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Performance of Belite-Sulfoaluminate Cements PDF
Performance of Belite-Sulfoaluminate Cements PDF
Abstract
Cements, which contain a high proportion of the mineral belite, often with an additional component such as calcium sulfoaluminate
included to improve early strength development, are currently attracting a great deal of interest worldwide. This interest is largely due to
their intrinsically lower energy requirements and CO2 emissions on manufacture than conventional Portland cements (PC). The properties
of two commercially produced belite – sulfoaluminate based cements have been studied. Concretes made using these cements show rapid
strength development and excellent sulfate resistance. Compressive strength at 20C is comparable with PC concretes made using similar
cement contents and water-to-cement (w/c) ratios. However, carbonation rates under natural and accelerated conditions are high when
compared with PC concretes made using similar mix designs. D 2001 Building Research Establishment. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.
0008-8846/01/$ – see front matter D 2001 Building Research Establishment. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 0 8 - 8 8 4 6 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 5 4 3 - 9
1342 K. Quillin / Cement and Concrete Research 31 (2001) 1341–1349
nent such as calcium sulfoaluminate, C4A3s̄ (in some cases The concrete may also be susceptible to expansion and
together with Cs̄ and/or C4AF). The hydration of this phase cracking through the delayed formation of ettringite [5] in
leads to the formation of ettringite (C6As̄3H32) and so situations where the concrete was subjected to elevated
contributes to the early strength development [3]. C4A3s̄ is temperatures during curing, either due to external heating
formed at temperatures around 1100C and so the energy or to heat generated from the hydration process itself.
consumed on manufacturing these cements should not be Ettringite becomes increasingly soluble at elevated tempera-
significantly greater than that of belite cement. tures and, in PC at least, does not form at temperatures
Belite cements will only have a significant impact in around 85C and above. It will, however, reform on cooling
reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions if they are and, if formed in significant amounts in hardened concrete,
manufactured and used on a large scale. Ongoing process can lead to expansion and cracking. It is also possible that
improvements are making PC manufacture more energy- concretes made using belite –sulfoaluminate cements may
efficient. The use of blended PC and improvements in the be susceptible to deterioration at low temperatures through
hydraulic activity of PC may also lead to significant energy thaumasite (C3Ss̄cH15) formation [14] if exposed to a
savings by reducing the PC content of concrete. Such source of carbonate ions. The potential for thaumasite
changes are likely, at least in the short term, to outweigh formation in these materials has not been assessed in the
any potential benefits of belite cement use. It has, however, current programme.
been suggested that belite sulfoaluminate cements would be This paper describes an experimental programme carried
good activators of additions such as ground granulated out at Building Research Establishment (BRE) to assess the
blast-furnace slag and pulverised fuel ash [11]. performance of concrete made using commercially manu-
Although belite – sulfoaluminate cements have attracted a factured belite sulfoaluminate cements from China. A series
lot of interest, they have only been manufactured and used of tests have been carried out in order to:
on a large scale in China. Current production exceeds 1
million tonnes (although this is only a small fraction of total 1. Determine the oxide and phase compositions of the
cement manufacture in China) and these ‘‘Third Cement anhydrous cements.
Series’’ materials have been used in a wide range of 2. Assess the rate of strength development of concretes
structural and nonstructural applications [12]. The clinker made using these cements on storage in water at 5C,
is manufactured by heating a mixture of limestone, bauxite 20C, and 38C, and air at 20C.
(or red bauxite), and CaSO4 at 1300– 1350C. The clinker- 3. Determine the durability of concretes made using
ing temperature is therefore 100– 150C lower than that for these cements with respect to strength retention,
PC. This reportedly allows clinker output to be increased by carbonation resistance, and sulfate resistance.
more than 20% and coal consumption reduced by about 4. Determine their resistance to chloride ion ingress.
15% in comparison with PC. The cement clinkers are 5. Determine the effects of temperature during curing on
ground with other components such as gypsum. By varying the subsequent dimensional stability of the concrete.
the proportions of clinker, calcium sulfate, and additives, a
number of different types of cement can be produced [12].
