Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Physical characterization methods for supplementary cementitious materials

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Materials and Structures Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The main supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) that are used today are industrial by-products. In most cases the quality of these materials cannot be controlled during their production, resulting in materials with varied characteristics. The adequate physical characterization of SCMs is important to better predict their performance and optimize their use in concretes production. There are standardized methods used to determine the particle characteristics for Portland cements that are usually adopted to characterize SCMs; however, these methods may not be as accurate when applied to SCMs. This paper is an overview of the techniques that are currently used for the determination of the density, particle size distribution, surface area and shape of SCMs. The main principles of each method are presented. The limitations that occur for the SCMs measurements are also discussed. This paper is an output from the work of the RILEM Technical Committee on Hydration and Microstructure of Concrete with Supplementary Cementitious Materials (TC-238-SCM).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lothenbach B, Scrivener K, Hooton RD (2011) Supplementary cementitious materials. Cem Concr Res 41(3):217–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Snellings R, Mertens G, Elsen J (2012) Supplementary cementitious materials. Rev Mineral Geochem 74:211–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Siddique R, Khan MI (2011) Supplementary cementing materials. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Celik IB (2009) The effects of particle size distribution and surface area upon cement strength development. Powder Technol 188(3):272–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Scrivener KL, Kirkpatrick RJ (2008) Innovation in use and research on cementitious material. Cem Concr Res 38(2):128–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Stark U, Mueller A (3003) Particle size distribution of cements and mineral admixtures—standard and sophisticated measurements. In: Owens DGGaG (ed) 11th International Congress on the Chemistry of Cement (ICCC), Durban, 11–16 May 2003

  7. Naito M, Hayakawa O, Nakahira K, Mori H, Tsubaki J (1998) Effect of particle shape on the particle size distribution measured with commercial equipment. Powder Technol 100:52–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Juenger M, Provis JL, Elsen J, Matthes W, Hooton RD, Duchesne J, Courard L, He H, Michel F, Snellings R, Belie ND (2012) Supplementary Cementitious Materials for Concrete: Characterization Needs. MRS Proceedings 1488

  9. Hewlett P (2003) Lea’s chemistry of cement and concrete, 4th edn. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  10. Allen T (1997) Particle size measurement, vol 1, 5th edn. Chapman and Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  11. Allen T (2003) Powder sampling and particle size determination, 1st edn. Elsevier B.V, Heidelberg

    Google Scholar 

  12. ISO 14488:2007 (2007) Particulate materials—sampling and sample splitting for the determination of particulate properties

  13. ASTM C 183—08 (2008) Standard practice for sampling and the amount of testing of hydraulic cement

  14. ASTM C311/C311M—13 (2013) Standard test methods for sampling and testing fly ash or natural pozzolans for use in portland-cement concrete

  15. Green DW (1997) Perry’s chemical engineers’ handbook, 7th edn. McGraw-Hill, London

    Google Scholar 

  16. Takeo Mitsui BS, Susumu Takada BS (1969) On Factors influencing dispersibility and wettability of powder in water. J Soc Cosmetic Chemists 20:335–351

    Google Scholar 

  17. Ferraris CF, Hackley VA, Aviles AI, Charles E. Buchanan J (2002) Analysis of the ASTM Round-Robin test on particle size distribution of portland cement: phase I. NISTIR 6883

  18. Clausen L, Fabricius I (2000) BET Measurements: outgassing of minerals. J Colloid Interface Sci 227(1):7–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Pierotti R, Rouquerol J (1985) Reporting physisorption data for gas/solid systems with special reference to the determination of surface area and porosity. Pure Appl Chem 57(4):603–619

    Google Scholar 

  20. ACI 211.1-91 (2009) Standard practice for selecting proportions for normal, heavyweight and mass concrete

  21. ASTM C188-09 (2009) Standard test method for density of hydraulic cement

  22. ASTM C311/C311M—13 (2013) Standard test methods for sampling and testing fly ash or natural pozzolans for use in portland-cement concrete

