Integrity UltraFlow – Dry superplasticizer
Price range: $29.99 through $99.99
Makes concrete highly fluid without adding water – the key to strong, workable mixes for detailed casting, GFRC, and self-consolidating concrete.
What is a Superplasticizer?
A superplasticizer is a high range water reducing admixture: it makes your mix more fluid and workable without adding extra water. This matters because adding water weakens concrete - but you still need flow for casting into molds or achieving self-consolidating properties.
Superplasticizers work by dispersing cement particles more efficiently, allowing them to move past each other easily. The result: you get the workability of wet concrete with the strength of a low water-to-cement ratio.
Why You Need a Powerful Superplasticizer
Standard plasticizers help with basic workability. But when you're working with difficult mixes - GFRC, ultra-low water-cement ratios, detailed molds, or self-consolidating concrete - you need serious water reduction power.
Introducing UltraFlow - The Most Powerful Water Reducer
Integrity UltraFlow is a dry powder polycarboxylate superplasticizer that uses the latest, state-of-the-art technology to give you the most powerful water reduction. Its purpose is to make highly fluid concrete in even the most difficult concrete countertop mixes.
UltraFlow is the 20-lb sledgehammer that you need when you’ve been using a 16-ounce hammer. It works.
Why Powder Superplasticizers Outperform Liquids
You may not realize that there are differences among superplasticizers, even those of the same polycarboxylate chemistry. For example, powdered superplasticizers are more potent than liquids of the same chemistry. You don't have to use as much to get far more effect. Liquids also add water to your mix, and you are paying to ship water.
What Superplasticizers Actually Do
Like other superplasticizers, UltraFlow does have other benefits such as improved color dispersion, faster mixing due to faster wetting out of cement and pigment, slightly increased compressive and flexural strength, etc. But none of those are reasons to use a powerful superplasticizer.
Superplasticizers have one job: to make the concrete more fluid without adding more water. UltraFlow is the best superplasticizer on the market for this job.
Applications and Uses
- Self-consolidating concrete
- Direct casting and detailed molds
- Difficult mixes
- GFRC
- ECC
- UHPC
- Ultra-low w/c ratios (sub-0.25)
Technical Specifications
Compatibility:
- Effective in both Portland cement and CSA cement-based concrete
- Compatible with most commonly used admixtures
Dosage Rate:
- Dose as a percentage of total cementitious weight (cement + pozzolan)
- Suggested starting dose for direct casting GFRC: 0.375%
- You can start with tiny doses to gain workability without making the concrete fluid
- Maximum dose: 1.5%
- Overdosing will lead to segregation, so make test batches prior to production to ensure optimum dosage for your concrete mix design
- Have a viscosity modifier (VMA) on hand in case of segregation
How to Mix:
- UltraFlow can be added at any time during mixing, but it is most effective when added early in the mixing process before the cement is added
- For blended mixes, add the UltraFlow up front dissolved in your mix water or dry blended with your sand
- When added early in the mixing process, less superplasticizer is needed to achieve the same degree of fluidization
Appearance:
UltraFlow is a fine, off-white powder. Some black specs may be evident. This is completely normal and does not affect the appearance of the concrete. A tiny amount of UltraFlow is used for even the most dramatic effects in your concrete countertop mix.
Q & A
Integrity UltraFlow - Dry superplasticizer
The only real way to determine how much Fluidizer to use is for you to do some trial batches. The first step is to know what you want the consistency of your mix to be. Aggregate rich mixes like most 4000 psi concrete mixes are meant to be mixed and cast very stiffly. This means the freshly mixed concrete will be quite stiff and far from soft or even runny when it's made only using water. Fluidizer can definitely help make the mix easier to work with at small doses, but it might not be possible to make it pour like syrup.
Conventional concrete mixes like most 4000 psi mixes can be difficult or impossible to make fluid without adding an excessive amount of water, which dilutes the cement paste and makes the concrete weak and susceptible to cracking and shrinking. Fluidizer lets you use a minimal amount of water to make very strong, dense concrete and still have good workability, however you may never get a fluid concrete since the aggregate content often prohibits the fluidity seen in a GFRC mix.
Start with one 60 lb bag of concrete and add the manufacturer's minimal recommended water content. I would start with a low dose of Fluidizer and see what happens, adding a flat teaspoon per 60 lb bag and mix very well. Observe how the mix changes, and add another if it's still too stiff. At some point you may find that your mix segregates with too much Fluidizer and never truly becomes fluid without separating. Segregation is when the cement paste becomes very liquid and watery and separates from the aggregates, and this is not desirable. Fluidizer is very powerful and can cause segregation if too much is used, so add small amounts and mix very well each time, keeping track of what you've added so you can repeat for subsequent batches. If you do get segregation, gradually add more dry concrete mix to stiffen up the mix and regain a more uniform consistency.
I hope this helped! Visit our website for more free information about concrete, concrete admixtures, sealers, and other concrete countertop related topics."
We recommend you try our PowerPack, UltraDense and UltraFlow products.
Here are the direct links to the product pages on our website:
PowerPack:
https://concretecountertopinstitute.com/prod:uct/admixtures-for-concrete-countertops/
UltraDense:
https://concretecountertopinstitute.com/product/ultradense-defoamer-for-concrete-countertop-mixes/
UltraFLow:
https://concretecountertopinstitute.com/product/ultraflow-dry-superplasticizer-for-concrete-countertop-mixes/
Yes, can and should wet cure your concrete. Integrity UltraFlow will not prevent you from wet curing your product, nor does it eliminate the need for it either.
It's recommended that if plastic sheets or other curing materials are to be used for wet curing, you allow the concrete to reach thumbnail hardness prior to covering the concrete. If you do not want to wait for the concrete to attain that level of hardness, simply tent or take measures to ensure the plastic sheeting does not touch the concrete, otherwise the plastic sheeting will leave marks in the surface where it touches the fresh concrete.
No, the Integrity UltraFlow - Dry superplasticizer does not have a shelf-life.
We've provided recommended starting doses, but it's impossible for us to specify a particular dose for your concrete due to the many unknowns. We don't know anything about your concrete, your w/c ratio, what consistency you desire, etc. Only trial batches that you perform will determine what dose is right for you. This is true for any superplasticizer, but especially true for Alpha Fluidizer. It is very powerful, which makes running trial batches even more important.
Reviews
Integrity UltraFlow - Dry superplasticizer
5 star 100% 4 star 0% 3 star 0% 2 star 0% 1 star 0%
Feel I have really dialed in the mix and is working great.
I’ve only used it once so far in a really small batch, but the mix came out smooth and consistent and working time was exactly what I needed.
Very awesome stuff
This stuff works: providing a mechanism to producde a workable mix while keeping w/c ratio low. Would recommend to anyone working with traditional wet-cast concrete forming.