Sponsors: American Concrete Institute, RILEM, Université de Sherbrooke, CRIB, Université Toulouse III, Lmdc Toulouse, Kruger Biomaterials, Euclid Chemical, Prodexim International inc., BASF Master Builders, ACAA Editor: Arezki Tagnit-Hamou In July 1983, the Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET) of Natural Resources Canada, in association with the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, sponsored a five-day international conference at Montebello, Quebec, Canada, on the use of fly ash, silica fume, slag and other mineral by-products in concrete. The conference brought together representatives from industry, academia, and government agencies to present the latest information on these materials and to explore new areas of needed research. Since then, eight other such conferences have taken place around the world (Madrid, Trondheim, Istanbul, Milwaukee, Bangkok, Madras, Las Vegas, and Warsaw). The 2007 Warsaw conference was the last in this series. In 2017, due to renewed interest in alternative and sustainable binders and supplementary cementitious materials, a new series was launched by Sherbrooke University (UdeS); ACI; and the International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction materials, Systems, and Structures (RILEM). They, in association with a number of other organizations in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean, sponsored the 10th ACI/RILEM International Conference on Cementitious Materials and Alternative Binders for Sustainable Concrete (ICCM2017). The conference was held in Montréal, QB, Canada, from October 2 to 4, 2017. The conference proceedings, containing 50 refereed papers from more than 33 countries, were published as ACI SP-320. In 2021, UdeS, ACI, and RILEM, in association with Université de Toulouse and a number of other organizations in Canada, the United States, and Europe, sponsored the 11th ACI/RILEM International Conference on Cementitious Materials and Alternative Binders for Sustainable Concrete (ICCM2021). The conference was held online from June 7 to 10, 2021. The conference proceedings, containing 53 peer reviewed papers from more than 14 countries, were published as ACI SP-349. The purpose of this international conference was to present the latest scientific and technical information in the field of supplementary cementitious materials and novel binders for use in concrete. The new aspect of this conference was to highlight advances in the field of alternative and sustainable binders and supplementary cementitious materials, which are receiving increasing attention from the research community. To all those whose submissions could not be included in the conference proceedings, the Institute and the Conference Organizing Committee extend their appreciation for their interest and hard work. Thanks are extended to the members of the international scientific committee to review the papers. Without their dedicated effort, the proceedings could not have been published for distribution at the conference. The cooperation of the authors in accepting reviewers’ suggestions and revising their manuscripts accordingly is greatly appreciated. The assistance of Chantal Brien at the Université de Sherbrooke is gratefully acknowledged for the administrative work associated with the conference and for processing the manuscripts, both for the ACI proceedings and the supplementary volume. Arezki Tagnit Hamou, Editor Chairman, eleventh ACI/RILEM International Conference on Cementitious Materials and Alternative Binders for Sustainable Concrete (ICCM2021). Sherbrooke, Canada 2021

Low environmental impact binders, in which clinker is partially substituted by less reactive powders, are used in proportioning low water-to-cement ratios mixtures to ensure higher compactness, low porosity and improved mechanical as well as durability properties. The use of relatively high solid volume fractions dramatically affects the workability of the mixture and affects its ease of placement and consolidation. Various superplasticizer types have been investigated in literature to control the rheological properties, although these admixtures considerably decrease the yield stress values, their effect on viscosity is moderate. The main objective of this investigation is to control the rheology of ternary cements by controlling the morphology of particles, which is the key parameter affecting the rheology of cementitious suspension. The test results on LC3 (i.e. 55% Portland cement + 30% calcine clay + 15% Limestone) and CEM II/B-M (S-LL) (i.e. 65% Portland cement + 20% Slag + 15% Limestone) ternary binders revealed that the optimization of the particlesize distribution and the maximum packing fraction of the powders leads to a considerable decrease of both viscosity and yield stress by 20% and 50%, respectively.

Approximately 90% of the carbon footprint from concrete production is from portland cement (assuming portland cement is used as the sole cementitious binder). Therefore to reduce its carbon footprint, the amount of Portland cement clinker needs to be reduced. There are different ways of doing this, including optimization of combined aggregate gradations, use of water reducing admixtures, use of portland-limestone cements (PLC), and use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). All of these measures can be taken simultaneously, but there is also concern that extreme measures (such as high SCM replacement levels) will reduce the robustness of concrete to abuse during construction, resulting in lower durability. Durability is important to obtain long service lives of concrete structures, and has a large impact on their carbon footprint.

This paper includes discussion of how each these measures if used prudently, can achieve significant reductions in carbon footprint while simultaneously improving durability in aggressive exposure conditions.

Alumino-silicate compounds (geopolymers) are important for alternative binders for mortars and concretes. Such systems normally have a solid (metakaolin, slag, ash) and a liquid (activator solution) component. A newly developed system here consists of a waste silicate material and an aluminate source, both with a very good solubility. Under the addition of water only, a structure formation process occurs to form an alumino-silicate network. The Si/Al ratio can be varied in wide ranges to produce binders with different properties.

It was very surprising that the mortar properties not only depend on the recipe, but also on the aggregate types. Different aggregate types (quartz, greywacke, rhyolite, diabas, basalt, granodiorite) were chosen to produce mortar bars. All components were intensively mixed dry or as a slurry. Already the sand component affects the workability, further the setting time, the strength development and, of course, the durability. The best results were obtained with quartz, the worst with diabase or basalt sands. Obviously, the chemical and mineralogical composition and therefore the soluble constituents of the sand under highly alkaline conditions affected the structure formation process of the alumino-silicate binder and therefore the mortar properties too. The observed effects have nothing to do with an Alkali-silica-reaction (ASR).

Compared to normal concrete, packing density optimised Ultra High Performance Concretes have a high shrinkage up to 1 mm/m due to their high cement content. Especially in the first 24 hours approximately 80 % of the final shrinkage is reached which reduces the early strength due to microcracks. Instead of additives within the scope of this research work, parts of normal portland cement (NPC) were substituted by Calcium Sulfoaluminate (CSA) Cement and Calcium Aluminate (CA) Cement with the aim to reduce shrinkage of UHPC-mixture as well as a fast setting. CSA-cements with low CO2 footprint are characterised by their fast strength development and expansion behaviour due to early ettringite formation. X-ray diffraction was used to study the phase development. The influence on the shrinkage value was measured by shrinkage tests. In addition, the development of the microstructure was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. Finally, the influence on the strength development was correlated by ultrasonic measurement. These techniques allow a prediction of the setting process in the early stages. Finally, an environmentally friendly NPC-CSA blend could be developed which, in addition to high early strength, also achieves low shrinkage. Furthermore, the influence of the ettringite formation on the microstructure could be determined.