Research on the Influence of Steam Curing on Properties of C50 Shield Segment Concrete

The effects of steam curing on mechanical properties,drying shrinkage,cracking sensitivity,anti-permeability,and carbonation resistance of C50 shield segment concrete were investigated,which were compared with the standard curing conditions. The results indicated that steam curing could increase early strength of concrete and reduce its drying shrinkage. However,steam curing reduced later strength of concrete,increased its crack sensitivity and deteriorated its anti-permeability and carbonation resistance. Moreover,the incorporation of fly ash could improve the durability of steam-cured concrete.

Experimental on C50 Ultra-high-early Strength Concrete

In this paper,C50 ultra-high-early-strength concrete was prepared with rapid-harden sulphoaluminate cement,alkali carbonate early strength agent,inorganic tribasic acid retarder and polycarboxylate water reducing agent. The properties testing results of C50 ultra-high-early-strength concrete indicated that the compressive strength at 12 h exceeded 37 MPa and at 3 d exceeded 59 MPa. Compared to the C50 ordinary reference concrete,the durability of C50 ultra-high-early strength concrete was investigated. The results indicated that C50 ultra-high-early-strength concrete had the same chloride ion permeability resistance,carbonization resistance and abrasion resistance to the C50 ordinary concrete. As to the sulfate resistance,the ultra-high-early-strength concrete was much better than the ordinary concrete.

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.

Performance of Sacrificial Anodes in Reinforced Concrete

The electrochemical performance of the anodes was measured in the reinforced concrete test block in artificial sea water. Their chemical composition,metallographic structure and surface morphology were analyzed. It was found that concrete mix proportion and the covering layer thickness had an impact on the performance of sacrificial anodes. The thermal-sprayed zinc alloy anodes had a more negative corrosion potential and larger galvanic current than metallurgy ones in the same conditions. They had similar chemical composition. But metallographic structure showed that the structure of thermal-sprayed zinc alloy anodes was a loose porous. This structure had the catalytic effect on the andes electrochemical reactions and made the anodes the electrochemical exchange current density increase and the corrosion potential move to negative direction.