Materials and Structures (2017)50:56
DOI 10.1617/s11527-016-0913-6
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Influences of steam and autoclave curing on the strength
and chloride permeability of high strength concrete
Kefeng Tan . Jianzhou Zhu
Received: 6 September 2015 / Accepted: 22 June 2016
Ó RILEM 2016
Abstract This paper presents the results of an
experimental investigation carried out to evaluate the
influences of curing methods and mineral admixtures
on the strength and chloride permeability of concrete.
Rapid chloride ion penetration tests (ASTM C 1202)
were used to measure the chloride permeability of
concrete. Test results indicated that steam curing
decreased the 28 days compressive strength of plain
concrete by 11 %. Incorporating slag, fly ash, and
silica fume can significantly mitigate this harmful
consequence. After autoclave curing however, all
concrete’s strength exceeds 80 MPa. Steam and
autoclave curing increase the electrical charge passed
through plain cement concrete by 110 and 224 %,
respectively, when compared with normal curing. For
steam curing, incorporating silica fume is the most
efficient means to reduce the chloride permeability of
concrete. For autoclave curing however, incorporating
30 % fly ash is the most efficient means to reduce
chloride permeability.
K. Tan (&)
School of Materials Science and Technology, Southwest
University of Science and Technology,
Mianyang 621010, Sichuan, China
e-mail: tkf@swust.edu.cn
J. Zhu
Shanghai Zhongji Piles Industry Co., Ltd, Shanghai,
China
Keywords Concrete
Curing temperature
Chloride
permeability
Compressive strength
Mineral
admixture
1 Introduction
Concrete normally provides good protection against
reinforcement corrosion because of the higher
pore solution alkalinity and passive layer formation
on the surface of steel. In a saline environment
however, the passive layer can be destroyed when
chloride ion intrusion exceeds a threshold value [1],
at which point steel corrosion may occur. Corrosion
of steel in concrete is one of the major causes of
premature deterioration of reinforced concrete struc-
tures, which can lead to structural failure [2–4].
Chloride ions penetrate concrete primarily through
diffusion.
Under normal curing conditions, various experi-
mental studies have been conducted considering the
different parameters affecting the chloride permeabil-
ity of concrete. It was reported that curing conditions
[5], cement type [6], water–cement ratio [7], and
mineral admixtures such as silica fume, fly ash, slag,
rice husk ash, and metakaolin [8–12], etc., are the main
factors governing the performance of the concrete
against chloride ingress.
Also, there are some published literatures related to
the effect of elevated curing temperature on
56 Page 2 of 9
mechanical properties of concrete. Vu et al. [13] found
that creep is enhanced at higher curing temperature.
Valenza and coworkers [14] showed that the elastic
modulus decreased by about 20 % as the curing
temperature increased from 20 to 60 °C. Benammar
et al. [15] found that for normal strength concrete after
28 days of 45 °C steam curing, a strength reduction
was observed. However, there is little information
regarding the effect of 80 °C steam curing, especially
autoclave curing, on the strength and chloride perme-
ability of concrete.
In the construction industry, there are some
reasons such as limitation of formworks, facilities,
storage area, and time which encourage precast
concrete plants to obtain high early strength, to speed
up the stripping of forms, to transfer the prestress
earlier, as well as to shorten the curing period. In this
respect, it is a natural aim to provide a desired
strength level for concrete in a short time by
accelerating its hardening process using various
methods. Heat treatment is one of the methods widely
used for this purpose. In China, some prefabricated
concrete products such as bridge decks, bridge
girders, tunnel segments, railway concrete sleepers,
concrete pipes, and prestressed high strength concrete
piles are steam cured, and some of them then
autoclaved. For instance, the financial supporter,
Shanghai Zhongji piles industry Co., Ltd adopts
80 °C steam cured and then 175 °C autoclaved to
ensure the compressive strength of concrete for the
piles higher than 80 MPa.
2 Objectives of the work
The objectives of this study are:  to investigate to
what extent the elevated curing temperatures affect-
ing the later strength of high strength concrete with or
without mineral admixtures; ` to find out at elevated
curing temperatures, what kind of mix proportion can
reach a compressive strength higher than 80 MPa
that needs for the production of high strength piles; ´
to investigate the effects of elevated curing temper-
ature on chloride permeability; ˆ to find out the
potential of mineral admixtures to mitigate those
negative effects caused by high temperature curing if
they exist.
Materials and Structures (2017)50:56
3 Experimental
3.1 Materials and mix proportions
Ten concrete mixes were prepared. Their mix propor-
tions were given in Table 1. For all mixes, Portland
cement (P.O 42.5) produced by Nanfang cement Corp.
Ltd. of China was used as the binder. Natural sand was
used as the fine aggregate, and crushed gravel was
used as the coarse aggregate. Fly ash was obtained
from the Jiangyou power plant with a 45 lm sieve
retention of 56 %. Slag was obtained from the
Chongqing Steel Corp. Ltd. of China with a Blaine’s
surface area of 415 m2/kg. Elkem silica fume was
used. The chemical composition of the cement, slag,
fly ash and silica fume is given in Table 2. A
naphthalene-based superplasticizer was used to make
the concrete workable (slump = 60–80 mm).
After mixing, /100 mm cylindrical specimens for
the chloride permeability test and 100 mm cubic
specimens for the compressive strength test were
casted and vibrated. After casting, three curing
methods were used as follows: normal curing, steam
curing, and autoclave curing.
(1) Normal curing: standard curing conditions were
used. That is, the concrete specimens were
cured at 20 ± 1 °C and a relative humil-
ity [95 % until testing began.
(2) Steam curing: after casting, the specimens were
kept in the laboratory for 100 min. They were
then heated at a rate of 60 °C/h until the
temperature reached 80 °C. This temperature
was maintained for 4 h. The samples were then
cooled to ambient air temperature and subse-
quently cured in a standard curing room until
testing began.
(3) Autoclave curing: specimens were steam cured,
then heated to 175 °C (steam pressure 0.9 MPa)
within 1 h, and maintained at this temperature
for 4 h. Then, they were cooled and transferred
to a standard curing room until testing began.
Specimens for chloride permeability were tested at
28 days, except for plain cement concrete specimens,
which were tested at ages 3, 28, and 56 days.
Specimens for compressive strength were tested at
ages 3, 7, and 28 days.
Materials and Structures (2017)50:56 Page 3 of 9 56

