Grey Clustering Theory to Assess the Effect of Mineral Admixtures on the Cyclic Sulfate Resistance of Concrete

Concrete specimens made with ordinary portland cement or ordinary portland cement incorporating fly ash with the replacement of 10% or 20%, ground blast furnace slag with the replacement of 15% or 30%, or 15% fly ash and 15% ground blast furnace slag were made and exposed to a cyclic sulfate environment. Concrete properties including relative dynamic elastic modulus, chloride ion diffusion coefficient, compressive strength and flexural strength were measured. Effect of mineral admixtures on the cyclic sulfate resistance of concrete was assessed based on the grey clustering theory. The experimental results indicate that the cyclic sulfate resistance of concrete incorporating ground blast furnace slag belongs to the higher grey grade, which exhibits that it possesses excellent cyclic sulfate resistance. With increasing addition of fly ash, the cyclic sulfate resistance of concrete changes from the medium grey grade to the lower grey grade, which shows that incorporation of fly ash is disadvantageous for the cyclic sulfate resistance of concrete.

Early-age Electrical Resistivity and Reactive Capacity of Mineral Admixtures in Mortars

A non-contacting electrical resistivity measurement device was used to investigate the effect of different types and contents of mineral admixtures on the hydration perfrormanee of mortars during early age. The experimental results show that the changes of measured resistivity with time of hydration can be used to describe the hydration characteristics of cement-based materials, as well as the physical and chemical behavior of fly ash; blast furnace slag and silica fume at the very early ages. With an increasing replacement ratio of mineral admixtures, for the specimens blended with fly ash or slag, the resistivity increases firstly, then the following flatting period extends and after setting the resistivity increasing becomes slow and consequently a lower resistivity value at 24 hours occurs. This is due to the dilution effect and lower pozzolanicl hydraulic activity of fly ash and slag. However, for the samples incorporated with silica fume, the resistivity value through 24 hours is lower with shorter flatting period and larger slope in the resistivity curves, which is because of its particle size effect and higher pozzolanic activity of silica fume. Moreover, non-contacting resistivity measurement might provide a helpful information to predict the long term performanee including the durability of cement-based materials at early ages.

Influence of Mineral Admixtures on the Electrodeposition Healing Effect of Concrete Cracks

Two types of solutions（Zn SO4, Mg SO4） were selected to study the influence of mineral admixtures on the electro-deposition healing effect of concrete cracks. Four parameters（i e, rates of weight gain, surface coating, crack closure and crack filling depth） were measured. The mineral composition of electro-deposits in the cracks was analyzed. The study shows that the healing effect of mortar specimens with 10% fly ash is the worst, while the healing effect of mortar specimens with 20% fly ash is better than that of the specimens without fly ash. The rates of weight gain, surface coating, crack closure and crack filling depth decrease with increasing content of the ground granulated blast-furnace slag（GGBS）. The mineral admixtures have no influence on the composition of deposits.

Influence of Mineral Admixtures on Chloride Ion Permeation through Concrete

Through the rapid chloride ion penetration test,the influence of fly ash and slag on chloride ion permeability and microstructure of concrete was studied.The results indicate that the addition of fly ash increases concrete permeability at 28 days.With the slag content of 20% and 30%,the permeability of concrete at 28 days is reduced.The positive effect of slag is due to its relatively stronger pozzolanic reactive ability resulted in the most probable pore size and total porosity decreased.When the slag content reaches 40%,the concrete permeability showes the tendency ofincrease.

The Influence of Mineral Admixtures on Bending Strength of Mortar on the Premise of Equal Compressive Strength

The influence of mineral admixtures on bending strength of mortar on the premise of equal compressive strength was investigated. Three mineral admixtures （fly ash, ground granulated blast-furnace slag and steel slag） were used. The adding amount of mineral admixture in this study ranges from 22.5% to 60%, and the water-to-binder ratio ranges from 0.34 to 0.50. With equal compressive strength, different mortars can be arranged in such a descending order with their bending strength： cement-fly ash mortar, cement mortar, cement-GGBS mortar, and cement-steel slag mortar. With the same compressive strength, the higher the steel slag content and water-to-binder ratio, the lower the bending strength of mortars. However, the effect of mineral mixture content and water-to-binder ratio on the bending strength of cement-fly ash mortar and cement-GGBS mortar is far inconspicuous.

