Autogenous Curing of Cold-Bonded

Fly-Ash-Aggregate Concrete
Glory Joseph1 and K. Ramamurthy, M.ASCE2

Abstract: Autogenous curing behavior of cold-bonded fly-ash-aggregate concrete for a range of cement and aggregate contents is studied by
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subjecting concrete to three different curing regimes, viz, mist curing, sealed condition and air curing. The moisture movement from the
aggregate to concrete at various ages is estimated and correlated to the paste-aggregate proximity. The degree of hydration is evaluated
through nonevaporable water content. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) has been employed to identify hydration products with age
of concrete. The results suggest that the degree of hydration and strength of cold-bonded aggregate concrete are almost insensitive to curing
conditions. The autogenous curing of cold-bonded aggregate concrete could be effectively utilized with no variation in compressive strength
or porosity as compared with mist curing, if it is properly covered to minimize the evaporation loss. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533
.0000177. © 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
CE Database subject headings: Curing; Fly ash; Aggregates; Concrete; Moisture; Migration; Hydration; Compressive strength.
Author keywords: Curing; Fly ash; Aggregates; Concrete; Moisture; Migration; Hydration; Compressive strength.

Introduction
Studies have been reported on the use of lightweight aggregate
(LWA) as partial replacement for conventional coarse aggregate
in high-performance concrete to facilitate internal curing and mit-
igate autogenous shrinkage (Bentz and Snyder 1999; Bentur et al.
2001; Zhutovsky et al. 2004; Kovler et al. 2004). When the internal
relative humidity in the cement paste decreases owing to hydration
and drying, the moisture required for further hydration will be
drawn from the relatively large pores of the lightweight aggregate
into the much smaller pores of the cement paste by capillary suc-
tion. Thus the saturated lightweight aggregates in concrete act
as water reservoirs for the unhydrated cement paste (Weber and
Reinhardt 1997). The efficiency of internal curing depends on
the grain-size distribution of the aggregate and proximity of cement
paste to the surface of the aggregate. Hence the objective of such
studies on high-strength concrete has been to identify the minimum
LWA content to facilitate internal curing, as its content adversely
affects the strength of concrete. Unlike high-strength concrete
incorporating a small quantity of LWA, the self-curing capability
of lightweight aggregate concrete containing a large volume of
saturated aggregate with high absorption capacity needs to be
evaluated.
The influences of curing conditions and the extent of curing
on the strength development of lightweight aggregate concrete
with heat-treated sintered/expanded clay aggregate having a water
absorption value in the range of 12 to 13.5% have been reported
1
Reader, Civil Engineering Division, School of Engineering, Cochin
Univ. of Science and Technology, Cochin-682022, India. E-mail:
josephglory1@gmail.com
2 with a warm humid climate.
Professor, Building Technology and Construction Management
Division, Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, Chennai-600036, India
(corresponding author). E-mail: vivek@iitm.ac.in
Note. This manuscript was submitted on September 30, 2009; approved
on September 23, 2010; published online on September 27, 2010. Discus-
sion period open until September 1, 2011; separate discussions must be
submitted for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Ma-
terials in Civil Engineering, Vol. 23, No. 4, April 1, 2011. ©ASCE, ISSN
0899-1561/2011/4-393–401/$25.00.
(Swamy and Lambert 1983; Dhir et al. 1984; Haque et al. 2004;
Kovler et al. 2004). Swamy and Lambert (1983) reported strength
of not less than 90% in concrete with sintered fly-ash aggregate
after 3 to 6 months exposure in uncontrolled curing environment
of low humidity as compared with those under controlled curing.
Dhir et al. (1984) studied the development of strength of concrete
with expanded clay aggregate up to 365 days and concluded that
the percentage gain in strength of air-cured concrete was lower than
that of water-cured concrete. Although the compressive strength of
concrete with sintered fly-ash aggregate is less sensitive to curing,
the water penetrability and depth of carbonation are affected by the
extent of curing (Haque et al. 2004). The effectiveness of internal
curing and consequent reduction in autogenous shrinkage mainly
depends on the surface porosity and absorptive capacity of the
aggregate (Kovler et al. 2004). Hence, the sensitivity of high-
absorptive capacity cold-bonded fly-ash aggregate to curing con-
ditions is likely to be different from that of heat-treated aggregate
with low surface porosity and water absorption.
In this paper, the effectiveness of cold-bonded aggregate on the
autogenous curing behavior of concrete is examined through an
assessment of moisture migration from the aggregate, degree of
hydration, compressive strength, and permeable porosity at various
ages by subjecting concrete to three curing regimes: mist curing,
sealed condition, and air curing. Although mist curing represents
the conventional laboratory curing method, the sealed curing is
chosen to understand the effectiveness of cold-bonded aggregate
in promoting hydration when no moisture movement is allowed
both from the interior or exterior of the concrete. Air curing
typically represents the case of concrete not being subjected to
any specific curing and exposed to ambient conditions in a region
Experimental Investigation
Materials and Mixture Proportions
We used ordinary portland cement that had a 28-day compressive
strength of 54.1 MPa and conformed to IS 12269 (2004), and river

