Calcium leaching from cementitious materials in contact with bentonite in nuclear waste repositories can alter the functionality of an engineered barrier system. In this study, we contribute to the fundamental understanding of calcite precipitation at cement-bentonite interfaces by adding carbonate to bentonite. In addition, we accelerate the transport of charged reactants towards the interface using an electrochemical migration method. The carbonate admixture successfully promotes calcite precipitation at the surface of cement paste. The analysis also revealed that the amount of precipitated calcite is not simply correlated to the amount of added carbonate or the applied electrical potential. Experiments in which bentonite pore water contains high initial contents of carbonate exhibit rapid calcite precipitation in a very narrow region at the cement-bentonite interface, resulting in pore clogging.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.