International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Editors: Mohammad Pour-Ghaz, Aali R. Alizadeh, and Jason Weiss

With the recent quest for developing sustainable infrastructure materials, there is a need for more advanced material characterization techniques at different length scales that can provide insight to the nature and fundamental behavior of the new classes of cementitious materials as they are becoming available. These methods can be used to predict the mechanical properties, microstructural aspects, and long-term performance of different cementitious systems. Examples of these novel techniques that have been recently used for material characterization include nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, nano- and micro-indentation, X-Ray tomography, and atomic force microscopy. Recently, major progress has also been made in the development of novel cement-based systems such as C-S-H/polymer nanocomposites and self-healing materials. This Special Publication aims at providing a treatise on the current research in the areas related to innovative characterization methods and analytical techniques used in the cement and concrete research, as well as the development of novel basic and composite cementitious materials. This Special Publication is developed to honor the significant contributions made by Dr. James J. Beaudoin over the past four decades to the advancement of cement and concrete science. Dr. Beaudoin, a Researcher Emeritus, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, has authored more than 500 publications, including five books, 20 book chapters, encyclopedia contributions, more than 270 research journal papers, 17 patents, and numerous discussions and book reviews. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Della Roy Lecture Award on applications of nanotechnology in cement science (American Ceramic Society, 2005), the Wason Medal for Materials Research (American Concrete Institute, March 1999) and the Copeland Award (American Ceramic Society, 1998). The papers included in this Special Publication were presented in two sessions in ACI Fall 2014 Convention, Oct 26-30, 2014.

In this study we report on characterization of synthetic calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) produced at relatively low Cao to SiO₂ (C/S) mixture ratio of 0.7 compared with C-S-H produced at 1.5 C/S mixture ratio. Synthetic C-S-H slurry was produced by mixing calcium oxide (CaO) to micro-silica (SiO₂) with large amount of deionized water. The slurry was then dried to the standard 11% relative humidity to produce a powder C-S-H. The C-S-H powder was then compacted at compaction pressures of 300 (43.5) and 400 MPa (58.0 ksi) to produce solid C-S-H discs. Modulus-density scaling relationships of C-S-H synthesized at 0.7 and 1.5 C/S ratios were established and compared. Microstructural characterization of C-S-H including Brunauer-Emmett Teller (BET) N₂, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and ²⁹Si magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) were performed. We show that porosity, water content, and silicate polymerization affected the elastic and viscoelastic properties of synthetic C-S-H. We also show that elastic and viscoelastic properties of C-S-H synthesized at 0.7 C/S ratio are more sensitive to porosity than those of C-S-H synthesized at 1.5 C/S ratio.

Many analytical surface characterization techniques exist to study steel passivity and corrosion in concrete. Some of these techniques, such as EIS and polarization resistance methods, have been used for decades to provide macro-scale data to characterize electrochemical activity on metal surfaces. More recently, advanced nanoscale spectroscopic methods, such as XPS and EELS, as well as analytical TEM have been shown to be quite useful to study compositional and crystallographic structures of oxides that form on steel. Despite these advances, researchers studying the interface between reinforcing steel and concrete in different scales are faced with several challenges with respect to the selection and the utilization of the available techniques. Each technique has advantages and disadvantages when compared with others; however, literature on these are quite limited in the study of steel/concrete interface. Since most of these techniques are not performed in situ, the interpretation of the data they provide requires careful examination. In addition, since most analytical studies to study passivity and corrosion in concrete are conducted in simulated environments, representativeness of the test setups are generally questioned. This paper presents a review of the commonly-used electrochemical as well as more recent analytical surface characterization techniques for the study of steel passivity and corrosion in concrete structures. The paper addresses the challenges with respect to the selection and the use of these techniques, pitfalls related to interpretation of the data, and common errors in test setups.

The durability performance of cement-based materials is directly related to the rate of moisture ingress in them. Moisture ingress in cement-based materials can be assessed using electricallybased methods. Traditionally, the electrically-based assessment of the moisture transport in cement-based materials has relied on two or four-point measurements, enabling onedimensional (1D) moisture flow monitoring. However, moisture ingress in cement-based materials is most often three-dimensional (3D). The objective of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of 3D electrical imaging of moisture ingress in mortar using Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). The EIT reconstructions are compared with the results of unsaturated moisture transport simulations using 3D Finite Element Method. The results of this study support the feasibility of EIT for 3D imaging of moisture flow in cement-based materials.

Shrinkage Reducing Admixtures (SRAs) are increasingly being used in concrete as a method to minimize shrinkage and restrained shrinkage cracking. SRAs reduce shrinkage by decreasing the surface tension of the pore solution; however, SRAs also impact the fluid viscosity, contact angle and density. Consequently, the absorption and desorption processes of cementitious systems containing SRA are altered. This paper describes experimental measurements of drying in cementitious mortar samples with and without SRAs, focusing on three components. First, solution properties (surface tension, viscosity, and contact angle) were measured at different temperatures. Second, the vapor desorption curves were measured and the non-linear moisture diffusion coefficient was quantified at different relative humidity (degrees of saturation). Third, neutron radiography measurements were performed to visualize and quantify the effect of the presence of SRA in solution on the moisture profiles and drying front generated during the early stages of the drying process. The results will be discussed in terms of theoretical observations in an effort to place the modeling of moisture and shrinkage gradients in concrete on a more fundamental footing.