The purpose of this study is to investigate the shrinkage characteristics of alkali-activated fly ash/slag (henceforth simply AFS) and the factors affecting it. A series of tests were conducted to determine the chemical shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage and drying shrinkage. The microstructures and reaction products were also characterized through XRD and SEM/EDS analyses. An increase in the slag content from 10% to 30% resulted in a denser matrix and showed a higher Ca/Si ratio of C–N–A–S–H in the microstructure. Higher sodium silicate and slag contents in a mixture caused more chemical, autogenous, and drying shrinkage, but led to a higher compressive strength. From the test results, it can be concluded that the autogenous shrinkage of AFS mortar occurs mainly due to self-desiccation in hardened state rather than volume contraction by chemical shrinkage in fresh state. The AFS paste showed higher drying shrinkage than ordinary Portland cement (OPC), which may be caused by the higher mesopore volume of the AFS paste compared to that of OPC paste.

Shrinkage characteristics of alkali-activated fly ash/slag paste and mortar at early ages

Effect of Shrinkage-reducing Admixtures on the Properties of Alkali-activated Slag Mortars and Pastes

Waste printed circuit board recycling techniques and product utilization.

Autogenous shrinkage of high performance concrete: A review

Cracks in cement concrete composites, whether autogenous or loading-initiated, are almost inevitable and often difficult to detect and repair, posing a threat to safety and durability of concrete infrastructures, especially for those with strict sealing requirements. The sustainable development of infrastructures calls for the birth of self-healing concrete composites, which has the built-in ability to autonomously repair narrow cracks. This paper reviews the fabrication, characterization, mechanisms and performances of autogenous and autonomous healing concretes. Autogenous healing materials such as mineral admixtures, fibers, nanofillers and curing agents, as well as autonomous healing methods such as electrodeposition, shape memory alloys, capsules, vascular and microbial technologies, have been proven to be effective to partially or even fully repair small cracks. As a result, the mechanical properties and durability of concrete infrastructure can be restored to some extent. However, autonomous healing techniques have shown a better performance in healing cracks than most of autogenous healing methods that are limited to healing of cracks having a width narrower than 150 μm. Self-healing concrete with biomimetic features, such as self-healing concrete based on shape memory alloys, capsules, vascular networks or bacteria, is a frontier subject in the field of material science. Self-healing technology provides concrete infrastructures with the ability to adapt and respond to the environment, exhibiting a great potential to facilitate the creation of a wide variety of resilient materials and infrastructures.

Self-healing cement concrete composites for resilient infrastructures: A review

Physical and mechanical properties of styrene–butadiene rubber emulsion modified cement mortars

Influence of polymer on cement hydration in SBR-modified cement pastes

Autogenous relative humidity change and autogenous shrinkage of high-performance cement pastes

Internal Relative Humidity Distribution in High-Performance Cement Paste Due to Moisture Diffusion and Self-Desiccation

This paper focuses on the effect of the styrene-acrylic ester copolymer (SAE) latex on the performance of cement mortar, through studying on the water-reduction and water-retention effects of the SAE latex in the mortar, and the influence of the SAE latex on the air-content and the bulk density of the fresh mortar and the bulk density, compressive and flexural strengths, shrinkage rate, water capillary adsorption and anti-penetration capacity of the hardened mortar. The experimental results show that the SAE latex has good water-reduction and water-retention effects in mortar. The SAE latex has also air entrainment effect, increasing the air content and reducing the bulk density of the fresh mortar. The apparent bulk density and dry bulk density of the hardened mortars decrease with the increase of the SAE latex/cement-ratio (mp/mc) and the change is in accordance with that for the bulk density of the fresh mortar. The SAE latex influences the development of the compressive strength but slightly on the flexural strength, and improves the toughness, shrinkage property, waterproofing quality and anti-penetration capacity of the mortar significantly.

Peiming Wang

Papers

Physical and mechanical properties of styrene–butadiene rubber emulsion modified cement mortars

Influence of polymer on cement hydration in SBR-modified cement pastes

Autogenous relative humidity change and autogenous shrinkage of high-performance cement pastes

Internal Relative Humidity Distribution in High-Performance Cement Paste Due to Moisture Diffusion and Self-Desiccation

Function of styrene-acrylic ester copolymer latex in cement mortar