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2011.23:393-401.

 sand as a fine aggregate (specific gravity of 2.62 and 1% water
absorption). Cold-bonded aggregate was produced in the laboratory
using a disk pelletizer from Class-C fly ash [ASTM C 618 (2005a)].
The parameters of pelletization (angle and speed of pelletizer, mois-
ture content in fly ash) for achieving maximum efficiency were
adopted from an earlier study (Manikandan and Ramamurthy
2007). The aggregate obtained through pelletization, and it was
kept under shade for 24 h and then subjected to normal water curing
up to 28 days before its use as coarse aggregate in cold-bonded
fly-ash-aggregate concrete. Strengthening of pellets is because
of the formation of calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) gel during
the hydration (Bijen 1986). The aggregate size fraction passing
a 12.5 mm and retained on a 4.75 mm sieve, conforming to the
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crushed-granite aggregate (water absorption: 1%, specific gravity:
2.71) was also cast to compare with cold-bonded aggregate
concrete. For each mix, 100 mm cube specimens were cast for
various tests. After 2 h of casting, all the molds were covered with
polyethylene sheets to avoid moisture loss. The specimens were
demolded after 24 h, weighed and stored under the respective
curing conditions listed in Table 2.
Methodology
Moisture Movement from Cold-Bonded Aggregate
Residual moisture content in the cold-bonded aggregate at various
ages of concrete would give an indication of the moisture transfer
from aggregate to concrete. To estimate the moisture migration

grading requirements of ASTM C330 (2005b) was used. The from the aggregate to concrete, around 100 g of cold-bonded
physical and mechanical properties of the aggregate are presented aggregate was extracted manually from each mix of concrete
in Table 1. The specific gravity of saturated surface dry aggregate at various ages by carefully crushing the concrete (Holm and
was 1.98, although the 24-h water absorption and open porosity, Bremner 2004). As near-surface aggregates would have been
because of oven-dried (100
5°C) aggregate, were respectively affected by the environmental condition, the aggregates were
20.5% and 38%. Approximately 93% of the 24-h water absorption extracted from a depth of 15 mm. Care was taken to remove the
was observed to occur within the first 30 min, the aggregate was mortar layer from the surface of the aggregate to the extent pos-
soaked for 30 min and allowed to drain out the excess water for sible. The residual moisture is estimated as the difference in mass
10 min before mixing. between as-extracted aggregate and the mass after 24 h of oven-
Table 2 presents concrete mixtures along with the curing con- drying at 100
5°C, expressed as a percentage of the oven-dried
ditions investigated. The mixtures with low water content were mass of the aggregate.
chosen to evaluate the effect of cold-bonded aggregate in promot-
ing hydration by internal curing. The cement content was varied to Degree of Hydration
analyze both low strength (< 30 MPa, in which matrix or matrix- The chemically bound water determining the degree of hydration of
aggregate bond initiates failure) and high-strength concrete cement paste was assessed by a measurement of nonevaporable
[wherein the failure takes place through the cold-bonded aggregate water content in the paste. The mortar fractions at different
and strength decreases with volume fraction of aggregate (Joseph ages were extracted after carefully excluding the cold-bonded
and Ramamurthy 2009)]. The proportioning of materials was done aggregate fractions bearing in mind the hydrated products such
on an absolute volume basis by considering the entrapped air in the as calcium hydroxide (CH), C-S-H and ettringite in the cold-
concrete as 2.5% (ACI 211.2). The cement, water and fine aggre- bonded aggregate (Manikandan and Ramamurthy 2008). The
gate were mixed first for 2 min, the cold-bonded aggregate was then mortar was crushed and sieved through a 75 μm sieve to remove
added and the mixing was continued for the next 3 min. The the sand particles as suggested by Weber and Reinhardt (1997).
required dosage of superplasticizer was added to maintain a con- The sample was dried at 105°C for 24 h to remove the physically
stant workability, as characterized by a 50
5 mm slump. The bound water from the paste. The nonevaporable water content
fresh density of cold-bonded aggregate concrete was observed was determined as the percentage weight loss of the ignited sample
to vary between 2,075 to 2;250 kg=m3 . Normal concrete using (El-Dieb 2007) corrected for the loss of ignition of the original
cement sample after burning it in a muffle furnace at 1000°C. Ther-
mal gravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to identify the various
Table 1. Physical and Mechanical Properties of 28-Day Cured Cold- hydrates developed in concrete with age based on the decomposi-
Bonded Aggregate tion that occurs at different temperatures. TGA was carried out up
Cold-bonded
to 1000°C on hydrated cement at different ages (after being oven-
Property aggregate Test method dried at 105°C) at a heating rate of 10°C= min under a nitrogen
atmosphere.
3
Dry loose bulk density (kg=m ) 995 (ASTM C29 2003)
Saturated surface dry sp. gravity 1.98 (ASTM C127 2004) Permeable Porosity
Open porosity (%) 38.03 Vacuum saturation The porosity (apparent) of concrete attributable to permeable voids
30-min water absorption (%) 19.04 — provides an indication of effect of curing on potential durability.
24-h water absorption (%) 20.46 (ASTM C127 2004)
This was determined by subjecting the oven-dried 100 mm cube
samples to vacuum saturation [ASTM C 1202 (2005c)]. The
10% fines (kN) 28.8 (IS 2386: Part IV 2002)
amount of water penetrated into the specimen, a measure of
Crushing strength (N) 813 (BS 812: Part 110 1990)
the porosity in concrete is calculated as

