Strength development and microstructure of hardened cement paste blended with red mud

Red mud was activated to be a mineral admixture for Portland cement by means of heating at different elevated temperatures from 400 °C to 700 °C. Results show that heating was effective, among which thermal activation of red mud at 600 °C was most effective. Chemical analysis suggested that cement added with 600 °C thermally activated red mud yielded more calcium ion during the early stage of hydration and less at later stage in liquid phase of cement water suspension system, more combined water and less calcium hydroxide in its hardened cement paste. MIP measurement and SEM observation proved that the hardened cement paste had a similar total porosity and a less portion of large size pores hence a denser microstructure compared with that added with original red mud. Funded by the National 973 Program of China (No. 2001CB610703)     

Effect of corrosive solutions on C-S-H microstructure in portland cement paste with fly ash

By means of ²⁹Si and ²⁷Al magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) combined with deconvolution technique, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as well as energy dispersive X-ray system(EDX), the effect of 5 wt% corrosive solutions (viz. 5 wt% Na₂SO₄, MgSO₄, Na2SO4+NaCl and Na₂SO₄+NaCl+Na₂CO₃) on C-S-H microstructure in Portland cement containing 30 wt% fly ash was investigated.The results show that, in MgSO₄ solution, Mg²⁺ promotes the decalcification of C-S-H by SO ₄ ^2- ,increasing silicate tetrahedra polymerization and mean chain length (MCL) of C-S-H. However, the substituting degree of Al³⁺ for Si⁴⁺ (Al[4]/Si) in the paste does not change evidently. Effect of Na²SO⁴ solution on C-S-H is not significantly influenced by NaCl solution, while the MCL and Al[4]/Si of C-S-H in fly ashcement paste slightly change. However, the decalcification of C-S-H by SO ₄ ^2- and CO ₃ ^2- attack, as well as the activation of fly ash by SO ₄ ^2- attack will increase the MCL and Al[4]/Si, which are both higher than that under Na₂SO₄ corrosion, MgSO₄ or Na₂SO₄ +NaCl coordination corrosion.     

Characterization of yield stress development of cement paste by electrical resistivity

Yield stress development of cement paste is potentially governed by percolation of 3-dimensional links formed by hydration products on the surface of the particles. It rises steadily at a gradual rate before a sudden increase in rate of growth. In this study, a method was proposed to predict the yield stress development based on the diameter of spread(D) of mini slump cone test and gradient from electrical resistivity measurement(K_m). To evaluate the significance of(D) and(K_m) in terms of yield stress, they were quantitatively compared to the initial yield stress(τ_0) and rate of yield stress growth(K) obtained from a rheometer. A mathematical relationship between the yield stress of cement paste, diameter of spread and electrical resistivity characteristic gradient was developed. The equation developed can be used as an alternative method to estimate yield stress of cement paste.     

Effects of LiAl-layered double hydroxides on early hydration of calcium sulphoaluminate cement paste

As a 3D micro-nano material, layered double hydroxides have been widely used in many fields, especially for reinforced composite materials. In this paper, LiAl-LDHs was obtained by a hydrothermal method. In order to investigate the effects of LiAl-LDHs on the early hydration of calcium sulphoaluminate (CSA) cement paste, compressive strength, setting time and hydration heat were tested while X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scaning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis were employed. The results indicated that LiAl-LDHs could significantly improve the early compressive strength and shorten the setting time of calcium sulphoaluminate cement paste with 3wt% concentration. Besides, the hydration exothermic rate within 5 h was accelerated with increasing LiAl-LDHs content. Moreover, the addition of LiAl-LDHs did not result in the formation of a new phase, but increased the quantity of hydration products providing higher compressive strength, shorter setting time and denser microstructure.     

Numerical modeling of elastic modulus for cement paste using homogenization method

This paper focused on the evolution over time of elasticity of the cement paste during the hydration, e g, Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ration, by the proposed homogenization method combined the percolation algorithm with individual phase intrinsic elasticity. A cement paste development model, named CEMHYD3D, was used to establish an accurate microstructure. The modelling results are in good agreement with the experimental data and other numerical results available in the open literature. The suitable homogeneous scheme, applied to each level, should be carefully chosen to result in a realistic prediction. The percolation concept should aims to correctly predict the elasticity for cement paste at very early age, especially under low w/c ratios.     

萘系减水剂/氧化石墨烯复合材料对水泥石微观结构和性能的影响

采用Hummers法和超声剥离制备了氧化石墨烯(GO)纳米片层分散液,再与萘系减水剂(NS)复合得到NS/GO复合材料.研究了NS/GO复合材料对水泥净浆流动性和水泥石抗压耐折强度的影响.研究结果表明,当NS/GO的掺量为4.8g/0.06g(每100g水泥)时,净浆流动度可以达到204mm,所得水泥石的抗压强度为65.4MPa,且耐折强度达到10.6MPa,分别比对照样品提高了29.3%和41.4%.SEM形貌结果表明,GO能够促使水泥水化反应形成致密的片层状结构.这些结果对于提高混凝土的抗压耐折强度,以及抗裂性和耐久性等具有重要的意义.     

