Initiation of Single-part Epoxy in Cementitious System

In order to make clear the interaction mechanism of single component epoxy in cementitious environment, the interaction between epoxy resin and active silanol, epoxy resin and alkali was investigated From solid-state 13C NMR and FT-IR tests, it is confirmed that silanol group can initiate epoxy resin. Test results have also revealed that alkali as the dominant product of cement hydration can open the epoxide ring making epoxy harden.

Initiation of Single-part Epoxy in Cementitious System-Ⅱ

Single-component epoxy cement system is an interesting material used in construction engineering, and it is different from traditional two-component epoxy-cement system. We studied the interaction mechanism of single-component epoxy-cement system only in the range of macro mechanical performances, and used the cement and single-component epoxy directly to investigate the interaction between the both. Solidstate 13 C NMR, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy and XRD were employed to trace the change of the system. Results showed that the epoxide rings in cementitious environment had been opened by cement ingredients. It was true that single-component epoxy could be used as reactive additive in cementitious system.

Mutual Interaction Relationship in Polymer Modified Cementitious System

Polymer modification in the field of construction engineering has a history nearly 90 years. Mechanical properties, water resistance, chemical resistance and durability to some extent have been improved by different polymer modification although those modifications are classified into physical modification. To obtain better performance of cementitious materials, chemical modifications have been tested. In this study, epoxy has been designed as a predominant modifier in the modified system with its corresponding hardener. Amino sulfonate, the additive, has been used to improve the system＇s workability. Functional silane, as it has special functional groups, was used to set up the connections among epoxy, cement moiety and amino sulfonate. The investigation carried out by IR, Raman spectroscopy, DSC and NMR reveals that the chemical connections have been set up among all the components in the modified system. Flexural tests results present the good effect of the chemical modification as the flexural strength and strain have been improved substantially.

Effect of a Carbon Fibre-steel Fibre-graphite Conductive Filler on the Electrothermal Properties of Cementitious Materials

Carbon fibre,steel fibre and graphite were used as conductive fillers to prepare cementitious materials with excellent electrothermal properties.The electrically conductive cementitious materials with different volume dosages were analysed through compressive and flexural strength,electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and temperature rise tests.An equivalent circuit model was established to study the electrically conductive heat generation mechanism in the electrically conductive cementitious composites.The results indicate that the mechanical properties of cementitious composite materials with a ternary conductive phase are better than those of pristine cementitious materials because the fibrous filler improves their mechanical properties.However,the incorporation of graphite in the material reduces its strength.Introducing fibrous and point-like conductive phase materials into the cementitious material enhances the overall conductive pathway and considerably reduces the electrical resistance of the cementitious material,enhancing its conductive properties.The volume ratios of carbon fibre,steel fibre and graphite that achieve an optimal complex doping in the cementitious material were 0.35%,0.6%and 6%,respectively.This was determined using the mutation point of each circuit element parameter as the percolation threshold.In addition,at a certain safety voltage,there is a uniform change between the internal and surface temperatures of the conductive cementitious material,and the heating effect in this materialis is considerably better than that in the pristine cementitious material.

Effect of mineral additives and permeability reducing admixtures having different action mechanisms on mechanical and durability performance of cementitious systems

In this paper,the effect of usage of the permeability reducing admixture(PRA)having different action mechanisms on hardened state properties of cementitious systems containing mineral additives is examined.For this aim,three commercial PRAs were used during investigation.The effective parameters in the first and third PRAs were air-entraining and high-rate air-entraining,respectively.The second one contained the insoluble calcium carbonate residue and had a small amount of the air-entraining property.Mortar mixes with binary and ternary cementitious systems were prepared by partially replacing cement with fly ash and metakaolin.The hardened state properties of mortar mixtures such as compressive strength,ultrasonic pulse velocity,water absorption,drying shrinkage and freeze-thaw resistance were investigated.The ternary cement-based mixture having both fly ash and metakaolin was selected as the most successful mineral-additive bearing mix in regard to hardened state properties.In this sense,PRA-B,with both insoluble residues and a small amount of air-entraining properties,showed the best performance among the mixtures containing PRA.The combined use of mineral additive and PRA had a more positive effect on the properties of the mixes.

