Dott.ssa Miriam Mba Synthesis and characterization of

DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE CHIMICHE
Dott.ssa Miriam Mba
tel +39 049 8275269
fax +39 049 8275792
[email protected]
Proposta di Tesi per Laurea Magistrale
Synthesis and characterization of polycarboxylate ether superplasticizers (PCE)
Concrete is the most used infrastructure material and also the most important man-made
material, both in terms of the amount we produce each year and the total mass we’ve laid down.
Superplasticizers are organic polymers used in concrete industry to enhance the workability of
concrete. They allow better dispersion of cement particles preventing flocculation and therefore
increasing the fluidity of the mixture.
Polycarboxylate ether-based superplasticizers are among the state of the art superplasticizers.
They are comb-like copolymers containing a sodium polymethacrylate (PMA) backbone partially
esterified with polyethyleneglycol (PEG) side chains.
Molecular architecture of the PCEs has a strong influence in their performance, some factors are:
lengh of the PEG side chain, lengh of the main chain and distribution of the charge within the main
chain. The project aims to use NMR and MALDI-TOF techniques to study the microstructure of
different PCEs
We are looking for: a student with interest in polymer chemistry, NMR
you will learn: synthesis of polymers, 1D and 2D NMR, MALDI-TOF
you will work: in a nice environment, other partners involved are MAPEI and CIRCe
Per informazioni contattare la Dott.ssa Miriam Mba.