NMR research on cement clinker and its structures in early age hydration

Clinker has long been regarded as a critical factor for cement hydration and solidification.α-C2S and β-C2S in 2CaO·SiO2(C2S) phase and C3S Monoclinic 1(C3S M1) and C3S Monoclinic 3 (C3S M3) in 3CaO·SiO2 (C3S) phase were clearly recorded in the 29Si MAS NMR spectra.The content of C3S phase in the clinker deduced from the fine peak analysis coincides with the phase quantification analysis calculated by the Taylor-Bogue method based on XRF,which also accords to the statistical data in industrial production.NM...     

Dynamic elastic modulus of cement paste at early age based on nondestructive test and multiscale prediction model

This paper introduced a nondestructive testing method to evaluate the dynamic elastic modulus of cement paste. Moreover, the effect of water-cement ratio and conventional admixtures on the dynamic elastic modulus of cement paste was investigated, in which three kinds of admixtures were taken into account including viscosity modifying admixture （VMA）, silica.fume （SF）, and shrinkage-reducing admixture （SRA）. The experimental results indicate that the dynamic elastic modulus of cement paste increases with decreasing water-cement ratio. The addition of SF increases the dynamic elastic modulus, however, the overdosage of VMA causes its reduction. SRA reduces the dynamic elastic modulus at early age without affecting it in later period. Finally, a multiscale micromechanics approach coupled with a hydration model CEMHYD3D and percolation theory is utilized to predict the elastic modulus of cement paste, and the predictive results by the model are in accordance with the experimental data.     

The crack of harden cement paste observed with multi-technique

The shrinkage of the cement paste with low water-cement ratio at different relative humidity was observed and analyzed with ESEM and deformation map technique. The crack morphology was observed with different magnification with SEM and FESEM, and the formation of the crack was observed with AFM between two C-S-H nano particles. The observation by multi technique at multi scale indicated that the shrinkage was increase with the decrease of the humidity due to the increase of the pressure of the capillary pressure, the morphology of the crack in smaller scale was similar to that in the bigger scale, the smaller crack distributed in the latticework of the bigger ones, and the crack propagated along the gap between two nano particles of C-S-H with weaker bonding.     

The Electrical Resistivity of Cement Paste Incorporated with Retarder

1　IntroductionThefunctionoftheretarderistooffsetthesettingtimeofcement basedmaterials .Thus ,itdelaysboththeinitialsettingandfinalsetting .Thecommonmethodtode terminethesettingtimesadoptsthepenetrationresis tance .Theindirectmethodistousetheelectricalresis tivity[1,2 ] tomeasurecementhydrationcurveandthentocomparewiththesettingtime .Previousresearchersusedtheelectrodestomeasuretheelectricalresistivitythatwillcausethecontactproblemsbetweenthecement basedma terialsandelectrodes .Inthispaper ,a…     

Local porosity distribution of cement paste characterized by X-ray micro-tomography

Porosity is one of the most important parameters for cement-based materials,which influences the mechanical property,transport property,and durability.The spatial and frequency distributions of local porosity of cement pastes are characterized using X-ray micro-tomography data and treating methods.The 3D spatial distributions for three cement paste specimens with different water cement(w/c)ratios show reasonable heterogeneity.The probability analysis also reveals this heterogeneity:the representative volume element(RVE)size based on porosity maps decreases with w/c ratio firstly,then increases with w/c ratio;and the heterogeneity on the characterized probe size or on the RVE size increases with w/c ratio.Average porosities obtained using the CT method are further compared with those by traditional methods.     

木素磺酸钙对水泥净浆的缓凝机理研究

研究了掺加木素磺酸钙(简称木钙)后水泥净浆液相中钙离子、硫酸根离子和氢氧根离子浓度随水化时间的变化,以及除糖后木素磺酸钙对水泥净浆凝结时间的影响．结果表明,掺加木钙后在水化初期水泥净浆中S042-浓度大幅度上升,OH-浓度变化不大．木钙掺量越大,水泥净浆中游离Ca2 浓度的峰值出现越迟,浆体的初凝时间越长．进一步研究发现木钙的掺加能促进熟料矿物的水解,当木钙掺量为0．5％(质量分数)时,水泥净浆中的总Ca2 浓度峰值比未掺加木钙时增加48％,被络合的Ca2 量峰值较水化开始时增加2倍．在水泥净浆强碱性溶液中木钙的络合能力增强导致Ca(OH)2不能达到过饱和,是造成水泥净浆缓凝的重要原因,木钙对水泥净浆的缓凝机理为“吸附-络合”机理．     

Adsorption mechanism of polycarboxylate-based superplasticizer in CFBC ash-Portland cement paste