  23. ASTM C604-02R12 (2012) Standard test method for true specific gravity of refractory materials by gas-comparison pycnometer

  24. ASTM C618-12a (2012) Standard specification for coal fly ash and raw or calcined natural pozzolan for use in concrete

  25. ASTM C430-08 (2008) Fineness of hydraulic cement by the 45-μm (No. 325) Sieve

  26. EN 196-6 (2010) Methods of testing cement—Part 6: determination of fineness

  27. Hooton RD, Buckingham JHP (1985) The use and standardization of rapid test methods for measuring the carbon content and fineness of fly ash pozzolan. In: 7th international ash utilization symposium, Orlando, FL, 4–7 March. Proceedings of the 7th International Ash Utilization Symposium

  28. BS 4550:1978 (1978) Methods of testing cements

  29. Niesel K (1973) Determination of the specific surface by measurement of permeability. Mater Struct 6(3):227–231

    Google Scholar 

  30. Schulz NF (1974) Measurement of surface areas by permeametry. Int J Miner Process 1(1):65–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. ASTM C204-11 (2011) Standard test methods for fineness of hydraulic cement by air-permeability apparatus

  32. Potgieter JH, Strydom CA (1996) An investigation into the correlation between different surface area determination techniques applied to various limestone-related compounds. Cem Concr Res 26(11):1613–1617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kiattikomol K, Jaturapitakkul C, Songpiriyakij S, Chutubtim S (2001) A study of ground coarse fly ashes with different finenesses from various sources as pozzolanic materials. Cem Concr Compos 23(4–5):335–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Frías M, Sánchez de Rojas MI, Luxán Md, García N (1991) Determination of specific surface area by the laser diffraction technique. Comparison with the Blaine permeability method. Cem Concr Res 21(5):709–717

  35. ISO 13320:2009 (2009) Particle size analysis—laser diffraction methods. Part I: general principles

  36. Ferraris CF, Hackley VA, Aviles AI (2004) Measurement of particle size distribution in Portland cement powder: Analysis of ASTM round robin studies. J Cem Concr Aggreg 26(2):1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Wriedt T (1998) A review of elastic light scattering theories. Part Part Syst Charact 15:67–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Wahlstrom EE (1979) Optical Crystallography, 5th edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  39. Mitra S (1996) Fundamentals of optical, spectroscopic and X-Ray mineralogy. New Age International, New Delhi, p 336

    Google Scholar 

  40. Glossary of Minerals. http://freeit.free.fr/Knovel/Concrete%20Petrography%20-%20A%20Handbook%20of%20Investigative%20Techniques/92669_gl

  41. Fujiwara H (2007) Spectroscopic ellipsometry principles and applications. Wiley, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  42. Hackley VA, Lum LS, Gintautas V, Ferraris CF (2004) Particle size analysis by laser diffraction spectrometry: application to cementitious powders. Report from the US Department of Commerce. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NISTIR 7097

  43. Zhang HJ, Xu GD (1992) The effect of particle refractive index on size measurement. Powder Technol 70:189–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Ferraris CF, Bullard JW, Hackley V (2006) Particle size distribution by laser diffraction spectrometry: application to cementitious powders. In: Proceedings of the 5th world congress on particle technology, Orlando

  45. Taylor HFW (ed) (1997) Cement chemistry. 2nd edn. Telford, London

  46. www.webmineral.com

  47. Mykhaylo P, Gorsky PPM, Maksimyak AP (2010) Optical correlation technique for cement particle size measurements. Optica Applicata XL 40(2):459

    Google Scholar 

  48. Gupta RP, Wall TF (1985) The optical properties of fly ash in coal fired furnaces. Combust Flame 61:145–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Goodwin DG, Mitchner M (1989) Flyash radiative properties and effects on radiative heat transfer in coal-fired systems. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 32(4):627–638