INFLUENCE OF MINERAL ADMIXTURES ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE CONCRETE

The improvements of the mechanical properties, including bulk density of fresh mixtures, elastic modulus, and compressive strengths of four high-performance concrete mixtures, made with the addition of fly ash, refined ground blast - furnace microslag (microslag) and silica fume are studied. The concrete mixtures were determined based on the dispersion testing results. The study indicates that the elastic modulus at 28 and 91 days, and compressive strengths of the concretes are improved a lot when fly ash and microslag by 25 percent by weight of cement are added into the mixtures individually. The improvement is especially evident when silica fume by 5 percent and fly ash by 25 percent by weight of cement are added together into the mixture, while the fresh concrete mixture keeps a good workability. Through the analysis of chemically combined water ratios of the four mixtures at various hydration ages, it is found that the addition of all these mineral mixtures are beneficial to the hydration process, especially, at later stages, which might be one of the reasons for the improvement of mechanical properties. (Author abstract) 4 Refs.

Influence of Cement Types and Mineral Admixtures on Resistance of Mortar to Sulfate Attack under Lower Temperature

Mortar prisms made with different cements or mineral admixtures plus 30% mass of limes tone filler were stored in 2% magnesium sulfate solution at 5±1 ℃ for 1 year and their visual appearance,strength development were measured at intervals.The formation of thaumasite was checked and confirmed by XRD and FTIR.The results show that the relative resistance to thaumasite form of sulfate attack of the cements is outlined below,from best to worst:sulphoaluminate cement,sulfate resisting Portland cement,OPC.The resistance to thaumasite form of sulfate attack of mortar is remarkably improved by the addition of silica fume or ground granulated blastfurnace slag (SL),and the better the resistance to thaumasite form of sulfate attack,the more the addition of SL is.The thaumasite form of sulfate attack is decreased to a certain degree by a lower replacement of cement with fly ash,but it is accelerated by the addition of a higher amount of fly ash due to its lower reactivity.

Effect of Alkaline Electrolyzed Water on Performance Improvement of Green Concrete with High Volume of Mineral Admixtures

The strength and durability of concrete will be significantly reduced at high volume of mineral admixture,and the poor early strength of concrete also still needs to be solved.In this investigation,a highly active alkaline electrolyzed waters was used as mixing water to improve the early strength and enhance the durability of green concrete with high volume mineral admixture,the influences of alkaline electrolyzed water(AEW)on hydration activity of mineral admixture and durability of concrete were determined.The results showed that compared with natural tap water,AEW can accelerate early hydration process of cement in concrete and produce comparatively more hydrated products,leading to a 13.6%higher compressive strength than that of ordinary concrete at early age,but the improvement effect of AEW concrete was relatively reduced at long-term age.Meanwhile,the activity of mineral admixtures could be stimulated by AEW to some extent,the strength and durability performance of AEW concrete after double doping 25%slag and 25%fly ash can still reach the level of ordinary cement concrete without mineral admixtures.The SEM micromorphology of 7 d hydrated natural tap water cement paste was observed to be flaky and tabular,but the AEW cement pastes present obvious cluster and granulation phenomenon.The SEM microstructure of AEW concrete with mineral admixtures is more developed and denser than ordinary tap water concrete with mineral admixtures.Therefore,the AEW probably could realize the effective utilization of about 50%mineral admixture amount of concrete without strength loss,the cement production cost and associated CO_(2) emission reduced,which has a good economic and environmental benefit.

Influence of Mineral Admixtures on the Permeability of Lightweight Aggregate Concrete

The permeability of lightweight aggregate concrete was studied. Some efforts were taken to increase the resistance of lightweight aggregate concrete (LC) to water penetration by using the mineral admixtures of fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag or silica fume. Accelerated chloride penetrability test and liquid atmosphere press method were used to study the anti-permeability of lightweight aggregate concrete. The experimental results show that fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag and silica fume can decrease the permeability of lightweight aggregate concrete, but the effect of granulated blast furnace slag is poor. According to the SEM and pore structure analyzing results,an interface self-reinforcing effect model was presented and the reinforced mechanism of mineral mixture on LC was discussed according to the model described by authors.

