Sika develops and markets a complete range of admixtures and additives for use in concrete, cement and mortar production. These products enhance specific properties of the fresh and hardened concrete, such as workability, watertightness, durability, or early and final strength.
Our global technology network of over 60 Concrete Systems teams drives innovation through focused R&D, delivering solutions that combine performance, ease of use, and sustainability. We develop advanced admixtures that enable sustainable concrete applications, helping our partners significantly reduce CO₂ emissions across five core customer groups and markets. By extending the lifespan of structures and enhancing efficiency, Sika delivers high-performance solutions with a lower carbon footprint—building responsibly for a sustainable future." Emmanuel Gallucci, Head of Technology Concrete Systems
Combining Sustainability and Performance
Extended workability, controlled over several hours, is especially important for urban construction sites with congested traffic, or remote areas resulting in long transportation times. At the same time, once the concrete is placed, fast curing is of utmost importance to meet tight construction schedules. Concrete admixtures by Sika are significantly prolonging the workability time of fresh concrete and still ensure equally fast strength development. The workability time can be modified in accordance to job site requirements.
Since more than a hundred years, Sika paves the way for progress in concrete solutions by developing and marketing admixtures and additives for use in concrete, cement and mortar production. Sika has the technologies to make this building material considerably more environmentally friendly.
Combining Sustainability and Performance
| Typical Application | Sika Solution | Special Performance |
|---|---|---|
| Water Reducing Admixtures | Sika® ViscoCrete® | Highly efficient superplasticizer based on polycarboxylates |
| Workability Enhancing Admixtures | Sika ViscoFlow® | Newly developed PCE, enhancing the workability time significantly, allowing for the time needed to transport and to place the concrete properly |
| Shrinkage Controlling Admixtures | Sika®Control | Strong reductions in concrete shrinkage. Up to 40% is possible. |
| Cohesiveness enhancing Admixtures | Sika® Stabilizer | Increases overall mix cohesiveness without promoting concrete stiffening, which ultimately results in easier placement, reduced consolidation effort and improved aesthetics |
Securing quality for concrete
Concrete is the world’s most widely used building material, forming the backbone of modern infrastructure from tunnels to skyscrapers. Improvements in concrete benefit everyone—lower costs, greater strength, better durability, and easier application all contribute to safer, more resilient structures. But as a composite material, concrete is only as strong as its weakest component. Because raw material quality varies widely by region and can decline over time, Sika’s admixture technologies close these gaps to ensure consistently high performance and reliability worldwide.
Durability of concrete structures
As construction costs rise, keeping structures in service longer is essential to reduce life‑cycle costs and support better investment decisions. Preventing cracks helps maintain concrete’s natural high-alkaline environment, protecting reinforcement from corrosion—a key but difficult aspect of durability. New shrinkage‑reducing and compensating admixtures like Sika® Control SRA can create shrinkage‑neutral, even non‑shrink concrete. High‑performance concrete is therefore not one single material, but a range of engineered concretes designed to deliver specific properties for each application.