Table 1 Mix proportions Mix no. Cement Slag Fly ash Silica fume Water W/b Gravel Sand
of concrete (kg/m3)
1 500 0 0 0 135 0.27 1206 709
2 400 100 0 0 135 0.27 1209 709
3 350 150 0 0 135 0.27 1209 709
4 400 0 100 0 135 0.27 1209 709
5 350 0 150 0 135 0.27 1209 709
6 400 50 50 0 135 0.27 1209 709
7 400 25 75 0 135 0.27 1209 709
8 400 75 25 0 135 0.27 1206 709
9 475 0 0 25 135 0.27 1206 709
10 460 0 0 40 135 0.27 1209 709

Table 2 Chemical CaO SiO2 Fe2O3 Al2O3 SO3 TiO2 K2O Na2O MgO
composition of the cement,
slag, fly ash and silica fume Cement 63.45 21.26 3.36 5.18 2.20 0.36 0.69 0.11 0.35
(%)
Slag 43.07 32.41 0.66 14.39 2.39 0.61 0.24 0.21 5.47
Fly ash 9.09 53.38 5.71 25.72 1.26 1.41 1.12 0.63 0.75
Silica fume 1.36 95.46 0.15 0.13 0.40 – 1.84 0.03 0.20

All test results are the average of three specimens.

