Hydration mechanism of sulphoaluminate cement

The feasibility of sulphoaluminate cement (SAC) utilization in support mortar was studied. Setting time and strength of as-received sulphoaluminate cement (SAC) paste were examined, hydration kinetics behavior was determined through Isothermal Calorimeter, and hydration mechanism was investigated by X-Ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis (FSEM). Results showed that as-received SAC contained 61% of anhydrous calcium sulfate (3CA·CaSO₄) and dicalcium silicate (C₂S). The strength after 1 day or 3 days grew to 68.6% or 85.7% of that after 28 days respectively, while most of hydration heat was released within 1 day. The emergency of three exothermic peaks at acceleration stage was found and hydration kinetics model was established choosing the terminal time of the first exothermic peak at accelerating stage as the beginning of accelerating stage. XRD analysis suggested that large amount of ettringite (AFt) was produced at early age and FSEM observation revealed that ettringite (AFt) formed in sulphoaluminate cement (SAC) paste was characterized of different morphology which was proved to be caused by different ion concentrations.