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF CEMENTITIOUS COMPOSITES WITH LOW CONTENT OF HYBRID STEEL-CARBON FIBRE SYSTEMS

Electrical impedance measurements were performed on fine-grained concrete with low volume content of conductive steel and carbon fibres, either as a mono or as a hybrid system. The influences were investigated of the applied frequencies, of fibre combinations and of the age of the composites on the impedance. The results show that when the applied frequency is increased from 0.98 Hz to 1000 Hz, the impedance of the fibre composites significantly decreases. At the same time, impedance difference between plain concrete and fibre-reinforced concrete is enhanced. Dramatic drop of impedance takes place over the low frequency range, i.e. 0.98 to approximately 31 Hz. Impedance also depends on the volume content of hybrid fibres. The cementitious composite with the highest content of hybrid fibres (1.0% steel fibres and 0.2% carbon fibres by volume) has the lowest impedance at all measuring frequencies. 0.6% fibres by volume seem to be a turning point, from which the variation of impedance slows down with the fibre content increases. On the other hand, the impedance increment of the fibre-reinforced composites slows down with the age after 28 days, comparing to plain concrete. (Author abstract) 8 Refs.

Exploring the potential of olivine-containing copper-nickel slag for carbon dioxide mineralization in cementitious materials

Water-quenched copper-nickel metallurgical slag enriched with olivine minerals exhibits promising potential for the production of CO_(2)-mineralized cementitious materials.In this work,copper-nickel slag-based cementitious material(CNCM)was synthesized by using different chemical activation methods to enhance its hydration reactivity and CO_(2) mineralization capacity.Different water curing ages and carbonation conditions were explored related to their carbonation and mechanical properties development.Meanwhile,thermogravimetry differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction methods were applied to evaluate the CO_(2) adsorption amount and carbonation products of CNCM.Microstructure development of carbonated CNCM blocks was examined by backscattered electron imaging(BSE)with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry.Results showed that among the studied samples,the CNCM sample that was subjected to water curing for 3 d exhibited the highest CO_(2) sequestration amount of 8.51wt%at 80℃and 72 h while presenting the compressive strength of 39.07 MPa.This result indicated that 1 t of this CNCM can sequester 85.1 kg of CO_(2) and exhibit high compressive strength.Although the addition of citric acid did not improve strength development,it was beneficial to increase the CO_(2) diffusion and adsorption amount under the same carbonation conditions from BSE results.This work provides guidance for synthesizing CO_(2)-mineralized cementitious materials using large amounts of metallurgical slags containing olivine minerals.

Microscopic Analysis of Cementitious Sand and Gravel Damming Materia

The mechanical properties of cementitious sand and gravel damming material have been experimentally determined by means of microscopic SEM(Scanning Electron Microscopy)image analysis.The results show that the combination of fly ash and water can fill the voids in cemented sand and gravel test blocks because of the presence of hydrated calcium silicate and other substances;thereby,the compactness and mechanical properties of these materials can be greatly improved.For every 10 kg/m^(3) increase in the amount of cementitious material,the density increases by about 2%,and the water content decreases by 0.2%.The amount of cementitious material used in the sand and gravel in these tests was 80-110 kg/m^(3),the water-binder ratio was 1-1.50.Moreover,the splitting tensile strength was 1/10 of the compressive strength,and the maximum strength was 7.42 MPa at 90 d.The optimal mix ratio has been found to be 50 kg of cement,60 kg of fly ash and 120 kg of water(C50F60W120).The related dry density was 2.6 g/cm^(3),the water content was 6%,and the water-binder ratio was 1.09.

