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Artikel Carbonation of Filler Typed Self-Compacting Concrete and Its Impact On The Microstructure by Utilization of 100% CO2 Accelerating Techniques
Artikel Carbonation of Filler Typed Self-Compacting Concrete and Its Impact On The Microstructure by Utilization of 100% CO2 Accelerating Techniques
School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Anbar, Iraq
h i g h l i g h t s
Investigation of carbonation with related to the microstructure of three ller-typed self-compacting concrete SCC.
Study of SCC mixes containing three common types of ller at relatively high rates of cement replacement.
First work to analyse the change of the microstructure of sustainable SCC after complete carbonation.
The impact of the carbonation on the pore connectivity was more noticeable in denser microstructure of SCC.
New methodology to predict the actual carbonation depths by utilization of 100% CO2 techniques.
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 28 June 2013
Received in revised form 17 September 2013
Accepted 24 September 2013
Available online 26 October 2013
Keywords:
Accelerated carbonation
100% CO2
Self-compacting concrete
Microstructure
Pore size distribution
Cement replacement
a b s t r a c t
Via the use of accelerated carbonation techniques with 100% CO2 concentration, an experimental programme was performed to investigate the carbonation and associated microstructural changes of three
different self-compacting concrete (SCC) in which some of the cement had been replaced by limestone
powder, y ash and/or silica fume. Accelerated carbonation tests were conducted on these ller-typed
SCCs after 28 days water curing. Approximately 33% of the total binder (450 kg/m3) was replaced by limestone powder, y ash or a y ashsilica fume blend.
The results revealed that the replacement of limestone powder (LP) increased the depth of carbonation
during the accelerated test relative to the effect of the y ash (FA) or the combination of the y ash and
the silica fume (FA + SF) replacements. However, the modelling of the normal pressure accelerated carbonation tests with 100% CO2 showed all the SCCs studied have no risk of carbonation induced corrosion
in the natural environment. Overall, the research suggests that carbonation of ller typed SCC may not be
chemically controlled, rather, the internal pore structure may play an important role. Furthermore, the
effect of carbonation on the internal pore structure and the chemistry of the concrete matrices were more
noticeable in SCC containing FA + SF than in those with LP and FA replacements.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The durability of self-compacting concrete (SCC) structures exposed to aggressive environmental conditions is still a major concern of many concrete investigators [13]. Carbonation, beside
chloride attack has been considered as one of the most disruptive
phenomena that can affect the concrete durability, potentially
causing a signicant reduction in service life [4,5]. Until now, the
carbonation of SCC is a somewhat controversial topic. SCC has
sometimes a larger and sometimes a smaller carbonation penetration as compared with the normal vibrated concrete (NVC) at the
Corresponding author at: School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
E-mail addresses: evxmkm@nottingham.ac.uk, mahmoudkh_ani@yahoo.com
(M.K. Mohammed).
0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.09.052
509
510
concentration may lead to rapid carbonation of the concrete surface and, consequently, this could reduce the penetration of CO2.
A 98% CO2 concentration was successfully used by Stehlik and Novak [13] when making a correlation between the carbonation in
the natural environment and in an accelerated test using Ficks rst
law of diffusion. Sanjuan et al. [16] pointed out that the rate of carbonation under 100% CO2 and a relative humidity of 60% was 40
times than in natural condition. This was when testing the carbonation of normal vibrated concrete with cement contents of 250 kg/
m3 and 350 kg/m3 with w/c ratios 0.69 and 0.49, respectively. For
studying the carbonation induced corrosion and electrochemical
re-alkalization technique after carbonation, Al-Kadhimi et al. [11]
proposed a pressurised accelerated carbonation procedure with a
pure atmosphere of CO2 and a pressure up to 15 bars. They revealed that the microstructural characteristics of carbonated concrete at high pressure strictly agreed with those obtained from
naturally carbonated concrete. Thus, the proposed accelerated
technique could be useful for examining the vulnerability of materials to carbonation. Accordingly, taking the work of all the researches reviewed above, two types of accelerated testing were
utilised in the present investigation:
Normal pressurised accelerated carbonation test with 100% CO2
for the purpose of carbonation depth monitoring and predicting
the service life of the mature ller typed SCC.
