Analytische Chemie
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There is a wide range of research worldwide on supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as fly ash and slag for substituting Portland cement. Such materials are suitable to be considered in a cementitious system with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) due to their high pozzolanic properties. In addition, many of the SCMs are said to significantly improve concrete properties especially in terms of strength and durability. Unfortunately, the production of such SCMs is not entirely eco-friendly and also limited to certain parts of the world, hence one has to look at alternative options.
The issue of availability of resources is a strong concept that is ever-increasing, and the use of more eco-friendly SCMs in a cementitious system is furthermore attractive. Hence this paper addresses the use of eco-friendly SCMs in concrete such as rice husk ash (RHA). Despite the fact that extensive research has been done on this material, its application in a cementitious system to obtain sufficient concrete properties is still rather limited.
In a country like Tanzania, high strength concrete construction is applicable in special construction cases but certainly not a high priority. Majority of construction is still undertaken using normal strength concrete. In a ternary cementitious system consisting of OPC, RHA and other readily available resources such as limestone filler (LSF), normal strength concrete can still be produced having good performance and suitable for regular on-site construction. This paper explains a possible application of obtaining sufficient concrete properties from the available resources.
Building materials consist of cement, water and chemical admixtures, which adjust cement paste properties. They can act beyond their aimed functions causing changes in hydration course. The mechanisms are still under investigation. We investigate cement hydration in levitated droplets using an ultrasonic levitator. Hydrate phase formation is followed in situ by synchrotron XRD. The data allows detailed conclusions about the mechanisms of the admixture action in the ongoing hydration reactions.
Chemical admixtures are widely used to adjust properties of the cementitious mixtures. Different superplasticizers (SP) are typically added to improve the flowability of the fresh cement paste. Their working period is the initial stage of the cement hydration from its beginning until stiffening. Currently, polycarboxylate-based SP (PCE-SP) are the most effective ones. They can act beyond their aimed function causing changes in the hydration course, e. g. retardation effects. The exact mechanisms and influencing factors are still under investigation. However, the occurrence of the retardation effect indicates the involvement of PCE in the hydration reactions. Some observations indicate, that the retardation depends on the type, molecular structure and concentration of PCE, and the presence of other admixtures (stabiliser, ST). These factors influence further the working time of admixture and its amount related efficacy in the flow improvement.
We investigate the cement hydration process in situ in levitated droplets. High resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction allows gathering temporal course of the hydration reactions. The measurement setup is based on an ultrasonic levitator allowing in situ investigation of the temporal changes of the phase composition in the hydrating cementitious system. Further, the hydration can be followed ab initio avoiding the time loss for the sample preparation and filling in the sample holder. The collected data allows to conclude about the mechanisms of the admixture action and their involvement into the ongoing hydration process.
Chemical admixtures like superplasticisers or stabilising agents are of ever increasing importance for modern concrete technology. They liberate the workability of concrete from its dependency on water content, and thus, open the gate towards innovative and future oriented concrete technologies. Meanwhile admixtures have become common practice in concrete technology, but the understanding of these highly complex polymers in the entire concrete system lags far behind their application. Due to its complex time-dependent, multi-phase and multi-scale behaviour, flowable concrete systems are highly complicated and cannot be described comprehensively by simple models. It is therefore extremely challenging to identify the relevant parameters that predominantly control flow phenomena on different size scales, since these may occur on any scale between the nano scale (e.g. superplasticizer adsorption) and macro scale (e.g. grading of the aggregates). The present study discusses fundamental mechanisms at the interface between particle or hydrate surfaces and the fluid phase at a very early stage of concrete formation, and links these effects to macroscopic flow phenomena.
Based on the observations of the nano scale effects, it seems that higher sensitivity against variations in the constituents, the handling, or the boundary condition are the inevitable price for higher performances. However, eventually a very effective method is introduced that helps to maintain stable processes regardless of the root cause for performance changes based on an efficient in-situ process control scheme and superplasticizer and stabilising agents as counter actions.