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Liu F, Swithenbank J (1993) The effects of particle size distribution and refractive index on fly-ash radiative properties using a simplified approach. Int J Heat Mass Transf 36(7):1905–1912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Gupta RP, Wall TF (1981) The complex refractive index of particles. J Phys D Appl Phys 14:95–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Cyr M, Tagnit-Hamou A (2001) Particle size distribution of fine powders by LASER diffraction spectrometry. Case of cementitious materials. Mater Struct 34(6):342–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Jewell RB, Rathbone RF (2009) Optical properties of coal combustion byproducts for particle-size analysis by laser diffraction. Combustion and Gasification Products 1:1–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Medalia A (1970) Dynamic shape factors of particles. Powder Technol 4:117–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Leroy S, Dislaire G, Bastin D, Pirard E (2011) Optical analysis of particle size and chromite liberation from pulp samples of a UG2 ore regrinding circuit. Miner Eng 24:1340–1347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Gregoire M, Dislaire G, Pirard E (2007) Accuracy of size distributions obtained from single particle static digital image analysis. Partec, Nurnberg

    Google Scholar 

  57. Hart JR, Zhu Y, Pirard E (2009) Advances in the characterization of industrial minerals. Ch 4: Particle size and shape characterization: current technology and practice

  58. León CA (1998) New perspectives in mercury porosimetry. Adv Colloid Interface Sci 76–77:341–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Glass HJ, With G (1996) Reliability and reproducability of mercury intrusion porosimetry. J Eur Ceram Soc 17:753–757

    Google Scholar 

  60. Giesche H (2006) Mercury porosimetry: a general (practical) overview. Part Part Syst Charact 23:9–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Huggett S, Mathews P, Matthews T (1999) Estimating particle size distributions from a network model of porous media. Powder Technol 104:169–179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Lucarelli L (2013) The use of mercury intrusion porosimetry for the determination of particle size distribution on nano-particles carbon black. http://s3.ceelantech.com/docs/MercuryIntrusionPorosimetry.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct 2013

  63. Mayer RP, Stowe RA (1965) J Colloid Sci 20:893–911

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Mayer RP, Stowe RA (2005) Packed uniform sphere model for solids: interstitial access opening sizes and pressure deficiencies for wetting liquids with comparison to reported experimental results. J Colloid Interface Sci 294:139–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. Webb PA (2001) An introduction to the physical characterization of materials by mercury intrusion porosimetry with emphasis on reduction and presentation of experimental data. Micromeritics Instrument Corporation, Norcross

    Google Scholar 

  66. Drake LC, Ritter HL (1945) Pressure porosimeter and determination of complete macropore-size distributions. Ind Eng Chem Anal Ed 17:782–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research, Department of Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University, Technologiepark Zwijnaarde 904, 9052, Ghent, Belgium

    Eleni C. Arvaniti & Nele De Belie

  2. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 301 E. Dean Keeton St. C 1748, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Maria C. G. Juenger

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK

    Susan A. Bernal & John L. Provis

  4. Département de géologie et de génie géologique, Université Laval, Pavillon Adrien-Pouliot, local 4507, 1065, ave de la Médecine, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Josée Duchesne

  5. GeMMe Research Group, ArGEnCo Department, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium

    Luc Courard & Sophie Leroy

  6. Department of Construction and Surveying/School of Engineering and Built Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow, G4 0BA, UK

    Agnieszka Klemm

Authors
  1. Eleni C. Arvaniti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maria C. G. Juenger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susan A. Bernal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Josée Duchesne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Luc Courard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sophie Leroy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. John L. Provis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Agnieszka Klemm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Nele De Belie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nele De Belie.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Arvaniti, E.C., Juenger, M.C.G., Bernal, S.A. et al. Physical characterization methods for supplementary cementitious materials. Mater Struct 48, 3675–3686 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-014-0430-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-014-0430-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation