SEM Investigation of Microstructures in Hydration Products of Portland Cement

Author(s):  
Wojciech Franus ◽  
Rafal Panek ◽  
Magdalena Wdowin
2021 ◽  
Vol 1036 ◽  
pp. 240-246
Author(s):  
Jin Tang ◽  
Su Hua Ma ◽  
Wei Feng Li ◽  
Hui Yang ◽  
Xiao Dong Shen

The use of calcined clay and limestone as supplementary cementitious materials, can have a certain influence on the hydration of Portland cement. This paper reviewed the influence of limestone and calcined clay and the mixture of limestone and calcined clay on the hydration of cement. Both limestone and calcined clay accelerate the hydration reaction in the early hydration age and enhance the properties of cement. Limestone reacts with C3A to form carboaluminate, which indirectly stabilized the presence of ettringite, while calcined clay consumed portlandite to form C-(A)-S-H gel, additional hydration products promote the densification of pore structure and increase the mechanical properties. The synergistic effect of calcined clay and limestone stabilize the existence of ettringite and stimulate the further formation of carboaluminate, as well as the C-(A)-S-H gel, contributed to a dense microstructure.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 45-49
Author(s):  
Jiří Němeček ◽  
Jiří Němeček

In this study, the micromechanical response of two cementitious composites was characterized by nanoindentation. Pure Portland cement paste and Portland cement with 50 vol. % replaced with granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) paste were investigated at the age of 28 days. Grid nanoindentation, statistical deconvolution and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize the main hydration products. Several grids with approximately 500 indents on each sample were performed to obtain modulus of elasticity, hardness and creep indentation parameter. Similar mechanical phases containing calcium silica hydrate, crystalline calcium hydroxide and un-hydrated clinker were found in both samples varying by volume fraction. Blended cement, moreover, contains a phase of slag hydration products with a significantly lower modulus of elasticity. This phase with a high portion of unreacted GBFS is mostly responsible for the difference of mechanical properties of the whole composite.


2013 ◽  
Vol 328 ◽  
pp. 863-866
Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Yun Zhang ◽  
Run Qing Liu ◽  
Fang Zhi Lin ◽  
Zi Yan Huang

The mechanical strength change trend of Portland cement at different temperatures (+5°C, 0°C,-5°C,-10°C) was researched, and hydration performance and slurry structure of Portland cement was studied. Results showed that hydration process of Portland cement didn't vary with the lowering of curing temperature, but each stage of hydration time extended. The temperature decrease prolonged formation time of hydration products, making the early microstructure to loose, produces more pores, and causes the early mechanical strength of Portland cement to decrease.


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Joseph ◽  
Al-Bahar ◽  
Chakkamalayath ◽  
Al-Arbeed ◽  
Rasheed

One of the major concerns of concrete industries is to develop materials that consume less natural virgin resources and energy to make sustainable construction practices. Efforts have been made and even implemented to use the waste/by product materials such as fly ash, slag, silica fume, and natural pozzolana as a partial or complete replacement for Portland cement in concrete mixtures. The deterioration of concrete structures in the existing hot and cold climates of Gulf Cooperation Council countries, along with chloride and sulphate attack, demands the use of pozzolanic materials for concrete construction. Volcanic ash incorporated cement based concretes are known for its better performance in terms of strength and durability in harsh marine environments. Understanding the cement hydration process and characterizing the hydration products in microstructural level is a complex and interdependent process that allows one to design complex mix proportions to produce sustainable concrete materials. In this paper, the early and late age hydration behavior along with micro- and pore structure of cement paste samples prepared with locally available ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and volcanic ash (VA) obtained from Saudi Arabia was monitored using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric (TGA) and N2-Adsorption analysis. The hydration progress of cement paste samples with different combinations of OPC and VA (0%, 15%, 25%, and 35%) at a w/c ratio of 0.45 after 14, 28, and 90 days were discussed. The qualitative XRD and SEM of cement paste samples showed no new phases were formed during the course of hydration. The disappearance of portlandite with increase in VA content was due to both pozzolanic effect and dilution effect. This was further confirmed quantitatively by the TGA observations that the samples with VA contain less Ca(OH)2 compared to the control specimens. N2 adsorption experiments after 90 days of curing showed larger hysteresis as the VA content increases. The studies show that the incorporation of volcanic ash certainly contributes to the generation of C-S-H and hence the cement hydration progress, especially in the later ages through pozzolanic reactions. A 15–25 % volcanic ash blended cement paste samples showed compact and denser morphological features, which will be highly detrimental for the durability performances.