Evaluation of the migration and environmental effects of metal elements within cementitious gangue-fly ash backfill in underground coal mines

Cementitious gangue-fly ash backfill(CGB)is used as a green mining technology worldwide.However,under the coupled effects of geological stress and groundwater,the metal elements in the CGB tend to migrate into nearby strata,which can consequently result in pollution of the groundwater environment.In this paper,the influence of initial pH and stress damage on the migration behavior of metal elements in CGB is quantitatively studied through the multi-physical field coupling model of stress-permeability-con centration.The enhanced Nemerow index evaluation method is used to comprehensively evaluate the impact of these metal elements migration behaviors on the groundwater environment.The research results show that:(1)When the stress damage of the CGB increases from 0.76 to 0.95,the Darcy velocity at the bottom of the CGB first increases,then decreases,and finally stabilizes at 2.01×10^(-7)m/s.The longest time to reach the maximum Darcy velocity is 3 a.(2)When the damage of the CGB is 0.95,the farthest migration distances of Al,Cr,Mn,Fe,Ba,and Pb are 40.5,34.0,29.8,32.9,38.8 and 32.1 m,respectively.(3)The alkaline environment stimulates the migration of Al,Cr,Fe,Mn,and Pb,whereas Ba migrates farther under acidic conditions.The farthest migration distance of Ba is 31.6 m under pH 3.(4)The enhanced Nemerow index indicates that when stress damage increases from 0.76 to 0.95,the areas with poor water quality increase from 0 to 1.71%,and no area is classified as very poor grade.When the initial pH changes from 3 to 11,100%of the region is classified as fair or above.The initial pH of the CGB has a relatively slight influence on the groundwater environment.This study provides experimental data and theoretical basis for the environmental evaluation of CGB.

Effect of the Retarder on Initial Hydration and Mechanical Properties of the"one-step"Alkaliactivated Composite Cementitious Materials

This paper studied the effects of different retarders on the performance of the"one-step"alkali-activated composite cementitious material(ACCM)which is composed of ground granulated blast slag(GGBS)and fly ash(FA),and analyzed its mechanical properties,hydration mechanism,and retardation mechanism.The effects of retarders on the hydration products,mechanical properties,and hydration kinetics of ACCM were investigated using XRD,SEM,FTIR,EDS,and thermoactive microcalorimetry.The results showed that Na_(2)B_(4)O_(7)·10H_(2)O(B)delayed the exotherm during the alkali activation process and could effectively delay the setting time of ACCM,but the mechanical properties were slightly decreased.The setting time of ACCM increased with the increase in SG content,but the mechanical properties of ACCM decreased with the increase in SG content.C1_(2)H_(22)O_(11)(CHO)could effectively delay the hydration reaction of ACCM and weakly enhanced the compressive strength.H_(3)PO_(4)(HP)at a concentration of 0.05 mol/L had a certain effect on ACCM retardation,but HP at a concentration of 0.07 and 0.09 mol/L had an effect of promoting the setting and hardening time of ACCM.

Hydration Behavior and Cementitious Properties of Calcium Carbonate-aluminate Minerals Composite

The purpose of this research is to investigate the hydration behavior and cementitious properties of the mixture of calcium carbonate and aluminate, and to explore whether it can be adopted as a new low-carbon cementitious material. The composite system of calcium carbonate and aluminate minerals is studied by measuring the component of hydration products, the hydration heat, setting time and compressive strength.The results prove that the composite system has certain cementitious properties and is feasible to prepare new low-carbon cement.

Tensile Strain Capacity Prediction of Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) Using Soft Computing Techniques

Plain concrete is strong in compression but brittle in tension,having a low tensile strain capacity that can significantly degrade the long-term performance of concrete structures,even when steel reinforcing is present.In order to address these challenges,short polymer fibers are randomly dispersed in a cement-based matrix to forma highly ductile engineered cementitious composite(ECC).Thismaterial exhibits high ductility under tensile forces,with its tensile strain being several hundred times greater than conventional concrete.Since concrete is inherently weak in tension,the tensile strain capacity(TSC)has become one of the most extensively researched properties.As a result,developing a model to predict the TSC of the ECC and to optimize the mixture proportions becomes challenging.Meanwhile,the effort required for laboratory trial batches to determine the TSC is reduced.To achieve the research objectives,five distinct models,artificial neural network(ANN),nonlinear model(NLR),linear relationship model(LR),multi-logistic model(MLR),and M5P-tree model(M5P),are investigated and employed to predict the TSCof ECCmixtures containing fly ash.Data from115 mixtures are gathered and analyzed to develop a new model.The input variables include mixture proportions,fiber length and diameter,and the time required for curing the various mixtures.The model’s effectiveness is evaluated and verified based on statistical parameters such as R2,mean absolute error(MAE),scatter index(SI),root mean squared error(RMSE),and objective function(OBJ)value.Consequently,the ANN model outperforms the others in predicting the TSC of the ECC,with RMSE,MAE,OBJ,SI,and R2 values of 0.42%,0.3%,0.33%,0.135%,and 0.98,respectively.

