The effect of curing temperature on the properties of shrinkage-compensated binder

The effects of curing temperature on the expansive effectiveness, strength, hydration degree, and microstructure of shrinkagecompensated binder were studied. The results showed that under the standard curing temperature (20℃), most crystalline ettringite grows in pores, which makes less contribution to the expansion of paste than gelatinous ettringite blended with C-S-H gel. An elevated curing temperature (40℃) promotes the hydration rate of expansive agent and cement. However, quickly developing strength of paste limits its expansion. The pore structure of hardened paste under moderate curing condition is the densest one among all the pastes cured at different temperatures due to the filling effect of crystalline and gelatinous ettringite. Under a high curing temperature (60℃), the formation of massive stick-like ettringite leads to excessive expansion at early hydration age. Some ettringite decomposes at sustainable high temperature, which decreases the restricted expansion rate of paste at a late age. Appropriate volume expansion is benefit to the improvement of pore structure of hardened paste by reducing large pores.

Effects of Curing Condition on the Carbonation of Shrinkage-compensated Concrete

Shrinkage-compensating concrete can enhance the permeability and strength. In addition,expansive admixture can densify concrete to advance the carbonation resistance ability. Due to special quality of ettringite,the relative humidity of curing environment has significant effect on the carbonation rate of concrete. This paper discusses the influence of environmental humidity on carbonation rate of shrinkage-compensating concrete. Four different curing conditions were set up,namely the natural environment (RH 60%),standard environment (RH 90%),early age water curing environment for 3 d and 7 d. After curing in these four environments for 28 d,an accelerated carbonation test was performed. Micro-hardness analysis was used to evaluate surface hardness,which depends on,to a great degree,the carbonation depth. TG-DSC analysis was used to study Ca(OH)2 content gradient in the surface layer of concrete in different environment. The results show that natural condition lead to a relatively worse carbonation degree,curing in water for 3 d is harmful to the carbonation resistance,while curing in water for 7 d lead to an equivalent carbonation degree with standard condition,which show the most improvement to carbonation resistance ability.