3.2 Testing methods

A rapid chloride ion penetration test (ASTM C 1202)

[16] was used to measure chloride permeability. The
chloride permeability is determined under saturated
condition.
The quality of concrete has been specified accord-
ing to the amount of electrical charge passed. If the
electrical charge passed in Coulombs is greater than
4000, the chloride ion penetrability is considered high.
Electrical charge passed between 2000–4000 Cou-
lombs is considered moderate, 1000–2000 is low,
100–1000 is very low, and below 100 is negligible
[13]. The compressive strength of concrete was
measured on 100 mm cubes.
4 Results and discussion
4.1 Compressive strength
4.1.1 Normal curing
Figure 1 shows the compressive strength of concretes
tested at ages of 3, 7, and 28 days respectively. It
clearly demonstrates that the silica fume (Mix 10) has
Fig. 1 Compressive strength of concrete under normal curing
condition
the best strengthening effect due to its micro-filler and
volcanic effects. Incorporating 8 % can increase the
compressive strength by 23 % compared to plain
concrete.
It is worthily noted that for plain concrete, the
strength development is quite faster. This is because
for low w/c concrete, the cement particles are densely
packed, and fewer hydration products are enough to
fill the gaps between the cement particles, and thus a
denser microstructure forms earlier.
4.1.2 Steam curing
The concrete strengths at ages of demoulded, 7, and
28 days after steam curing are shown in Fig. 2. For
56 Page 4 of 9 Materials and Structures (2017)50:56

Normal
Steam

Fig. 2 Compressive strength of concrete after steam curing Fig. 3 Comparison of 28 days compressive strength of con-
condition crete after normal and steam curing conditions