Preparation and Performance Study of Cementitious Capillary Crystalline Waterproof Materials

Cementitious capillary crystalline waterproof materials(CCCW for short)offer durability and excellent waterproofing properties,making them a popular option for building waterproofing.Some scholars have studied the proportioning of such materials.However,these studies lack the relationship between the impermeability pressure of mortar and the components,and the mechanism of action is somewhat debatable.Therefore,we adopted a two-step method in our experiments.Firstly,we screened out the components that significantly impact impermeability from a variety of active components by orthogonal test.We then optimized the design of the active group ratio using the simplex lattice method.Lastly,we conducted a performance test of the optimal ratio and explored the waterproofing mechanism of homemade CCCW.

Enhanced photocatalytic performance of cementitious material with TiO_2@Ag modified fly ash micro-aggregates

A TiO2 photocatalyst is coated on the surface of a zeolite fly ash bead（ZFAB） to improve its dispersability and exposure degree in a cement system.The application of Ag particles in TiO2/ZFAB modified cementitious materials is to further enhance the photocatalytic performance.Various Ag@TiO2/ZFAB modified cementitious specimens with different Ag dosages are prepared and the characteristics and photocatalytic performance of the prepared samples are investigated.It is observed that the multi-level pore structure of ZFAB can improve the exposure degree of TiO2 in a cement system and is also useful to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency.With an increment of the amounts of Ag particles in the TiO2/ZFAB modified cementitious samples,the photocatalytic activities increased first and then decreased.The optimal Ag@TiO2/ZFAB modified cementitious sample reveals the maximum reaction rate constant for degrading benzene（9.91×10^-3 min^-1）,which is approximately 3 and 10 times higher than those of TiO2/ZFAB and TiO2 modified samples,respectively.This suggests that suitable Ag particles coupled with a ZFAB carrier could effectively enhance the photocatalytic effects and use of TiO2 in a cement system.Thus,ZFAB as a carrier could provide a potential method for a high efficiency engineering application of TiO2 in the construction field.

Experimental and numerical study on flexural behaviors of steel reinforced engineered cementitious composite beams

To investigate the flexural behaviors of steel reinforced engineered cementitious composite （ECC） beams, the behaviors of the steel reinforced ECC beam and the conventional steel reinforced concrete beam subjected to flexural load are experimentally compared. The experimental results show that the flexural strength and ductility of the steel reinforced ECC beam are 24.8% and 187.67% times larger than those of the steel reinforced concrete beam, and the substitution of concrete with ECC can significantly delay the propagation of cracks. Additionally, a simplified constitutive model of the ECC material is used to simulate the flexural behaviors of beams by the finite element analysis （FEA）. The results show a good agreement between the simulation and test results. The crack width of the steel reinforced ECC beam can be limited to 0.4 mm under the service load conditions. The application of ductile ECC can significantly increase the flexural performance in terms of flexural strength, deformation capacity and ductility of the beams.

Development of engineered cementitious composites with local ingredients

In order to reduce the cost of high performance polyvinyl alcohol（PVA） fiber reinforced cementitious material（called engineered cementitious composites,ECC）,a ductile ECC material is developed using domestic PVA fibers along with other local ingredients,such as fly ash,cement and sand.In addition to the economic analysis of ECC,the four-point bending test and the optical microscope are employed to investigate the deflection capacity of ECC,its crack width and the occurrence of the self-healing phenomenon.The experimental results suggest that ECC made with domestic ingredients exhibits larger deformability and the average crack width is controlled around 60 μm.Furthermore,the self-healing behavior is observed in cracks of the specimens after cycles of wet and dry curing.The economic analysis shows that the cost of ECC can be greatly reduced via employing domestic PVA fibers.It is,therefore,feasible to produce low cost ECC material employing domestic PVA fibers,while simultaneously retaining high material ductility.

