Chemicals that combat the natural "tightening" of drying concrete to prevent cracks before they even start.
Achieving compressive strengths over 100 MPa—strong enough to build the world’s tallest skyscrapers, like the Burj Khalifa . The Modern Toolkit: 7 Essential Powers Science and technology of concrete admixtures
Fast-forward to the 20th century, and the industry faced a paradox: builders needed concrete that flowed like water to fill complex steel reinforcements, but adding too much water made the final structure weak and porous. Chemicals that combat the natural "tightening" of drying