Influence of Mineral Admixtures on Corrosion of Steel Rebar in Concrete

The effects of several mineral admixtures such as silica fume,granulated ground blast furnace slag and fly ash at different replacement ratio instead of Portland cement on the corrosion of steel reinforced concrete were investigated.By measuring the rebar anode polarization curve,permeability of concrete,mass loss of steel rebar and the amount of chloride ions and hydroxide in mortar,the corrosion resistance of steel embedded in fresh mortar incorporated of salt and different mineral admixtures were evaluated respectively.The results show that most mineral admixture can not improve corrosion resistance of concrete at early ages.However,in the long term the addition of mineral admixtures can decrease obviously the permeability of concrete and free chloride content in the pore solution of concrete as well as effectively improve the protection ability of passive film of steel rebar.

Effect of Mineral Admixtures on Alkali-Silica Reaction

The influence of silica fume, slag and fly ash on alkali-silica reaction under the condition of 70 ℃ is studied. The results show that silica, slag and fly ash may inhibit alkali-silica reaction only under suitable content. When the content is less than 10%, silica fume does not markedly influence the expansion of alkali- silica reaction. When the content is 15%-20%, silica fume only may delay the expansion of alkali-silica reaction. When the content is 30%-70%, slag may only delay the expansion of alkali-silica reaction, but cannot inhibit the expansion of alkali-silica reaction. When the content is 10%, fly ash does not markedly influence the expansion of alkali-silica reaction. When the content is 20%-30%, fly ash may only delay the expansion of alkali-silica reaction, but cannot inhibit the expansion of alkali-silica reaction. When the content is over 50%, it is possible that fly ash can inhibit effectively alkali-silica reaction.

The Mechanism of the Eeffect of Mineral Admixtures on the Expansion of Aalkali-silica Reaction

On the base of the influence rule of silica fume, slag and fly ash on alkali-silica reaction under the condition of 70 ℃, the mechanism of the effect of mineral admixtures on alkali-silica reaction is studied further in the paper. The results show that the effects of mineral admixtures on alkali-silica reaction are mainly chemistry effect and surface physichemistry effect. Under suitable condition, the chemistry effect may make alkali-silica reaction to be inhibited effectively, but the physichemistry effect only make alkali-silica reaction to be delayed. The chemistry effect and the physichemistry effect of minerals admixture are relative to the content of Ca（OH）2 in system. Under the condition that there is a large quantity of Ca（OH）2, mineral admixture cannot inhibit alkali-silica reaction effectively. Only when Ca（OH）2 in the system is very less, it is possible that mineral admixture inhibits alkali-silica reaction effectively.

Dense packing properties of mineral admixtures in cementitious material

The effect of ultra-fine fly ash （UFFA）, steel slag （SS） and silica fume （SF） on packing density of binary, ternary and quaternary cementitious materials was studied in this paper in terms of minimum water requirement of cement. The influence of mineral admixtures on the relative density of pastes with low water/hinder ratios was analyzed and the relationship between paste density and compressive strength of the corresponding hardened mortars was discussed. The results indicate that the incorporation of mineral admixtures can effectively improve the packing density ofcementitious materials; the increase in packing density of a composite with incorporation of two or three kinds of mineral admixtures is even more obvious than that with only one mineral admixture. Moreover, an optimal amount of mineral admixture imparts to the mixture maximum packing density. The dense packing effect of a mineral admixture can increase the packing density of the resulting cementitious material and also the density of paste with low water/binder ratio, which evidently enhances the compressive strength of the hardened mortar.

Effects of Mineral Admixtures and Superplasticizers on Micro Hardness of Aggregate-Paste Interface in Cement Concrete

This paper presents quantitatively the results of an experimental investigation on influence of mineral admixtures and superplasticizers on Vickers micro hardness(HV) of aggregate-paste interface in cement concrete. The HV was measured by Vickers hardness testing equipment.The results indicate that addition of fly ash decreases HV of the concrete.Although it decreases with the increase of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) replacement,the HV is higher than that of concrete containing fly ash at all replacements.The flying ash and GGBS composition increases HV in later curing ages,but does not improve it in early curing ages.Aminosulfonic acid based superplasticizer and aliphatic hydroxy sulphonate condensate superplasticizer can enhance HV in early curing ages.The HV of concrete with polycarboxylic acid superplasticizer is higher in later curing ages.