The hydration of belite – sulfoaluminate cements at ambi-
ent temperatures leads to the formation of ettringite as a 2. Experimental
major phase. It has been suggested that, due to the large
amount of ettringite produced on hydration, concretes made Samples of two commercially produced cements have
using belite – sulfoaluminate cement may be particularly been obtained from the only known large-scale manufac-
prone to carbonation. This process could lead either to turer of belite-based cements via the Chinese Building
deterioration in the concrete itself through changes in the Materials Academy. These cements are a ‘‘rapid hardening’’
solid volume of the cement paste, or to reinforcement calcium sulfoaluminate cement (designated ‘‘SAC’’ in the
corrosion through the loss of pH buffering capacity. Zhou following discussion) and a ‘‘rapid hardening’’ calcium
and Glasser [13] have studied the effects of exposing ferroaluminate cement (designated ‘‘FAC’’). The manufac-
synthetic ettringite to a moist CO2-rich atmosphere. They turer classifies both cements in strength class #525. An
found that the surfaces of ettringite pellets decomposed to a analysis of the oxide compositions of the cements used in
mixture of calcium carbonate, gypsum, hemihydrate, alu- the study is given in Table 1.
mina gel, and water. A sulfate AFm phase was present in
the interior of the pellets. Andac and Glasser [11] observed 2.1. Sample preparation and mix design
pH values (controlled by the presence of KOH) of 13.1 after
3 days, falling to 12.9 after 60 days in uncarbonated pastes The testing programme is summarised in Table 2. Con-
made using similar cements. They also observed high crete specimens were prepared in accordance with BS1881:
chloride ion concentrations in the pore fluid that could also Part 125 [15] using Thames Valley gravel aggregates. The
have implications for the protection of reinforcement in target mix design given in Table 3 was used in a small-scale
concretes made using these cements. trial to determine whether the concretes prepared using SAC
K. Quillin / Cement and Concrete Research 31 (2001) 1341–1349 1343
Table 2
Summary of testing programme on SAC and FAC concretes
Test Specimen size Details Test ages (days)
Compressive strength 100-mm cubes water-stored at 20C 1, 3, 7, 28, 90, 180, 365, 730
(three replicate specimens) water-stored at 38C 28, 365
water-stored at 5C 28, 365
air-stored at 20C 1, 3, 7, 28, 90, 180, 365
Carbonation 200 75 75-mm prisms indoor 90, 180, 365, 540, 730
(two replicate specimens) external sheltered 90, 180, 365, 540, 730
external unsheltered 90, 180, 365, 540, 730
Sulfate resistance 100-mm cubes Na2SO4 (1.5% SO3) at 20C 90, 365, 730
(three replicate specimens) MgSO4 (0.35% SO3) at 20C 90, 365, 730
MgSO4 (1.5% SO3) at 20C 90, 365, 730
Accelerated carbonation 200 75 75-mm prisms see main text 7, 14, 28, 56
(two replicate specimens)
Expansion 200 75 75-mm prisms heat-cured at 85C then stored in water at 20C 1, 2, 3, 7, 14, 28, 56, 112, 180, 365
(two replicate specimens)
Chloride ingress 300 100 100-mm prisms tidal zone at BRE marine exposure site at Shoeburyness 90
amounts of calcite and gypsum present were calculated from The silica content and XRD analysis (from Tables 1
the respective weight losses between 650C and 750C (due and 5, respectively) suggest that the SAC sample has a
to the loss of CO2 from calcite) and at about 100 –130C higher belite content than that of FAC but again the
(due to the loss of water from gypsum). sulfate-containing phases are present in large amounts.
Both cements have a very low alkali content suggesting
that there would be a low risk of damage occurring
3. Results and discussion through alkali silica reaction [18]. However, this has not
been assessed in the current work.
3.1. Anhydrous phase composition
3.2. Early age compressive strength development
The phase compositions from XRD are given in Table 5.
The weight losses and corresponding weight percent values Compressive strength development for SAC concrete is
for calcite and gypsum are given in Table 6. summarised in Table 7. That for FAC concrete is given in
The belite content of the FAC is, due to the low Si Table 8. Strength development for both SAC and FAC
content, likely to be very low. This is confirmed by the concretes stored in water at 20C is shown as a percentage
XRD analysis in which C2S was not unambiguously of 28-day strength in Fig. 1. Strength development in
identified. However, Lan and Glasser [17] have shown concrete prepared using other cements is also shown for
that a notable feature of the clinker chemistry of these comparison. These results show the following:
cements is the silica deficiency of the belite phase, which 1. FAC concrete stored in water at 20C initially gained
is likely to be compensated by substitution of Al and S in in compressive strength at a faster rate than otherwise
place of the Si on tetrahedral sites. The cement predomi- equivalent SAC concrete. However, the compressive
nantly consists of the sulfate-containing phases C4A3s̄ and
calcium sulfate.
Table 4
Workability against time for SAC, FAC, and PC concretes
Table 3
Slump (mm)
Mix design used for SAC and FAC concrete
3 Time (min) SAC FAC PC
Cement #525 350 kg/m
Aggregate 6 60 35 35
10 – 20 mm 802 kg/m3 15 40 30 40
5 – 10 mm 401 kg/m3 30 25 25 30
0 – 5 mm 648 kg/m3 (35%) 40 15 20 30
Water (total)a 197 (w/c = 0.563) 50 15 15 30
a 60 10 25 25
Initially, a w/c ratio of 0.5 was planned. However, in order to achieve
suitable workability, a small amount of extra water was added to the mixer 70 10 10 25
for the SAC, increasing the w/c ratio to 0.563. The same mix design was 80 5 10 20
then used for the FAC concrete. 90 5 5 15
K. Quillin / Cement and Concrete Research 31 (2001) 1341–1349 1345
Table 7
Compressive strength development in concrete prepared using SAC
Compressive strength (MPa)
Storage conditions 1 day 3 days 7 days 28 days 90 days 180 days 365 days 720 days Phases detected by XRD after 365 days
Water-stored at 20C 32.5 38.5 40.5 44.0 48.5 49.5 53.5 59 ettringite (s) C2ASH8 (w), calcite (m)
Water-stored at 38C – – – 45.0 – – 69.0 – ettringite (s) C2ASH8 (vw), calcite (s)
Water-stored at 50C – – – 42.0 – – 54.0 – ettringite (s), calcite (m)
Air-stored at 20C – 39.5 42.5 45.0 48.0 43.5 45.0 38.5 ettringite (m), C4Ac0.5H12 (m), calcite (s),
aragonite(m)
Na2SO4 20C (1.5% SO3) – – – – – – 57.5 63.5 ettringite (vs) C2ASH8 (vw), calcite (w)
MgSO4 20C (0.35% SO3) – – – – – – 56.5 60.5 ettringite (vs) C2ASH8 (vw), calcite (w)
MgSO4 20C (1.5% SO3) – – – – – – 54.0 57.5 ettringite (vs) C2ASH8 (m), calcite (w)
XRD peaks: vs = very strong; s = strong; m = medium; w = weak.
Table 8
Compressive strength development in concrete prepared using FAC
Compressive strength (MPa)
Storage conditions 1 day 3 days 7 days 28 days 90 days 180 days 365 days 720 days Phases detected by XRD after 365 days
Water-stored at 20C 41.5 44.5 46.5 51.5 55.0 55.5 53.5 55.5 ettringite (s), C4A3s̄ calcite (s)
Water-stored at 38C – – – 46.5 – – 48.0 – ettringite (s), C2ASH8 (vw) calcite (s)
Water-stored at 5C – – – 74.5 – – 76.5 – ettringite (s), CAH10 (m) calcite (m)
Air-stored at 20C 48.0 51.5 55.5 55.5 57 53.5 53.0 ettringite (s), calcite (s)
Na2SO4 20C (1.5% SO3) – – – – – – 51.5 55.5
MgSO4 20C (0.35% SO3) – – – – – – 56.5 55.0
MgSO4 20C (1.5% SO3) – – – – – – 56.5 55.5
XRD peaks: vs = very strong; s = strong; m = medium; w = weak.
The data also show that, based on the limited data available, C45 50:50 PC/pfa concrete. However, the effects of curing
that both FAC and SAC carbonate more rapidly than a regime and the effects of carbonation on the dimensional
comparable PC concrete. They also carbonate faster than a stability of the concrete have not been studied.
