PCE 2017 – Polycarboxylates at the frontier of modern concrete technology
Polycarboxylate (PCE) superplasticizers were the focus of a high-level conference which took place on 27.09.–28.09.2017 at Technische Universität München. The event was attended by more than 200 delegates from 29 countries, with a strong participation from China, the world’s largest PCE producer. Hosted by Prof. Johann Plank and Dr. Lei Lei from the Chair for Construction Chemistry at TUM, the conference provided insight into the latest trends and future perspectives of PCE technology.
1 Full day workshop
The event started on 27.09.2017 with a full day workshop on the chemistry, analysis and industrial production aspects of PCE polymers and was attended by 120 delegates. There, Prof. Plank pointed out that nowadays PCEs present a huge family of chemically often significantly different copolymers such as methacrylate ester (MPEG), allyl ether (APEG), vinyl ether (VPEG), methallyl ether (HPEG), isoprenyl ether (IPEG) or phosphated (PHOS) polycarboxylates. Their common structural motif is the shape of a comb polymer which provides the steric hindrance effect in dispersion and...