scholarly journals Effect of Early Age-Curing Methods on Drying Shrinkage of Alkali-Activated Slag Concrete

Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxin Cai ◽  
Linwen Yu ◽  
Yong Yang ◽  
Yang Gao ◽  
Changhui Yang

Drying shrinkage of alkali-activated slag concrete (AASC) is significantly greater than that of concrete made with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). It limits the large-scale application of AASC in field engineering. This study investigates the effect of early age-curing methods, including water curing, curing in elevated-temperature water, and CO2 curing, on drying shrinkage of AASC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric (TG-DTG), and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) were carried out to analyze the composition and microstructure of hydration products, to provide deeper understanding of drying shrinkage of AASC. The results show that water curing decreased drying shrinkage of both C30 and C50 AASC moderately compared to air curing, while it was more effective for C30 AASC. Curing in water of elevated temperature and CO2 curing were very beneficial to mitigate drying shrinkage of AASC. Heat curing decreased drying shrinkage of AASC up to 80%. SEM and TG-DTG results show that denser microstructure formed because of the accelerated hydration, resulting in lower porosity and lower proportion of pores smaller than 25 nm that contributed to the reduction of drying shrinkage. In addition, under high-temperature curing, most autogenous shrinkage of AASC occurred in the first few days because hydration was accelerated. After measurement of drying shrinkage was started, recorded autogenous shrinkage of AASC cured in elevated-temperature water should be much less than that of AASC cured at normal temperature. It is another important reason for the reduction of drying shrinkage. Carbonation occurring in the CO2 curing period led to the decalcification of C-(A)-S-H gel; it coarsened the pore-size distribution and decreased the total porosity. Therefore, drying shrinkage of C30 and C50 AASC was declined by 49% and 53% respectively.

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3499
Author(s):  
Bin Chen ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Jinyou Zhao

The shrinkage of alkali-activated slag (AAS) is obviously higher than ordinary Portland cement, which limited its application in engineering. In this study, the effects of NaAlO2 in mitigating drying shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage of AAS were studied. To further understand the shrinkage mechanism, the hydration products and microstructures were studied by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption approaches. As the partial substitution rate of NaAlO2 for Na2SiO3 increased, the drying shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage reduced significantly. The addition of NaAlO2 could slow down the rate of hydration reaction and reduce the porosity, change the pore diameter and the composition of generated paste and cause more hydrotalcite and tetranatrolite generated—which contributed to reduced shrinkage. Additionally, raising the Na2O content rate caused obvious differences in drying shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage. As the Na2O content elevated, the drying shrinkage decreased and autogenous shrinkage increased. A high Na2O content would cause complete hydration reactions and provoke high autogenous shrinkage. However, incomplete hydration reactions left more water in the paste, and the evaporated water dramatically influenced drying shrinkage. The results indicate that addition of NaAlO2 could greatly mitigate the drying shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage of AAS.


2018 ◽  
Vol 761 ◽  
pp. 45-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladyslav Omelchuk ◽  
Guang Ye ◽  
Rayisa Runova ◽  
Igor I. Rudenko

Nowadays, alkali-activated cements (AACs) are the most promising alternatives to ordinary portland cement (OPC). Such cements characterized by better strength and corrosion resistance that determine improved durability of materials based on them. However, the shrinkage of AAC systems is noticeably higher compared with OPC. The purpose of this work was to study the shrinkage behavior of alkali-activated slag cement (AASC) pastes. To improve early age performance of AASCs – OPC and Ca(OH)2, as mineral additives, were added to the designed cement mixtures. The properties, like, flexural and compressive strength of cement mortars, chemical shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage and drying shrinkage of cement pastes were studied. The results showed that the chemical shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage and drying shrinkage at 28 days were between 0.064 – 0.074 ml/g, 4.5 – 7.9 mm/m and 3.3 – 4.9 mm/m, respectively. The relationship between the nature of alkaline components, the type of mineral additives and the shrinkage behavior of cements were discussed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 168-170 ◽  
pp. 2008-2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Hao Fang ◽  
Ya Min Gu ◽  
Qiu Boa Kang

The chemical shrinkages of alkali-activated slag cement (AASC), and the effect of fly ash, MgO burnt at 900°C and the curing solutions were studied. The shrinkages were compared with that of ordinary portland cement (OPC). The results show that the chemical shrinkage of AASC is lower than that of OPC. Adding fly ash and light-burnt MgO reduced the early age chemical shrinkage, while the shrinkage-reduction effect decreased with the age. The alkality of the curing solution has significant effect on the hydration and shrinkage of AASC. The chemical shrinkage of AASC increased with the alkali concentration of the curing solution. The mechanisms of fly ash, MgO and curing solution on the shrinkage were discussed.


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