plain concrete, the 28 days strength decreases by 11 % Table 3 Calculated / and Mix no. / g
g of concretes
after steam curing. Another research [17] on plain
1 0.89 1
normal strength concrete with a w/c of 0.5 also showed
2 0.88 0.99
that the compressive strengths decreased by 11, 15,
3 1.02 1.15
and 23 % respectively when curing temperature
4 1.11 1.28
increased from 20 to 50, 65, and 80 °C. The strength
5 1.07 1.2
reduction is due to the coarsening of microstructure
caused by the elevated curing temperature. 6 0.99 1.11
Previous studies found that at elevated curing 7 1.06 1.19
temperatures, a dense shell formed around cement 8 0.91 1.02
particles and reduced the rate of hydration at later ages 9 0.92 1.03
[18, 19]. The curing temperature affects the surface 10 0.99 1.11
area (SBET) of hydration in C3S pastes. SBET decreased
with increasing temperature [20]. They attributed this
the g represents the effect of mineral admixtures on
decrease to a coarsening of the C–S–H particles
mitigating this harmful consequence.
formed at elevated temperatures. At elevated curing
The values of calculated / and g are given in
temperatures, the hydration rate is higher, reducing the
Table 3. It clearly demonstrates that incorporating
time hydration products have to diffuse and precipitate
slag, fly ash, and silica fume can significantly mitigate
uniformly throughout the interstitial space among the
the later strength reduction caused by steam curing.
cement particles. More hydration products are gath-
Actually, there is basically no strength reduction upon
ered around the hydrating cement particles, leading to
incorporating the above mineral admixtures. For fly
an uneven distribution of hydration products and a
ash and slag, steam curing can significantly stimulate
more porous microstructure and thus reduce the later
their reactivity, resulting in producing more hydration
strength of concrete.
products, and forming a denser microstructure. Incor-
As can be seen in Fig. 3, it seems that incorporating
poration of silica fume makes the binder closely
some mineral admixtures may mitigate this harmful
packed and thus the uneven distribution of hydration
consequence. For convenience of analysis, two
products caused by elevated temperature curing can be
parameters, / and g, are introduced:
significantly alleviated. Those are the reasons of
/ = strength at elevated curing condition/strength mitigating the strength reduction caused by elevated
at normal curing condition. curing temperature by incorporating the mineral
g = / of concrete incorporation of mineral admix- admixtures.
tures// of plain concrete. From Fig. 2 we can also see that after steam curing,
only Mix 8, which uses a slag to fly ash ratio of 1/3 and
where / represents the extent of elevated curing 20 % incorporation, and Mix 10, which incorporates
temperature affecting the strength of concrete, whilst 8 % silica fume have compressive strength exceeding
Materials and Structures (2017)50:56
80 MPa, which is needed for the production high
strength piles.
4.1.3 Autoclave curing
Figure 4 shows the compressive strength of concrete
after autoclave curing. It can be seen that all concrete’s
compressive strength exceeds 80 MPa, meeting the
requirement for production of high strength piles. For
plain concrete, contrast to steam curing, the compres-
sive strength after autoclave curing (84 MPa) is even
higher than that under normal curing (82 MPa). This
may be because that at 175 °C curing temperature, the
dense shell surrounding cement particles is destroyed
and the hydration of cement is renewed. Incorporation
of slag or the combination of slag and fly ash can
significantly increase the strength. This may be duo to
the production of a lot of secondary hydration
products, especially secondary C–S–H gel, under this
curing condition. As seen in Fig. 5, no Ca(OH)2
diffraction peaks could be found, implying that all
Ca(OH)2 is consumed when 30 % fly ash was
incorporated, implying that the reactivity fly ash is
greatly stimulated by autoclave curing.
The standard deviations of tested compressive
strengths undergone normal curing, steam curing and
autoclave curing, with respect to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are
given in Table 4.
4.2 Chloride permeability
4.2.1 Plain cement concrete
The chloride permeability of plain cement concrete
with three curing methods is showed in Fig. 6 and the
Fig. 4 Compressive strength of concrete under autoclave
curing condition
Page 5 of 9 56
2000
1500
1000 Autoclave curing
500
2000
Intensity
1500
1000 Steam curing
500
2000
1500
1000 Normal curing
500
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Fig. 5 X-ray pattern of binder paste containing 30 % fly ash
after autoclave curing
standard deviations of test results are given in Table 5.
Clearly, the curing method significantly affects chlo-
ride permeability. Elevated curing temperature, espe-
cially during autoclave curing, significantly increases
chloride permeability.
At an age of 3 days, the electrical charge passed for
steam-cured specimens is lower than that of normal
cured and autoclave cured specimens. Electrical
charges passed by normally cured and autoclave cured
specimens were similar. At an age of 28 days, the
electrical charge passed through the steam cured
concrete was 1400 Coulombs. For the same age,
specimens cured by autoclaving passed 2158 Cou-
lombs. These charges are a 110 and 224 % increase,
respectively, over the normally cured concrete, which
passed 667 Coulombs. At 56 days, the trend is similar
to that of 28 days.
For autoclave curing, no obvious change of elec-
trical charge passed can be found between the ages 3
and 56 days, implying that cement hydration is
complete after autoclaving. For steam curing, the
electrical charge passed decreases from the age of
3 days (1802 Coulombs) to 28 days (1407 Cou-
lombs). Additionally, after 28 days, the electrical
charge passed does not decrease because cement
hydration rate becomes very slow. For normal curing,
the chloride permeability decreases significantly from
3 days (2209 Coulombs) to 28 days (667 Coulombs).
From 28 to 56 days (553 Coulombs), the decrease is
114 Coulombs, and the decreasing rate becomes
much slower. This decrease is due to produced
cement hydration products. As the hydration process
56 Page 6 of 9 Materials and Structures (2017)50:56

Table 4 Standard deviations of tested compressive strengths with respect to Figs. 1, 2, and 3
Mix no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Normal curing 1.8 2.4 1.7 0.8 1.3 3.1 2.2 2.6 1.3 1.3
Steam curing 2.3 1.7 1.5 2.8 2.1 0.9 1.6 3.2 1.7 2.1
Autoclave curing 1.9 1.2 2.1 1.9 2.3 1.9 2.3 1.8 2.7 1.9

Normal curing
Steam curing
Autoclave curing

Fig. 7 Effect of mineral admixtures on chloride permeability

under normal curing condition at an age of 28 days
Fig. 6 Effect of curing methods on the chloride permeability of
pure cement concrete at different curing ages

cement hydration rate and thermal expansion. As a

Table 5 Standard deviations of tested chloride permeability result, micro-cracking in the concrete may occur,
with respect to Fig. 6 causing chloride permeability to become even higher
Age 3 days 7 days 28 days than that of steam curing.

