Selection of an effective ASR-prevention strategy for use with a highly reactive aggregate for the reconstruction of concrete structures at Mactaquac generating station

Mactaquac Generating Station was constructed in the mid 1960's and is located in the province of New Brunswick in Eastern Canada. The effect of ASR expansion on the concrete structures of the station were first noticed approximately 10 years after construction and, ASR was conclusively diagnosed in 1986. Since 1985, various remedial measures have been undertaken to mitigate the effects of concrete expansion. Eventually reconstruction of the concrete structures will be necessary and current projections are that replacement should be complete by 2030. Due to the lack of any suitable locally-available non-reactive aggregate, consideration is being given to using the same source of reactive aggregate for reconstruction.This paper describes a research study to determine the optimum strategy for preventing deleterious ASR expansion with this aggregate. The options being evaluated include the use of pozzolans and slag, limiting the alkali content of the concrete, and the use of chemical admixtures. Methods of evaluation include accelerated laboratory tests and field exposure of large blocks.     

Effects of the secondary minerals of the natural pozzolans on their pozzolanic activity

Natural pozzolans have been widely used as substitutes for Portland cement, because of their binding properties. Some of them are natural volcanic rocks which contain secondary minerals such as clays and zeolites corresponding to products of the alteration of the rock. The objective of this study was to document the potential effect of the secondary minerals on the strength development of pozzolanic mortars. We chose to investigate this effect by thermally destabilising these minerals in three different pozzolanic deposits (poz-1, poz-2 and poz-3). We first did a detailed mineralogical study, to identify the occurrence and the nature of the different secondary minerals. Kaolinite is abundant in poz-1 and different types of zeolite were identified in poz-2 and poz-3. Thermal treatments were monitored by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, in order to document mineralogical transformations. The effect on the pozzolanic activity has been tested by strength measurements on normalised mortars at 1, 7 and 28 days. Strength of all blended cements is enhanced while destabilising secondary alteration minerals. For kaolinite, we showed that a strength improvement occurs as soon as it is destructured, even if it is not transformed in metakaolin. For zeolites, destabilisation takes place at low temperature (350 °C), but as recrystallisation products are easily formed, activation temperature window is narrow. Endly, we have evidence that the presence of calcite in pozzolans has an effect on early strength. Therefore this study is giving new perspectives for a better use of natural pozzolanic materials in the cement industry.     

Lime-based plasters with combined expanded clay-silica aggregate: Microstructure,texture and engineering properties

Plasters containing lightweight aggregates are mostly characteristic by low bulk density and low thermal conductivity but these favorable properties are often achieved at the expense of mechanical strength. In this paper, lightweight lime-based plasters are designed which have good thermal and mechanical properties at the same time. As their supposed applications include the renovation of surface layers of historical buildings, burnt clay shale is used as pozzolanic admixture to lime. The volumetric ratio of silica sand and expanded clay aggregate (ECA) is varied over a wide range to analyze the effect of ECA on microstructure, texture, and mechanical, thermal and hygric parameters of investigated plasters. The microstructural studies show a more compact interfacial transition zone between the basic lime-pozzolan matrix and ECA, as compared with silica sand, which is the most important factor affecting the properties of studied plasters. Apparently, the surface roughness of ECA grains at first makes possible easier formation of hydration products and later it can support the growth of calcite crystals and CSH amorphous phases. The textural analysis together with the measurement of basic physical properties reveals, as the second principal factor, a substantial increase of open porosity with the increasing ECA dosage; the added pores are mostly within the range of 10 nm to 1 μm. The assessment of the wide range of engineering properties of designed plasters leads to the identification of the lime-pozzolan plaster with the volumetric ratio of 1: 1 between silica sand and ECA as the most appropriate solution. The thermal conductivity of this plaster is two times lower than of the lime-pozzolan plaster with silica aggregates, while the changes in compressive and bending strengths are only marginal. The favorable hygric properties can be considered as another asset. Faster water vapor transport, together with the higher water vapor adsorption capability, can decrease a risk of water condensation and moderate the effects of both exterior and interior climate, the relatively slow liquid water transport is a limiting factor for rainwater penetration. The economical parameters of the plaster with the best functional properties are also very good. According to the current situation on the Czech market, the price increase is only 3%, as compared with the reference mix.     

Packing effect and pozzolanic reaction of fly ash in mortar

This research is to study the effect of particle size of fly ash on packing effect and pozzolanic reaction of mortar when 20% of fly ash is used to replace Portland cement type I. Both effects can be determined by using fly ash and insoluble material which have almost the same particle size to replace Portland cement type I. Normally, the compressive strength of fly ash mortar is contributed from hydration reaction, packing effect, and pozzolanic reaction. For mortar mixed with insoluble material, the compressive strength is due to hydration reaction and packing effect. Thus, compressive strength due to pozzolanic reaction can be determined from the difference in compressive strength between fly ash mortar and insoluble material mortar. The results show that the strength activity index of fly ash mortar depends on the median particle size of fly ash and curing ages of mortar samples. At early ages, the strength activity index of fly ash mortar due to packing effect is higher than that due to pozzolanic reaction. At the ages of 3 to 90 days, the difference in strength activity index due to packing effect of fly ashes with median particle size of 2.7 and 160 μm is almost constant about 22% of the strength of standard mortar (STD). The differences in strength activity index due to pozzolanic reaction of fly ashes with median particle size of 2.7 and 160 μm are 3%, 20%, and 27%, respectively, at the ages of 3, 28, and 90 days.     

