Development of more accurate methods for determining carbonation depth in cement-based materials

Carbonation Resistance of Ternary Portland Cements Made with Silica Fume and Limestone

“…According to Zhang et al [ 55 ], confocal Raman microscopy (CRM)-CaCO 3 maps for measuring carbonation depth in cement-based materials present the same carbonation depth results to phenolphthalein solution, i.e., the average difference between both methods, about 1.2% [ 55 ]. Nevertheless, phenolphthalein is less reliable for low carbonation depths since it underestimates the true value.…”

“…This fact mainly happens in short-term natural carbonation tests. Furthermore, Zhang et al [ 55 ] suggested that phenolphthalein color change correlates well with the depletion of portlandite measured with confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) and other techniques. By contrast, Shi et al [ 56 ] reported that the carbonation depth measured with phenolphthalein reflects the depletion of C-S-H gel with high calcium indicated by using thermodynamic modeling.…”

“…According to Zhang et al [55], confocal Raman microscopy (CRM)-CaCO3 maps for measuring carbonation depth in cement-based materials present the same carbonation For samples without curing, the lowest carbonation depth was found in specimens made with the highest silica fume content (5% and 7%), i.e., H5L0-0-0 and H7L0-0-0, followed by the reference cement made without any addition. This finding confirms the positive effect of the pozzolanic reaction of the silicon oxide present in the silica fume and the calcium oxide formed in the cement hydration [39].…”