No abstract

No abstract

Abstract:One of the main processes for repairing concrete structures is patch repair.Efficiency and durability of a repaired system depends on the bond between concrete substrate and repair material. By increasing the surface roughness, the surface treatment of concrete substrate can promote mechanical interlocking that is one of the basic mechanisms of adhesion. Nevertheless, some problems may arise from "co-lateral" effects of the treatment, especially due to the development of microcracks inside the substrate. In the presented paper, the effect of concrete substrate surface preparation has been characterized by roughness measurement, description of microcracking in the near-to-surface layer and a pull-off cohesion test. After repair, pull-off bond strength has been evaluated. It is concluded that selection of a suitable surface treatment technique should be preceded by the analysis of its aggressiveness in relation to the concrete substrate strength. A procedure for bond strength estimation using multiple regression approach, based on parameters describing surface quality really generated from various roughening techniques, is then proposed.

Existing concrete surfaces need to be roughened to a profile necessary to achieve mechanical interlocking with any repair material. In this study, different surface treatments (e.g. grinding, sandblasting, shotblasting, hand-and mechanical milling) were performed and the quality of the preparation established on the basis of three main parameters: surface geometry, superficial concrete microcracking and adhesion. Surface geometry was characterised on the basis of the measurement of surface profile-profilometry-and the analysis of statistical and amplitude parameters calculated from the waviness (lower frequencies) and the roughness (higher frequencies) profiles of the surface. Investigations were also performed to assess the quality of the superficial zone of concrete and cracks were systematically observed in relation to surface treatment where both scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy were used for analysis. Finally, a repair mortar, with or without bond coat, was applied to the concrete substrates in order to measure adhesion. Relationships clearly show the effect of roughness on adhesion in the case where no bond coat was used and also the influence of the power of the surface treatment on the waviness shape of the profile and the presence of microcracks in the near-surface layer, related to failure type.

No abstract

No abstract

The particle size distribution, surface area and shape are fundamental characteristics of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). Accurate measurement of these properties is required in computational efforts to model the hydration process, and the characterization of these parameters is also an important practical issue during the production and use of blended cements. Since there are no standard procedures specifically for the determination of physical properties of SCMs, the techniques that are currently used for characterizing Portland cement are applied to SCMs. Based on the fact that most of the techniques have been developed to measure cements, limitations occur when these methods are used for other materials than cement, particularly when these have lower fineness and different particle shape and mineralogical composition. Here, samples of fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag and silica fume were tested. Different results obtained using several methods for the determination of specific surface area are presented. Recommendations for testing SCMs using air permeability, sieving, laser diffraction, BET, image analysis and MIP are provided, which represent an output from the work of the RILEM Technical Committee on Hydration and Microstructure of Concrete with Supplementary Cementitious Materials (TC-238-SCM).

No abstract