Time to failure for concrete exposed to severe sulfate attack

In the 1940s, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) began a long-term, nonaccelerated laboratory test program to determine the influence of a variety of concrete-mix parameters on resistance to severe sulfate exposure conditions. This paper reports the time of failure of these samples as influenced by their water-to-cement (w/c) ratio, cement composition, and percent replacement of cement with fly ash. The analysis indicates that there is a “safe zone” for concrete made with w/c ratio lower than 0.45 and cement with unhydrated tricalcium aluminate (C₃A) content lower than 8% where failure did not occur within the 40-year exposure period. As expected, concrete samples cast with high amount of C₃A failed after a relatively short time of sulfate exposure. Expansion tests indicated that cements containing high amounts of C₃S may lead to premature failure of concrete, even when moderate w/c ratios are used. Samples prepared with 25% and 45% replacement of cement with fly ash showed significantly less expansion than comparable mixtures containing no pozzolans.     

Determination of the pozzolanic activity of fluid catalytic cracking residue. Thermogravimetric analysis studies on FC3R-lime pastes

Spent fluid catalytic cracking catalyst (FC3R) from a petrol refinery played a pozzolanic role in portland cement system as revealed by previous experimental data. In the present study, the pozzolanic activity of FC3R was investigated by means thermogravimetry (TG) of cured lime-FC3R pastes. The influence of pozzolan/lime ratio on the pozzolanic activity was investigated. Due to the chemical composition of FC3R is similar to metakaolin (MK), and knowing that MK has a high pozzolanic activity, the latter was used as a material of comparison in this study. The scope of the study is the determination of the pozzolanic activity of FC3R and the evaluation of amount and nature of pozzolanic products. The products obtained from the reaction between FC3R components (SiO₂/Al₂O₃) and calcium hydroxide (CH) have been characterized, finding that the main pozzolanic reaction product was similar to hydrated gehlenite (calcium aluminosilicate hydrate) CSH and CAH were also formed in the reaction. FC3R showed higher pozzolanic reactivity than metakaolin, for low-lime content pastes and early curing age. Thermogravimetry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) became very useful techniques for evaluation of reactivity.     

Modification of the properties of concrete by a new pozzolan—a waste catalyst from the catalytic process in a fluidized bed

The zeolitic waste material studied (fluidized bed cracking catalyst, FBCC) is characterised by a content of more than 90 wt.% of SiO₂ and Al₂O₃, a mean grain size within 20-80 μm, and a specific surface above 100 m²/g. Its chemical composition makes it similar to some fly ashes and metakaolin. The present work was devoted to the study of the mechanism of interaction of FBCC with Portland cement and of the pozzolanic activity. Concretes were made with FBCC additions of 10% and 20% (relative to the mass of cement) used as a substitute for the sand aggregate fraction, and the following properties of the concretes were determined under nonaggressive conditions: compressive strength, porosity, water absorption, frost resistance, and steel passivation ability. It has been found that FBCC has pozzolanic properties, and its pozzolanic activity depends on its grain size. FBCC favourably modifies the porous structure of the concretes, increases their compressive strength, density, and frost resistance, and reduces water absorption. The effectiveness of FBCC increases under conditions of strong dispersion. FBCC does not deteriorate the steel passivation ability of concrete when used as a 10% additive, but at a content of 20 wt.%, it can make difficult the formation of a passive layer that conforms to the Polish standards.     

Importance of using the natural pozzolans on concrete durability

Natural pozzolans have become important because of their role in concrete durability. This situation has provoked an increase in the use of pozzolanic cement in concrete construction. This paper reports results of different portland-pozzolan cements containing different natural pozzolans, and they were compared with ASTM Types I, II and V cements. The pozzolanic activity and composition of each pozzolan were evaluated. The susceptibility to sulfate attack was studied by measuring the expansion in mortar bars at different ages (according to ASTM C 1012 Method) for 78 weeks. It was found that certain cements containing pozzolans with high activity or low alumina content improve resistance to sulfate attack, although the amount of pozzolan in the cement is important.     

Enhancement of lime reactivity by addition of diatomite

Diatomite was used as a Pozzolan to augment lime reactivity. This was confirmed through laboratory wet and dry flue gas desulfurization (FGD) experiments using pH-stat apparatus (representing wet FGD) and fixed bed reactors (representing dry FGD). BET surface area analysis and SEM imaging were used in characterization and to aid in understanding the behavior of the sorbent. After affirming that diatomite improves lime's reactivity, optimization tests were conducted to maximize the reactivity output. The effect of various variables namely; temperature, lime to diatomite ratio, solid to liquid ratio and stirring speed, were maximized linearly, quadratically and interactively. The design of optimization experiments was done through design expert software. Central cubic design was used for regression analysis. As expected, temperature had the highest effect towards reactivity. Some effect showed a mini-max behavior while others had a sinusoidal trend.     

Effect of material characteristics on the properties of blended cements containing high volumes of natural pozzolans

The effect of three different natural pozzolans from Turkish deposits on the properties of blended cements produced by intergrinding cement clinker with a high volume of natural pozzolan (55 wt.% of the cementitious material) was investigated. The particle size distribution of blended cements, setting time, heat of hydration, and compressive strength of blended cement mortars were determined. Experimental results showed that the hardness of the pozzolanic material strongly influenced the particle size distribution and the related properties of the blended cements by affecting the fineness of the components of the blended product. The early strength of the mortars was strongly affected by the particle size distribution of blended cements, whereas the strength development performance of the mortars was more related to the pozzolanic activity of the natural pozzolan present in the blended cement.