Circulating fluidized bed combustion （CFBC） ash exhibits the desirable pozzolanic activity which makes it a potential supplementary cementitious material to replace cement for concrete production. However, the high unburnt carbon content and porous surface structure of CFBC ash may adsorb water reducer and thereby significantly reduce the efficiency of water-reducing agents. The adsorption mechanism of polycarboxylate superplasticizer in CFBC ash-Portland cement paste was investigated by ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, and the conception of ＂invalid adsorption site＂ of CFBC ash was presented. The results show that the adsorption behavior of polycarboxylate superplasticizer in coal ash-Portland cement paste can be described by Langmuir isothermal adsorption equation. The adsorption capacity of CFBC ash-Portland cement paste is higher than that of pulverized coal combustion （PCC） fly ash-Portland cement paste. Moreover, the adsorption amount of polycarboxylate superplasticizer increases with the ratio of ash-to-cement in the paste. At last, the fluidity of CFBC ash-Portland cement paste is lower than that of the PCC fly ash paste. This work suggests that when CFBC ash is used as concrete admixture, the poor flowability of the cementitious system due to the high adsorption of water and water-reducing agent should be taken into consideration.     

碳化作用下水泥浆内亚硝酸根离子的含量分布

通过电子探针微区分析(EPMA)和X射线衍射分析(XRD)技术探明了碳化对硬化水泥浆内亚硝酸根离子分布的影响,阐明了游离亚硝酸根离子的迁移和吸附规律,有利于精确评价亚硝酸根离子在混凝土中的阻锈作用。结果表明:含亚硝酸盐的水泥浆体水化后生成新的水化产物结晶相NO_2-AFm,并均匀分布于水泥浆内。NO_2-AFm在碳化过程中重新分解生成亚硝酸根离子并向未碳化区扩散,致使碳化区NO_2-含量减少,非碳化区NO_2-含量增加。由于碳化过程中C-S-H凝胶分解,吸附于凝胶表面的游离亚硝酸根离子重新转变成游离态,碳化区游离态亚硝酸根离子含量增多,同时硅元素从碳化区向未碳化区迁移,未碳化区C-S-H凝胶非晶态含量增加,提高了游离态亚硝酸根离子的固化率,使碳化区游离态亚硝酸根离子含量高于未碳化区。     

Self similarity of the spherical C-S-H particle in cement paste

Cement paste with low water/cement ratio of 0.3 was observed using AFM. It is found that C-S-H has self similarity trait from scanning scale 20 μm×20 μm down to 300 nm×300 nm, and the feature of C-S-H at large scale is very similar to those smaller scales. It can be concluded that C-S-H is composed with some fundamental spherical globule, the fundamental globules agglomerate into bigger ones, moreover the bigger ones agglomerate into even bigger one. A C-S-H globule fractal model was put forward to describe the self similarity of the C-S-H globule, which can be used to reveal how the C-S-H globule contacts with each other.     

搅拌时间对粉煤灰水泥净浆流动性及早期抗压强度的影响

影响粉煤灰水泥净浆的流动性与早期抗压强度等问题一个重要原因就是拌合是否充分,搅拌时间是否合适。现有的相关规范中对于拌合时间的规定大都针对普通混凝土,随着高性能混凝土的发展,尤其是粉煤灰混凝土近几年来的广泛使用,导致现有的拌合时间规定无法满足粉煤灰混凝土均匀性的控制要求。为此,通过初步研究不同拌合时间对不同掺量的粉煤灰水泥净浆流动性及早期抗压强度的影响,最终确定合理的粉煤灰水泥净浆拌合时间,供进一步研究与工程应用参考。     

水泥加固土微观结构的分形

为了明确有机质对水泥加固土强度形成所产生的影响,采用水泥对不同有机质含量的软土进行加固,通过无侧限抗压试验测定达到养护期的水泥加固土的力学指标,对有机质含量与水泥土强度的关系进行分析,利用扫描电子显微镜采集不同试样的微观结构照片,并采用WD-5图像处理系统对土样的微观结构图像进行定量分析,提取各试样中土颗粒形态的分维数值,用颗粒分布的计盒维数来表征各试样的分形特征.结果表明:有机质含量越高,颗粒分布的分维数值越大,试样的团粒化程度越低,水泥加固土的强度越差.土中有机质对水泥加固软土的效果具有一定的影响,颗粒分布分形的计盒维数与水泥加固土的强度呈负相关性.     

Modelling of time dependency of chloride diffusion coefficient in cement paste

A computer-based model and method was presented to predict the time dependency of chloride diffusion coefficients in cement paste. The HYMOSTRUC3D model was applied to generate a 3D representative elementary volume (REV) of cement paste. In the simulation of microstructure, both of cement hydration and chloride binding were considered. With the simulated microstructure of cement paste, the finite element method was applied to simulate the diffusion process of chloride through the saturated cement paste. Based on the Fick’s first law, the chloride diffusion coefficient can be calculated. In this method, the influences of age and w/c ratio on the chloride diffusion coefficient were evaluated. The simulated chloride diffusivities with various w/c at different time were compared to experimental data obtained from the literature. The experimental results indicate that the chloride diffusion coefficient decreases with the increase of time and the decrease of w/c ratio. The trend of simulated relationship (diffusion coefficient vs time, diffusion coefficient vs w/c ratio) fits very well with the experiments.