Fly Ash and Slag as Partial Replacement of Cement for the Synthesis of Low Carbon Cementitious Materials

Tailings known as solid waste are generated by the mining industry.The development of tailings as wet shotcrete aggregates has significant economic and environmental benefits.The fine particle size of the tailings results in a large consumption of traditional cement as a cementitious material and insignificant improvement in strength.Therefore,a composite cementitious system of cement and solid waste resources(fly ash and slag powder)is explored for this study.In this paper,the response surface methodology(RSM)is used to optimize the experimental design and a multivariate nonlinear response model with cement,fly ash and slag powder contents as variables are constructed,which can investigate the effect of the composite cementitious system on the strength of tailing wet shotcrete(TWSC).In addition,the information entropy(IE)is introduced and combined with the RSM to evaluate the composite cementitious system.Finally,the desirability function(DF)combined with RSM is used to optimize the composite cementitious system.The results show that the response model constructed in this paper has R^(2)=0.96 and P-value<0.01(the test result of the model is P-value<0.01),which indicates that the model has high reliability.The higher the content of slag powder and cement in the composite cementitious system,the higher the strength and comprehensive score of the TWSC.There is a critical value of fly ash content,which makes the maximum cementation of the composite cementing system.The optimal mix proportion of the composite cementitious system is obtained based on RSM-DF,which leads to the strength of TWSC at different curing time to achieve the expected index.

Iron ore tailings used for the preparation of cementitious material by compound thermal activation

In the background of little reuse and large stockpile for iron ore tailings, iron ore tailing from Chinese Tonghua were used as raw material to prepare cementitious materials. Cementitious properties of the iron ore tailings activated by compound thermal activation were studied. Testing methods, such as XRD, TG-DTA, and IR were used for researching the phase and structure variety of the iron ore railings in the process of compound thermal activation. The results reveal that a new cementitious material that contains 30wt% of the iron ore tailings can be obtained by compounded thermal activation, whose mortar strength can come up to the standard of 42.5 cement of China.

Mechanical properties of gangue-containing aluminosilicate based cementitious materials

High performance aluminosilicate based cementitious materials were produced using calcined gangue as one of the major raw materials. The gangue was calcined at 500℃. The main constituent was calcined gangue, fly ash and slag, while alkali-silicate solutions were used as the diagenetic agent. The structure of gangue-containing aluminosilicate based cementitious materials was studied by the methods of IR, NMR and SEM. The results show that the mechanical properties are affected by the mass ratio between the gangue, slag and fly ash, the kind of activator and additional salt. For 28-day curing time, the compressive strength of the sample with a mass proportion of 2：1：1 （gangue： slag： fly ash） is 58.9 MPa, while the compressive strength of the sample containing 80wt% gangue can still be up to 52.3 MPa. The larger K^＋ favors the formation of large silicate oligomers with which AI（OH）4- prefers to bind. Therefore, in Na-K compounding activator solutions more oligomers exist which result in a stronger compressive strength of aluminosilicate-based cementitious materials than in the case of Na-containing activator. The reasons for this were found through IR and NMR analysis. Glauber＇s salt reduces the 3-day compressive strength of the paste, but increases its 7-day and 28-day compressive strengths.

Impact Properties of Engineered Cementitious Composites with High Volume Fly Ash Using SHPB Test

The split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB） testing with diameter 40 mm was used to investigate the dynamic mechanical properties of engineered cementitious composites （ECCs） with different fly ash content. The basic properties including deformation, energy absorption capacity, strain-stress relationship and failure patterns were discussed. The ECCs showed strain-rate dependency and kept better plastic flow during impact process compared with reactive powder concrete （RPC） and concrete, but the critical compressive strength was lower than that of RPC and concrete. The bridging effect of PVA fiber and addition of fly ash can significantly improve the deformation and energy absorption capacities of ECCs. With the increase of fly ash content in ECCs, the static and dynamic compressive strength lowered and the dynamic increase factor enhanced. Therefore, to meet different engineering needs, the content of fly ash can be an important index to control the static and dynamic mechanical properties of ECCs.