Properties and Microstructure of Marine Concrete with Composite Mineral Admixture

The influences of compositing mineral admixtures on the regularity of mechanical property, workability, durability and microstructure of C50 marine concrete were investigated. The results show that the incorporation of mineral admixtures can improve the mechanical properties and workability of C50 marine concrete, 3 min-doped mineral admixture had excellent resistance to chloride ion permeability. The microscopic structure mixing mineral admixtures system was well-distributed and compact, little macroporeare can be found.

Effect of Mineral Admixture on Fracture Behavior of Concrete under Freeze-Thaw Cycles

According to GBJ82-85 test method for frost resistance of concrete,four-point bending tests were used to examine the effects of mineral admixture(silica fume and fly ash)on fracture toughness,fracture energy and dynamic elastic modulus of concrete subjected to rapid freeze-thaw cycles The microstructure of the concrete was also analyzed.The results show that with the increase of the number of freeze-thaw cycles,the fracture toughness of concrete,and the loss of fracture energy as well as the l0ss of relative dynamic elastic modulus showed a downward trend.The air content of fresh concrete is the most important parameter to improve frost resistance of concrete There existed distinct difference for silica fume and fly ash to enhance fracture performance and microstructure of the concrete under freeze-thaw cycles.The l0ss of fracture energy and the loss of relative dynamic elastic modulus kept a good linear relationship.

STRENGTH EFFECT OF F MINERAL ADMIXTURE ON CEMENT CONCRETE

F mineral admixture (FMA) is made of the fin- ely divided powder of natural zeolite with a bit of other agent. When FMA is used to displace about 10% (by weight) of the ordinary portland cement (OPC) (strength grade 575#) in concrete and mixed with a suitable amount of super plasticizer (w/c =0.31-0.35), then a high-strength concrete with compressive strength about 80 MPa and slump about 180 MM can be obtained. The strength of this concrete is about 10-15% higher than that of the corresponding concrete mixing with pure OPC, and its bleeding decreases greatly. It makes no segre- gation and separation, and thus it satisfies the requirement of pumping concrete in construction.

Effect of High Content Limestone Powder on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Cement-based Materials

Compared with the control sample without limestone powder(LP), the mechanical properties of the sample with 30% LP can be significantly improved by using a small amount of water reducer to reduce the water-cement ratio, without significantly affecting the fluidity of the fresh mixture and increasing the economic cost. In addition, compared with the sole addition of limestone powder, dual addition of metakaolin and limestone powder can effectively improve the strengths. The reason of this phenomenon was investigated by means of XRD, TG-DTG, SEM, LF-NMR and isothermal calorimetry, etc. The reactive aluminum-rich phases in metakaolin react with limestone powder in the hydration process, and the formed calcium carboaluminate reduces the porosity and makes the hardened paste denser. The addition of ground granulated blast furnace slag can also improve the strength of the specimen added with limestone powder, whereas, the effect is inferior to that of metakaolin, for the ground granulated blast furnace slag contains less reactive aluminate phases, and accordingly, the amount of calcium carboaluminate generated is lower than that of metakaolin.

Apparent Activation Energy of Concrete in Early Age Determined by Adiabatic Test

The apparent activation energy of concrete in early age was determined by adiabatic temperature rise test with different initial temperatures. The influence of mineral admixtures such as fly ash, slag and silica fume on the apparent activation energy of concrete was investigated. The equivalent age that expresses the maturity of concrete was calculated to evaluate the cracking risk of concrete in structures. The results reveal that a substitution of 20% fly ash for Portland cement obviously decreases the apparent activation energy of concrete, however, a substitution of 10% silica fume for Portland cement increases the apparent activation. Finite element method analysis of a simulating concrete wall shows that the concrete containing 20% fly ash has the lowest cracking risk.

Performances of the High Strength Low Heat Pump Concrete (HLPC)

The effects of mineral admixtures on fluidity,mechanical and hydrational exothermic behavior were studied.The results show that,double adding ways,i e,fly ash and slag were added at the same time,not only improves the fluidity of fresh concrete with low W/B and compensates the lower early compressive strength of harden concrete caused by high adding amount of fly ash, but also greatly reduces the highest temperature rise, exothermic rate and total heat liberation of 3 day of binder pastes in HLPC, and postponed the arrival time of the highest temperature rise. HLPC was prepared and applied to project practice successfully.