Normal curing 28 21 17 4.2.2 Concretes with mineral admixtures

Steam curing 32 19
Autoclave curing 42 19
progresses, more products are produced, and the
microstructure of the concrete becomes denser and
pores close. Pore closure results in a significant
decrease in chloride permeability from age 3 to
28 days. After 28 days, the water available for cement
hydration and the space to accommodate the cement
hydration is limited, causing the rate of cement
hydration to slow, causing a change in chloride
permeability.
As mentioned above, elevated curing temperature
leads to an uneven distribution of hydration products
and a more porous microstructure [18–20] and thus
results in higher chloride permeability of concrete.
For autoclave curing, the concrete is a relative poor
thermal conductor. During the heating period, there is
a temperature difference between the surface and the
inside of the concrete, which causes an inconsistent
26
27 4.2.2.1 Normal curing As expected, incorporating
mineral admixtures can significantly decrease chloride
permeability (see Fig. 7). It appears that slag more
efficiently reduces chloride permeability than fly ash
because of its higher reactivity and thus more hydration
products being formed. Silica fume proved to be
the most effective admixture to reduce chloride
permeability. The observed effect of silica fume,
which is in accordance with previous observation
[21], is closely related both to the modified
microstructure and to changed chemistry of the pore
solution. Admixtures reduce chloride permeability by
producing secondary C–S–H gel. The gel is produced
by the reaction between Ca(OH)2, which is released
during cement hydration, and SiO2 found in the mineral
admixtures. This reaction makes the admixture
concrete denser than plain cement concrete.
The chloride permeability of concrete will contin-
ually decrease as the curing age increases. This
Materials and Structures (2017)50:56
tendency is more apparent for concrete with mineral
admixture because of the continual reaction of SiO2 in
mineral admixtures with Ca(OH)2, liberated from the
hydration of cement, to form secondary C–S–H gel.
The reaction results in a denser structure of the
concrete and thus the reduced chloride permeability of
concrete.
4.2.2.2 Steam curing As seen in Fig. 8, different
mineral admixtures have different effects on the
chloride permeability of concrete under steam curing
conditions. Incorporation of 20 and 30 % slag can
reduce the electrical charge passed by 11.4 and
18.4 %, respectively. It seems as though incor-
porating a combination of slag and fly ash is a more
efficient way to reduce chloride permeability. With
20 % incorporation, using a slag to fly ash ratio of 1/3
and 3/1 can reduce the electrical charge passed by 40.5
and 39.2 %, respectively. The reason may be that
steam curing can stimulate the reactivity of fly ash and
slag and speed up the pozzolanic reaction.
The most efficient way to reduce chloride perme-
ability is to incorporate silica fume. Adding 8 % silica
fume decreases the electrical charge passed from 1400
to 84 Coulombs, which is even lower than the charge
passed under normal curing conditions (159 Cou-
lombs). According to ASTM C 1202, the chloride
permeability of this concrete is negligible. The
dramatic effect of silica fume is due to its extreme
fineness and high SiO2 content. It can act on concrete
in two ways: micro-filling and pozzolanic reaction.
Micro-filling is caused by the extremely fine silica
fume particles filling the gaps between cement parti-
cles, which results in a denser microstructure, reduc-
ing the harmful effects of the uneven distribution of
Mix no.
Fig. 8 Effect of mineral admixtures on chloride permeability
under steam curing condition at an age of 28 days
Page 7 of 9 56
hydration products caused by elevated temperature
curing. Additionally, steam curing can speed up the
pozzolanic reaction. In a pozzolanic reaction, the SiO2
in silica fume reacts with the Ca(OH)2 released during
cement hydration, to form extra C–S–H gel. This
reaction results in a denser concrete and lower chloride
permeability. Thus, when steam curing is needed, the
incorporation of silica fume is recommended.
4.2.2.3 Autoclave curing The chloride permeability
of concrete after autoclave curing is shown in Fig. 9. It
can be observed that incorporating slag or fly ash
reduces chloride permeability compared to steam
curing. Adding 30 % fly ash is the most efficient
means to reduce chloride permeability. The electrical
charge passed decreases from 1312 (steam curing) to
726 Coulombs (autoclave curing), which is even
lower than that of plain cement concrete cured at
steam curing conditions (1400 Coulombs). The reason
may be that autoclave curing can stimulate the
reactivity of fly ash and speed up the pozzolanic
reaction. This reaction consumes well-crystallized
Ca(OH)2 and produces extra C–S–H gel. As a result,
the transition zone between binder paste and aggregate
is improved, and the concrete becomes denser.
As opposed to normal curing and steam curing,
incorporating silica fume increases the chloride per-
meability of concrete. Adding 8 % silica fume
increases the electrical charge passed from 159 to
3186 and from 84 to 3186 Coulombs, compared to
normal curing and steam curing respectively. This
increase might be because the silica fume concrete is
too dense to tolerate inconsistent thermal expansion
between near-surface concrete and interior concrete,
caused by the temperature difference during the
Mix no.
Fig. 9 Effect of mineral admixtures on chloride permeability
under autoclave curing condition at an age of 28 days
56 Page 8 of 9 Materials and Structures (2017)50:56

