher mechanical strength. Mortar systems defoamed with our products meet the highest demands of aesthetics and durability.
Benefits of choosing SITREN AirVoid® defoamers
- Reduced air content for smooth and defect-free surfaces optimizing aesthetics
- Better compressive and tensile strength improves durability and resistance
- Choice of suitable molecular structures so does not impact cement hydration
- Dispersing effective aids curing and improvs workability optimizing construction costs
Our TEGOSIVIN® water-proofing solutions protect buildings and infrastructures against all forms of precipitation and weather-related damage. By providing mortar and rendering systems with durable protection to minimize the infiltration of water and exposure to freezing and dissolved pollutants, our silicone-based water repellents maintain water vapor permeability to prevent deterioration and reduce maintenance and restoration costs.
Additionally, our TEGOSIVIN® hydrophobing agents reduce water and salt transport in building materials to minimize unsightly crystalline efflorescence to ensure the high-quality, highly aesthetic architecture demands of flawless building surfaces is maintained.
Benefits of choosing TEGOSIVIN® Hydrophobing agents
- Reduced water uptake increases durability and reduces mold for more hygienic systems
- Better freeze-thaw/de-icing salt resistance ensures better durability and reduced maintenance costs
- Excellent beading effect reduces dirt pick-up, facade cleaning costs and enables more versatile designs
The final properties of cement-based building materials and mortars are largely determined by controlling the water content. Errors made at the beginning cannot be corrected later, and moisture loss from fresh mortar reduces volume leading to shrinkage and cracking within just a few hours. A lack of water can prevent the cement from fully hydrating which may cause a loss of mechanical strength, reduced abrasion resistance and susceptibility to chemical attack which can all have adverse effects on its durability.
Our new generation of SITREN® shrinkage reducing agents were developed in close cooperation with the dry mortar mix industry and stand out ecologically as well as technically. Thanks to their extremely low VOC content, SITREN® shrinkage reducing agents meet the most stringent ecological label requirements such as EMICODE EC1PLUS – without any dosage restrictions. The reduction in the capillary pressure and the stress in the pore structure, results in markedly reduced shrinkage to prevent cracks forming. They frequently out-perform other commercially available products by reducing drying shrinkage as well as plastic shrinkage to enhance the workability of the cementitious system whilst having no effect on the setting process and durability.
Benefits of choosing SITREN® shrinkage reducing agents
- Reduced capillary pressure and pore tension minimizes shrinkage to extend life cycle
- Increased micro pores lower porosity creates a denser microstructure for better durability
- Improved dispersibility and wetting optimizes water content for better processability and lower construction costs
- New low VOC raw material improves sustainability and resource efficiency
- Concreting at low temperatures enables faster construction and reduced costs
Today’s formulations for the construction industry consist of a complex combination of a wide range of different raw materials, admixtures, and additives. To meet the technical, economic, and ecological demands placed on modern building products, all components must be matched to enable all the "wheels", no matter how small, to engage with one another accurately and reliably.
Our process and performance additives influence the interaction of the different components by performing a wide range of critical functions during the manufacture, processing, or final product finishing to improve the efficiency and performance of these systems.
The fundamentals of formulation management are the foundation for our extensive product portfolio and our expertise in surface-active substances. Our additives influence the interaction of the different components within chemical formulations used in the construction industry and as a result improve the efficiency and performance of these systems.
Properties can be adapted within a formulation through the direct addition of our additives which can be used to change surface properties and modify the performance profile to match the desired application. Surface tension, for example, can be modified to match the application, or the wettability of the surface can be modified from heavily hydrophobic or lipophilic to particularly hydrophilic and lipophobic to affect the bonding properties of surfaces.
Our broad chemical portfolio of organically modified siloxanes, oleochemicals, polyethers, polyacrylates, nonionic amphoteric and cationic surfactants enable us to offer our customers innovative, tailor-made and solution-oriented products and concepts to meet their numerous objectives.
- Increased efficiency and compatibility of compounding ingredients
- Optimized mixing and processing procedures
- Improved adhesion properties
- Increased storage stability