Pressurised accelerated carbonation test to study the change of
pore structure, the microstructure and chemistry of the matrices after carbonation.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram and photograph of the normal pressurized accelerated carbonation test with 100% CO2.
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Cement (kg/m )
Coarse aggregate (kg/m3)
Fine aggregate (kg/m3)
Water (kg/m3)
Fly ash (kg/m3)
Limestone (kg/m3)
Silica fume (kg/m3)
SP% by weight
Slump ow (mm)
T50 (s)
Compressive strength 28 day (MPa)
LPSCC
FASCC
FASFSCC
300
860
900
180
150
2.6
700
4.5
50
300
825
900
180
150
1.83
720
3.2
56.5
300
825
900
180
120
30
3.1
680
3.6
57.9
Several trial mixes were conducted to obtain these selected dosages of SP.
were sealed using plastic caps to ensure the radial movement of the carbonation.
They were stored inside the unpressurised chamber for 240 days. At ages of 30,
60, 90, 120 and 240 days, the specimens were removed from the chamber and
the following steps were conducted to observe the progression of the carbonation
depth:
After removing the plastic caps, a 15 mm long (60 mm diameter) disks were cut
from the bottom side of each cylinder using a machine saw.
The sectioned surface was cleaned from any dust and the depth of carbonation
through the circumference of the disks was detected by a phenolphthalein
indicator.
The depth of carbonation was recorded as an average value of four readings
taken 90 from each other on the disk. In some cases especially for the concrete
samples, another two readings were added to evaluate the minimum depth of
carbonation. The procedure of detecting and measuring the carbonation depth
is shown in Fig. 3.
The shortened cylinders were then sealed again and loaded into the chamber for
further carbonation.
In contrast to the partially carbonated specimens obtained in the normal pressure container (Fig. 1), 100% carbonated specimens were obtained from the pressurised accelerated carbonation (Fig. 2). Two types of tests were conducted on these
carbonated samples:
Small pieces weighing 13 g from the middle part of fully carbonated mortar
samples were used for the MIP test in order to detect the change of the internal
pore structure compared to that already evaluated before carbonation at
28 days.
SEM images were acquired to check the change of the morphology of the carbonated sample and to detect the change of the chemistry inside the pores
using platinum-coated fractured surfaces compared to those before
carbonation.
Table 2
CH % content of the mixes at 28 days.
Mix ID
CH % dehydration
LPSCC
6.3
FASCC
4.7
FASFSCC
4.2
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LPSCC
FASCC
FASF
SCC
Before carbonation
After carbonation
Micro
pores %
Macro
pores %
CPD
(lm)
Micro
pores %
Macro
pores %
CPD
(lm)
66.7
75
71
33.3
25
29
0.06
0.038
0.031
78.7
77.3
79.5
21.3
22.7
20.5
0.027
0.027
0.038
p
X K acc: t
Fig. 4. carbonation depth of SCC and mortars versus the exposure time.
ions, the CaCO3 resulting from the carbonation may make a shell
around the CH and delay further carbonation reaction at that site.
However, the resulting product appears to be porous and therefore
might not be able to delay the progression of carbonation to the
next site [27].
On the other hand if the carbonate moved faster than the calcium ions the CH might dissolve completely to form CaCO3. This
might then block the pores and prevent penetration of the carbonation front to deeper sites [27]. This second assumption suggests
that the LPSCC should have the highest resistance to carbonation
due to the high amount of CH in the cement paste which can dissolve to form dense pores structure and prevent the CO2 from further diffusion. However, physically, the analysis of the pore
structure before carbonation clearly showed that this type exhibited a more porous microstructure than the other SCC mixes see
Table 4. The results appear to demonstrate that modication of
the pore structure in both FA and FASFSCC increases the resistance to carbonation.
6.2. Predicting of actual carbonation depth
The monitoring for eight months of the carbonation depth of
the ller typed SCC was used to predict the carbonation depth in
a natural environment and the results are summarised in Table 3.