Table 6 Standard deviations of tested chloride permeability with respect to Figs. 7, 8, and 9
Mix no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Normal curing 17 15 11 18 13 16 9 13 8 6
Steam curing 21 19 16 18 23 14 17 12 16 4
Autoclave curing 13 12 15 8 9 32 34 23 45 54

Normal curing microstructure of cement paste. Incorporation of slag,

Steam Curing
Autoclave curing
Fig. 10 Comparison of chloride permeability under three
curing conditions
heating. Thus, under autoclave curing conditions, to
reduce chloride permeability, incorporating fly ash is
recommended.
The standard deviations of tested chloride perme-
ability of concrete after normal curing, steam curing
and autoclave curing, with respect to Figs. 7, 8, and 9
are given in Table 6.
As seen from Fig. 10, except for cases of incorpo-
rating silica fume during steam curing, the chloride
permeability under elevated temperature curing is
higher than that of normal curing.
By comparing the test results of concrete undergone
three curing conditions, the following mix proportions
are preferred to be used in order to get higher
compressive strength and lower chloride permeability.
Under normal curing condition, silica fume concrete
(Mix 10) is preferred to be used. For steam curing, silica
fume concrete is the best, and Mix 7, incorporating
20 % slag and fly ash with a slag to fly ash ratio of 1/3 is
also acceptable. After autoclave curing however,
concrete incorporating 30 % fly ash is the best.
5 Conclusions
Steam curing decreases the 28 days compressive
strength of plain concrete due to the coarsening of
fly ash, and silica fume can significantly mitigate this
harmful consequence. After steam curing, only the
concretes incorporating 20 % slag and fly ash with a
ratio of 1/3 or incorporating 8 % silica fume reach a
compressive strength higher than 80 MPa. After
autoclave curing however, all concrete’s compressive
strength exceeds 80 MPa.
Under normal curing conditions, incorporating
slag, fly ash, and, especially, silica fume can signif-
icantly reduce the chloride permeability of concrete.
At an age of 28 days, compared with normal curing,
the electrical charge passed through the plain cement
concrete for steam curing and autoclave curing
increased by 110 and 224 %, respectively. For steam
curing, incorporating silica fume is the best means to
reduce the chloride permeability of concrete. The most
efficient means to decrease the chloride permeability
of concrete under autoclave curing conditions is to
incorporate fly ash as mineral admixture.
To get a higher compressive strength and lower
chloride permeability, silica fume concrete is preferred
to be used for normal and steam curing conditions. For
steam curing condition, the concrete incorporating
20 % slag and fly ash with a slag to fly ash ratio of 1/3 is
also acceptable. For autoclave curing, the concrete
incorporating 30 % fly ash is the best.
Acknowledgments Financial support from Shanghai Zhongji
piles industry Co., Ltd is greatly appreciated.
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