The Influence of Particle Size of Cement and Different Additives on the Properties of Portland Cement Pastes

Abstract

The consumption of concrete as a building material is still increasing over the world. Concrete production is closely associated with CO2 and other greenhouse gases emissions. The reduction of these emissions can be achieved by a higher utilization of secondary raw materials in cement mixtures. Particle size is an important factor for more effective use of these materials. This work is focused on the calorimetric determination of the effect of particle size of cement, finely ground granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), high-temperature fly ash (FA) and fluidized fly ash (FFA) on the Portland cement hydration. Effect of particle size on the hydration of pure cement pastes and pastes with the addition of secondary raw materials is monitored by isoperibolic calorimetry. Other part of this work is aimed on the mechanical properties of resulting materials. The flexural strength and compressive strength were observed after 1, 7 and 28 days of curing.

Application of Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) coupled with multivariate regression for calcium carbonate (CaCO3) quantification in cement

“…Portland cement is a dominant class of cementitious materials. It is composed of four main compounds: tricalcium silicate (C 3 S -Ca 3 SiO 5alite), dicalcium silicate (C 2 S -Ca 2 SiO 4 -belite), tricalcium aluminate (C 3 A -Ca 3 Al 2 O 6 -celite) and tetracalcium aluminoferrates (C 4 AF -Ca 4 Al 2 Fe 2 O 10 -brownmillerite) [18][19][20][21]. These compounds are hydrated during the cement curing process, that takes place over several days and gives the necessary mechanical and chemical characteristics to the material for several application [18,[22][23][24][25].…”