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Self-compacting concrete (SCC) differs substantially from normal concrete as regards the quantity of superplasticiser dosage. The functionality of superplasticisers, based on the polycarboxylate ether (PCE) superplasticiser customary with SCC, is nowadays very well understood at construction material research level. However, knowledge concerning pertinent correlations does not always permeate practice to an equal extent. PCEs are extremely polymorphic as opposed to earlier superplasticiser groups, which still possess a considerable proportion of the superplasticiser market. The geometry of polymers can be adjusted individually to performance characteristics required for certain uses. Yet, in selecting a superplasticiser for its specified rheological properties, a very strong influence can equally be exerted simultaneously on the subsequent hydration process. The charge density of the PCE employed also plays a key role in connection with both rheology and early hydration.
Worldwide, cement and concrete experts are at the cutting-edge to sustainable, green, healthy but nonetheless high-Performance concrete. The current relatively low development of the cement and concrete industry in Africa offers the unique opportunity to start directly on the best achievable and sustainable Level, if only Expertise is sufficiently available. It should not be neglected that concrete is a product with comparably low Transport ranges, which means that an improved concrete market will mainly Support the local economy without exceeding financial Drains to the international market, thus fostering the fight against poverty, which is an urgent Need in most African countries.
The construction sector has traditionally been a source of employment in African regions. However, due to policy changes, cut backs in public investments as well as a fall in the number of employments in the private sector have been observed in many countries. Furthermore a shift from registered companies to informal contractors could be noticed. Many contractors offer services they do not provide permanently or for which the required equipment has to be borrowed. A study that was published in 2000 about the situation in Tanzania pointed out that only ca. 15% of the enterprises that offer concrete works own a concrete mixer. The building practice with concrete varies widely over the African continent. Whereas the level of technology and the infrastructure for cement and concrete in South Africa is elaborate, in East Africa and particularly those that were heavily suffering from civil war during the nineties of the last century, the availability of cement and concrete is poor and these materials are far from being everyday building practice. Most of the population relies on indigenous forms of construction requiring wood obtained from felling of forest trees and ultimately contributing to de-forestation. Informal settlements in South-Africa and Kenya are literal evidence where originally green natural vegetation has been turned into artificial desert-like landscapes.
Concrete technology was exposed to a rapid development during the last three decades. For the longest time in its history, concrete was considered as a three component System consisting of aggregates, which are bound by the hardened cement paste consisting of hydrated cement. Traditionally, the only way of adjusting the consistency of concrete was using well adjusted aggregates and grading curves and adding excess water to the concrete, accepting that the latter in return reduces strength and durability. During the last three decades, however, concrete has developed further from a three component System towards an (at least) five component system, since the use of mineral additions and Chemical admixtures has become state of the art. Both components are able to enhance the workability, the compactability, and the density of the microstructure with effects on strength, ductility and durability, while cement can be saved in parallel. Due to reasonable use of admixtures and additions, concrete can be designed to match mechanically high performance specifications. Traditionally, cement paste was considered the weakest component in concrete. Flowever, in modern concrete a good paste composition can yield highest performance, passing the role of the mechanical bottleneck towards the aggregates.
The SPIN project
(2011)
Globally, cement and concrete experts are at the cutting-edge to sustainable, green, healthy but nonetheless high-performance concrete. In the present age, concrete is not yet well established in Africa, which öfters the unique opportunity to build up a cement and concrete market based on the highest available state of technology. As this industry needs high level expertise, a central issue in implementation of skilled technology is cross-linking research institutions and laboratories. It should not be neglected that concrete is a product with comparably low transport ranges, which means that an improved concrete market will mainly support the local economy without exceeding financial drains to the international market, thus fostering the fight against poverty, which is an urgent need in most African countries.
The SPIN project highlights recent developments in the field of cement and concrete research with impact on the local and global economy. Challenges, future developments and opportunities for the African construction industry are in the focus.
The SPIN project is funded by the European Commission (EC) and supported by the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States under the project body of the ACP Science and Technology Programme. SPIN is acronym for “Spearhead network for Innovative, Clean and Safe Cement and Concrete Technologies”. The project aims to cross-link experts with industry and policy making bodies, aiming to establish sustainable cement and concrete construction in Africa.
Starches and its derivatives are known to exhibit viscosity modifying characteristics. In an ongoing work, the influence of com and cassava starches on some properties of concrete such as compressive strength, heat of hydration and creep are examined. Various percentages (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2 %) of starches by weight of cement were added to concrete mixes prepared in the laboratory. Preliminary results of compressive strengths showed that both starches have some positive impact (e.g. there was 5.3 % increase in strength due to a 1 % addition of com starch by weight of cement in comparison to the control while cassava starch of the same percentage gave 4.9 % increase in strength) at certain percentages of starch addition to concrete at 28 days. The creep and hydration results shows the starch additions compares well and in some instance performs better.
As soon as cement is mixed with water, the hydration reaction starts to set of. The progression of the hydration process is governed by the amount and the availability of water and its possibility to access the unhydrated cement grain surfaces. For a total hydration cement theoretically requires water amounting approximately 0.38 of its own mass. Nevertheless, due to the cement’s highly hygroscopic nature, already the moisture in the ambient air can cause first hydration reactions to set in upon the cement grain surfaces. Such pre-hydration processes have an effect on the cement's properties. Dpending on the specific conditions during the storage the significance of the impact on certain properties can vary.
If cement is consumed soon after production and is transported only short distances in a silo wagon to its final destination for immediate use without further stock transfer, the effects are rather negligible. However, if cement is delivered in bags, transported over long distances, shifted serval times and stored for longer time periods until it is finally consumend, these effects can be quite severe. Due to the actual logistical situation with comparably few cement plants, large delivery distances and partially less developed infrastructures, the latter scenario pictures the situation for the most cases in Africa quite well.
In order to verify the relevance of the pre-hydation for practical application, a series of tests was conducted at the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM). The influence of the cement storage on gresh and hardened concrete properties was investigated for different concrete and mortar types. The investigations show that the impact of the storage conditions is more pronounced for specialized concretes with high sophisticated optimized mixture compositions containing admixtures. Nevertheless, the effects also occur for ordinary concrete and should not be ignored.
This report is based on a three-year experience as coordinator of the ACP-EU funded SPIN project. The project involved eight African and three European partners. Practical and unforeseeable problems are addressed that occurred during the project implementation and ways how they were successfully solved are reported. The major problems in many African institutions were administrations that are not used to work in multi-national consortia and a lack of institutional support for the African researchers. In Europe a misjudgement of the African boundary conditions as well as inflexible administrations caused problems. Finally the funding scheme did not always allow to easily overcome the high number of unexpected practical problems. A major deficit identified during the project was a general trend in Africa to underestimate the role of research for the development of the continent. Most universities focus on teaching applied sciences, which is without doubt important to cover the market need for qualified staff in the rapidly growing African industries. However, this makes it unattractive for highly qualified performers to conduct research on the continent. Furthermore this leads to the situation that the curricula can only contain second hand knowledge. In order to attract international high level researchers, it is suggested to install multi-national regional excellence research centres that only promote PhD and post-doc research on a level that can cope with highest international excellence. High level research is often perceived as not capable of focusing on immediate actual problems that many African economies have to cope with.. However, it is considered to be very sustainable in terms of autonomy and mastering future challenges.