Fig. 1. Compressive strength development in SAC and FAC concrete at 20C as a % of 28-day strength. Data for CAC and PC concretes are also shown
for comparison.
K. Quillin / Cement and Concrete Research 31 (2001) 1341–1349 1347
Table 9
Mean carbonation depths for SAC concrete
Mean carbonation depth (mm)
Conditions 90 days 180 days 365 days 540 days 720 days
Indoor 5.0 (3 – 8) 6.1 (4 – 9) 11.6 (9 – 19) 11.1 (9 – 15) 14.5 (11 – 17)
Outdoor sheltered 2.0 (1 – 5) 4.3 (2 – 9) 6.2 (3.5 – 10.5) 7.2 (4.5 – 15) 8.7 (5 – 12)
Outdoor exposed 0 3.5 (1.5 – 8) 1.8 (1 – 6) 1.4 (0.5 – 3.5) 1.5 (1 – 4)
Note that values in brackets are the extremes of the range of measurements on three prisms.
Table 10
Mean carbonation depths for FAC concrete
Mean carbonation depth (mm)
Conditions 90 days 180 days 365 days 540 days 720 days
Indoor 3.1 (1 – 6) 4.6 (2.5 – 9) 7.0 (4 – 14) 6.9 (3.5 – 10) 10.5 (7 – 16)
Outdoor sheltered 2.6 (1 – 6.5) 3.4 (1 – 6.5) 4.6 (3 – 6.5) 6.2 (4 – 10) 8.0 (5.5 – 11)
Outdoor exposed 1.3 (1 – 2.5) 2.3 (1 – 7) 2.5 (1 – 6.5) 2.6 (1 – 5) 3.6 (1.5 – 7)
Note that values in brackets are the extremes of the range of measurements on three prisms.
3.4. Chloride ingress where Cx is the chloride at depth x, Cs is the chloride content
at surface of the concrete, Cb is the background chloride
The 90-day chloride profiles are summarised in Table 12. content, D is the effective chloride diffusion coefficient, and
The data have been approximated to the diffusion equation: t is the exposure period.
" !# The FAC concrete are consistent with a diffusion coeffi-
x cient of 2.6 10 11 m2/s and a surface chloride concen-
Cx Cb ¼ ðCs Cb Þ 1erf
2ðDtÞ1=2 tration of 0.8 wt.% of cement. The data for the SAC
concrete could not be fitted to the curve. This diffusion
coefficient is high, and the surface chloride concentration
low when compared with those of PC concretes under
Table 11 similar conditions [19]. However, diffusion coefficients
XRD peak heights for ettringite and calcite after 180 days in SAC concrete
stored indoors
measured using this method have been found [20] to fall
with time as a result of ageing and lower values may be
Counts per second
recorded at later ages.
Ettringite (E) Calcite (C) E/C ratio
No significant changes in the length of heat-treated
Centre 316 121 2.61 concrete prisms for either the SAC or the FAC concretes
Surface 151 437 0.35
were observed over a period of 1 year. In studies of
Fig. 2. Accelerated carbonation depths against time for SAC and FAC concrete. Concretes were cured for 3 days in all cases.
1348 K. Quillin / Cement and Concrete Research 31 (2001) 1341–1349
[15] BS1881: Part 125, Testing concrete: Methods for mixing and sam- [18] Alkali silica reaction in concrete, BRE Dig. 330.
pling fresh concrete in the laboratory, British Standards Institution, [19] M. Thomas, J.D. Matthews, Durability of pfa concrete, Build. Res.
London, 1986. Establ. Rep. BR 216.
[16] BS 1881: Part 116, Method for determination of compressive strength [20] P. Bamforth, The derivation of input data for modelling chloride
of concrete cubes, British Standards Institution, London, 1983. ingress from eight-year UK coastal exposure trials, Mag. Concr.
[17] W. Lan, F.P. Glasser, Hydration of calcium sulfoaluminate cements, Res. 51 (1999) 87.
Adv. Cem. Res. 8 (1996) 127. [21] K. Quillin, A. Barker, J. Matthews, unpublished experiments.