The accelerated coefcient of diffusion for SCC mixes was calculated as the slope of the carbonation depth-square root time relationship as shown in Fig. 5 according to the rst Ficks law (Eq. (3))
which was mainly used for carbonation modelling [28]. The carbonation depth does not seem to be linearly proportional to the
square root time for the rst month of measurements. The reason
for this is not known, although it might be because of an initial delay in carbonation propagation due to different density or packing
at the smooth surface of SCC specimens. Thus, the regression was
performed from the beginning of the second month of
measurement.
The experimental results showed an excellent correlation factors with the regression lines (at least 96.37%).
K acc: p
CO2100%=CO20:04% 50
K act:
The analysis, Table 3, demonstrates that the predicted carbonation depths were only 5.44 mm, 4.60 mm and 3.61 mm for LP-,
FA- and FASFSCC after 50 years of exposure to natural environment. Therefore, there is no risk of carbonation-induced corrosion
during the service life. If atmospheric carbon should rise to 0.06%
in 50 years time [refer to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) worse case estimate] then these predictions rise to
6.7, 5. 66 and 4.42 for LP-, FA- and FASFSCC respectively (a conservative assumption as concentration is taken as 0.06% through
those 50 years). Therefore, even increased greenhouse gas is not
likely to lead the initiation of steel corrosion over the same time
scale.
Table 3
Predicted carbonation depths for SCC in natural environment.
Mix ID
Kacc. mm/
(year)^1/2
Kact. mm/
(year)^1/2
LPSCC
FASCC
FASF
SCC
38.6
32.6
25.5
0.77
0.65
0.51
20
30
40
50
2.43
2.05
1.61
3.44
2.91
2.28
4.22
3.56
2.79
4.87
4.11
3.22
5.44
4.60
3.61
Fig. 5. Carbonation depths versus the square root of time (year) relationships.
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Fig. 7. LPSCC matrix: (a) MIP intrusion volume against the pore diameter and (b)
frequency distribution of the pores.
6.3. Quantitative analysis of the pore structure (MIP) before and after
carbonation
In general, the carbonation can promote blocking of the pore
structure of the matrix for the concrete. However, the incorporating of ne reactive and non-reactive ller and higher amounts of
SP, such as in the case of SCC, can modify the pore structure to a
large extent and the impact of the carbonation on the internal
structure of the SCC might be different. Thus, it would be interesting to identify the change in pore characterization after carbonation of each SCC. Changes in the pore connectivity and pore
concentration after carbonation could have a major impact on
Fig. 8. Frequency distribution of the pore before and after carbonation (a) FASCC
matrix and (b) FASFSCC matrix.
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6.4. Pore structure change linked with the SEM observation after
carbonation
Fig. 9. Quantitative analysis of pores percentages change% versus the pores ranges
before and after carbonation MIP test.
Fig. 11. Monosulfate form after carbonation in the pores of (a) LPSCC and (b) FA
SCC.
Fig. 12. DEF (Ettringite) after carbonation in the pores of FASFSCC (a) low
magnication and (b) high magnication.
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Acknowledgements
The principal author would like to express his gratitude for his
PhD scholarship sponsored by Higher Committee for Education
Development in Iraq (HCED). The authors would like to gratefully
acknowledge Mr. Mick Wineld (Operations Support Manager
NTEC, Faculty of Engineering), Mr. Richard Blakemore (senior technician for mixtures area of NTEC, Faculty of Engineering) and Miss
Nancy Milne (Technician, Faculty of Engineering) for their help in
manufacturing the normal pressure carbonation chamber, utilizing
the pressurized carbonation chamber and cutting the concrete
samples. The authors wish also thanks Mr. Keith Dinsdale (Chief
Experimental Ofcer, University of Nottingham Faculty of Engineering), Miss Vikki Archibald (Analytical Technician, University
of Nottingham Faculty of Engineering) and Dr. Nigel Neate (University of Nottingham Faculty of Engineering) for their help in
conducting the MIP, TGA and SEM tests.
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