2011 ◽  
Vol 675-677 ◽  
pp. 701-704
Author(s):  
Peng Liu ◽  
Zhi Wu Yu ◽  
Ling Kun Chen ◽  
Zhu Ding

Phosphoaluminate cement (PAC) is a kind of new cementitious material which has many special properties compared to Portland cement (PC). PAC sets quickly and develops early-high strength. In order to investigate the hydration mechanism, the hydration products and microstructure of PAC were studied with x-ray diffraction (XRD), electron scanning microscope (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Heat evolution of PAC was also measured. The results show that the hydration mechanism of PAC is different from Portland cement, which is caused by the special minerals including CxP, CA(P), phase L, and so on. The main hydration products of PAC are calcium phosphorus aluminates hydrate (C-A-P-H), calcium phosphate hydrate (C-P-H), aluminates hydrate (C-A-H), the corresponding hydration microcrystal as well as gels. Also, there is no calcium hydroxide produced during hydration. The hydration procedure of PAC is divided into four stages which are dissolution and induction, acceleration, deceleration, stabilization.


2010 ◽  
Vol 158 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zi Qiao Jin ◽  
Xian Jun Lu ◽  
Shu Gang Hu

In order to stimulate the potential cementitious property of granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), the ground GBFS sample (Wei Fang Iron and Steel Corporation, China) was activated by lime and gypsum under different dosages. The results showed that lime is an effective activator for the slag, and the optimum dosage of lime is about 10% (w/w) of the slag. At the optimum dosage of lime, the 28 days compressive strength of the lime-slag paste is higher than that of 32.5 ordinary Portland cement (OPC). But, the early age strength (3 and 7 days compressive strength) of the lime-slag paste is lower than that of the OPC. Addition of gypsum can effectively improve the early age strength of the lime-slag paste. At the ratio of gypsum:lime:slag of 8.2:9.2:82.6 (w/w), both the early and long-term compressive strengths of the gypsum-lime-slag paste are higher than that of the OPC. According to XRD, TG-DTA and SEM detections of the hydration products of the lime-slag paste, the gypsum-lime-slag paste and the OPC paste, it reveals that the hydration process of the GBFS-based cementitious material is different from the ordinary Portland cement and the presence of ettringite (AFt) contributes to the early age strength of the pastes. The major hydration product of the OPC paste (<7 days) were measured as ettringite (AFt), but the AFt phase was not detected in the hydration product of the lime-slag paste and the major hydration product of the lime-slag paste was determined as amorphous CSH gel. However, AFt was detected in the hydration products of the gypsum-lime-slag paste in the early stages of hydration, and the formation of AFt is favorable for the early strength improvement of the material.


Author(s):  
Eunyong Lee ◽  
Haeryong Jung ◽  
Ki-jung Kwon ◽  
Do-Gyeum Kim

Laboratory-scale experiments were performed to understand the porosity change of cement pastes. The cement pastes were prepared using commercially available Type-I ordinary Portland cement (OPC). As the cement pastes were exposed in water, the porosity of the cement pastes sharply increased; however, the slow decrease of porosity was observed as the dissolution period was extended more than 50 days. As expected, the dissolution reaction was significantly influenced by w/c raito and the ionic strength of solution. A thermodynamic model was applied to simulate the porosity change of the cement pastes. It was highly influenced by the depth of the cement pastes. There was porosity increase on the surface of the cement pastes due to dissolution of hydration products, such as portlandite, ettringite, and CSH. However, the decrease of porosity was estimated inside the cement pastes due to the precipitation of cement minerals.


2014 ◽  
Vol 576 ◽  
pp. 57-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Ping Deng ◽  
Xiao Liang Wang ◽  
Yi Ping Guo

Magnesium slag is a kind of industrial waste during the silicothermic process for magnesium reduction which has potential hydration activity. By adding 20% to 50% of magnesium slag into Portland cement, the influence principle of the additive amount of magnesium slag on the pozzolanic activity is investigated through performance testing and hydration products analysis. During the early period of hydration process, the strength of pozzolanic effectiveness ratio weakens with the increasing additive amount of magnesium slag, while during the later period of hydration process with the additive amount of magnesium slag less than 40%, the strength of pozzolanic effectiveness ratio increases with increasing additive amount of magnesium slag. The activity index of magnesium slag increases with the increase of period and additive amount, and the strength brought by hydration of magnesium slag is a key source of the strength improvement of Portland cement with magnesium slag.


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