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TC 238-SCM: hydration and microstructure of concrete with SCMs

State of the art on methods to determine degree of reaction of SCMs

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Abstract

This paper is the work of working group 2 of the RILEM TC 238-SCM. Its purpose is to review methods to estimate the degree of reaction of supplementary cementitious materials in blended (or composite) cement pastes. We do not consider explicitly the wider issues of the influence of SCMs on hydration kinetics, nor the measurement of degree of reaction in alkali activated materials. The paper categorises the techniques into direct methods and indirect methods. Direct methods attempt to measure directly the amount of SCM remaining at a certain time, such as selective dissolution, microscopy combined with image analysis, and NMR. Indirect methods infer the amount of SCM reacted by back calculation from some other measured quantity, such as calcium hydroxide consumption. The paper first discusses the different techniques, how they operate and the advantages and limitations along with more details of case studies on different SCMs. In the second part we summarise the most suitable approaches for each SCM, and the paper finishes with conclusions and perspectives for future work.

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Notes

  1. This value assumes the formula Mg5Al2(OH)14(CO3) and should be adjusted accordingly if the hydrotalcite composition is believed to be different.

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Acknowledgments

This paper has been compiled by working group 2 of the RILEM TC-238 SCM. The authors like to thank all TC 238-SCM members for the helpful discussions and their suggestions to this document. In particular, the authors wish to acknowledge the contribution of John Provis and Luis Pedro Esteves to this work and wish to thank Maria Juenger, Winnie Matthes and Doug Hooton for their insightful comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Construction Materials, Station 12, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Karen L. Scrivener

  2. Laboratory for Construction Chemistry, EMPA, 8600, Dubendorf, Switzerland

    Barbara Lothenbach

  3. Magnal Laboratoy for Concrte Research, Ghent University, 9052, Ghent, Belgium

    Nele De Belie & Elke Gruyaert

  4. Department of Chemistry and Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Jørgen Skibsted

  5. Sustainable Materials Management Unit, VITO, 2400, Mol, Belgium

    Ruben Snellings

  6. Institute of Building Materials Research, RWTH Aachen University, 52062, Aachen, Germany

    Anya Vollpracht

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  1. Karen L. Scrivener
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  2. Barbara Lothenbach
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Correspondence to Karen L. Scrivener.

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Scrivener, K.L., Lothenbach, B., De Belie, N. et al. TC 238-SCM: hydration and microstructure of concrete with SCMs. Mater Struct 48, 835–862 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-015-0527-4

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