Influence of Calcium Sulfate State and Fineness of Cement on Hydration of Portland Cements Using Electrical Measurement

1 IntroductionThe calcium sulfate state includes gypsum, hemi-hydrate and anhydrite .Inthe modern Portland cement in-dustry,the gypsumis used as a setting retarder for reac-tion with C3A1]. With the presence of gypsumin theformof CaSO4·2H2O,the gypsum dissolves and reactsprimarily with C3A and C4AF to form ettringite . Thisettringite isinitiallyformed with a veryfine-needle crystalstructure ,whichforms a diffusion barrier onthe surface ofthe cement . This coating avoids the unwanted fl…

Influence of calcium sulfate state and fineness of cement on hydration of Portland cements using electrical measurement

The influence of calcium sulfate state and fineness of cement on hydration of Portland cement was studied using electrical resistivity measurement. The bulk resistivity curve of the paste from the abnormal cement mainly with hemihydrate had a characteristic abnormal peak and rapid increase in early period. The resistivity measurement technique can be used to discriminate abnormal setting. For normal cement with gypsum, the increase in fineness of the Portland cement decreases the minimum resistivhy due to a higher ionic concentration and increases the 24 hour resistivity due to a reduction in macroscopic pore size. The setting time, compressive strength, pore structure of pastes made from different cements were carried out to compare the influence of water to cement ratio, calcium sulfate state and fineness. It is found that the electrical and mechanical properties are strongly affected by the initial porosity, the presence of hemihydrate or gypsum, and the fineness of cement.