International Concrete Abstracts Portal

Self-compacting concrete, recycled concrete as aggregate, calcium nitrate accelerators—these are just a few of the topics covered in the 47 papers included in ACI SP-200, Fifth CANMET/ACI International Conference on Recent Advances in Concrete Technology. You’ll be able to compare the structural performance of full-scale columns using ordinary and self-compacting concretes and with stirrup configurations representing differing degrees of confinement. You’ll also learn about a procedure that improves the quality of concrete made using aggregate produced from recycled concrete, and about experiments showing that, at 5 °C, calcium nitrate is a much more effective accelerator than calcium chloride. Note: The individual papers are also available as .pdf downloads.. Please click on the following link to view the papers available, or call 248.848.3800 to order. SP200

In Japan, it has been predicted that enormous quantities of demolished concrete will be produced in the future. Therefore, a great deal of research is being conducted to find ways to recycle this demolished concrete as concrete aggregate. However, because the characteristics of the original concrete are not well known in many cases, the results are also not clear. Moreover, the recycling of the cement in concrete is also necessary from the standpoint of resolving global environmental problems and achieving sustainable development . This paper describes the properties of the concrete made with recycled aggregates from the original concrete of known quality and the recycling of the cement in concrete as the approach that should be taken in the 2 1 st century.

The paper presents a critical review of the relationship between ettringite formation and sulfate attack. Ettringite formation is associated with expansion. However, not necessarily any ettringite-related expansion is related to sulfate attack. Early ettringite formation (EEF) which occurs immediately (within hours) in a plastic fresh mixture does not produce any damaging expansion and is associated with the regulation of setting time of portland cement paste. Expansion after the hardening of cement paste can be advantageously used for development of chemical prestress in expansive cements. Delayed ettringite formation (DEF) occurs at late ages and the related heterogeneous expansion in a very rigid hardened concrete can produce cracking and spalling. Two different types of DEF are examined depending on the sulfate source: DEF caused by external sulfate attack (EM) or internal sulfate attack (ISA). ESA, related to the interaction of environmental sulfate can be precluded by the use of impermeable concrete. with the cement matrix, On the other hand, ISA occurs in a sulfate-free environment due to the interaction of internal sulfate (from cement or gypsum contamined aggregate) with calcium-aluminate hydrates of the cement paste. Two different mechanisms of DEF caused by ISA are examined. The first one is based on the thermal decomposition of ettringite in high-temperature cured concrete elements and the subsequent re-formation of ettringite at ambient temperature in a saturated atmosphere. According to the second mechanism ISA is based on a chain of three essential events (microcracking, late sulfate release, and exposure to water) and DEF could occur even at room temperature.

High dosages of lignosulphonates for super-plasticizing are prohibited by the simultaneous setting retardation. However, the set retardation of lignosulphonates can be counteracted by calcium nitrate without destroying the rheology. Thus, such combinations can be cost-effective alternatives to super-plasticizers. The effect of different calcium nitrate dosages on 5 different lignosulphonates is documented by Fann viscosity, flow resistance and setting time on two different cement pastes. It has also been shown that calcium nitrate is capable of counteracting the effect of strong setting retarders like citric acid etc. Another application can thus be over-retardation of concrete for long transport from the concrete ready mix plant, followed by activation by adding calcium nitrate to the revolving drum of the concrete truck when arriving at, or being close to, the construction site.

High strength concrete mixtures containing 10% metakaolin replacement and 10% metakaolin addition, water/cementitious material ratio of 0.3 and 1% super-plasticizer were studied.. Similar mixtures incorporating silica fume were also prepared. The effect of mineral admixtures on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete was investigated. Mixtures with mineral admixture exhibited lower workability, less bleeding, and slightly lower air content. Metakaolin resulted in a higher loss of workability compared with silica fume. Mixtures incorporating mineral admixture developed greater compressive strength and elastic modulus at all ages. The enhancement was more pronounced at early ages and in the addition mixtures. The study concludes that the performance of metakaolin is equivalent to silica fume in terms of contribution to the enhancement of strength and elastic modulus. The metakaolin addition mixture attained 70% and 50% strength improvement while the metakaolin replacement mixture achieved 67% and 39% strength increment at the respective ages of 3 and 28 days.