Table 2. Mixture Proportions and Curing Conditions

Cement content Type of coarse Water-cement Coarse aggregate to total aggregate
(kg=m3 ) aggregate ratio ratio (CA/TA) (Vol. %) Curing conditions
250 Cold-bonded fly ash 0.5 35, 50, 65 (1) Mist room curing, 23
2°C, 98
2% RH, 180 days,
350 Cold-bonded fly ash 0.35 35, 50, 65 (2) Sealed in aluminum foils, 23
2°C, 180 days, and
450 Cold-bonded fly ash 0.35 35, 50, 65 (3) Air curing, 23 to 37°C & 65–82% RH, 180 days
450 Crushed granite 0.35 65

394 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / APRIL 2011

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2011.23:393-401.

 20
ðW sat  W dry Þ mist-cured concrete
p¼ × 100 19
ðW sat  W wat Þ

Residual moisture content in aggregate (%)

18
17
where p = permeable porosity (%); W dry = oven dry weight; W sat = 16
saturated surface dry weight; and W wat = saturated submerged 15
weight. 14
13
3
Results and Discussion 12 cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
3
11 cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
3
10 cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
Moisture Movement from Cold-Bonded Aggregate with 3
cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
9 3
Age of Concrete cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
8 3
cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
The residual moisture content in the cold-bonded aggregate
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7
extracted from concrete subjected to different curing regimes up 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
(a) Age of concrete (days)
to 180 days is presented in Fig. 1. A significant reduction in the
moisture content of the aggregate was observed during early age 20
sealed concrete
(within 7 days), under all curing regimes. Considerable reduction 19

Residual moisture content in aggregate (%)

in moisture content in the aggregate extracted from mist-cured con- 18
crete [Fig. 1(a)] shows the migration of moisture from the aggre- 17
gate, as it is more readily available to the paste than that from the 16
external source of mist curing. For a given cement content and 15
period of curing, the residual moisture content was lower in aggre- 14
gate extracted from concrete with a low volume fraction (35%) of 13
aggregate. As the quantity of aggregate in concrete is lower, the 12 3
cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
total quantity of water entrained by the saturated aggregate in con- 11 3
cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
crete is lower in the beginning itself, demanding migration of a 10 3
cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
higher percentage of moisture from the aggregate. For a given vol- 9
3
cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
ume of cold-bonded aggregate and concrete under sealed and mist- 8
3
cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
cured regimes, the residual moisture content was lowest in the 3
cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
7
aggregate extracted from concrete with 450 kg=m3 of cement con- 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
tent, indicative of increased moisture transport to the hydrating (b) Age of concrete (days)
paste with an increase in cement content. The air-cured condition 20
exhibits the least residual water content in the aggregate extracted air-cured concrete 3
cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
19
from concrete with cement content of 250 kg=m3 indicating higher 3
cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
Residual moisture content in aggregate (%)

18
moisture transfer from aggregate of concrete with less dense micro- 3
cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
17 3
structure to the drying environment. The moisture migration from cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
16 3
aggregate is marginal after 7 days in sealed and mist-cured condi- cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
15 3
tions. The moisture movement continued in the air-cured regime cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
owing to loss of moisture through the surface of the specimen to 14
the atmosphere. 13
To understand the influence of spatial distribution of aggregate 12
in concrete on the moisture transfer from the aggregate, paste- 11
aggregate proximity was determined by adopting the “protected 10
paste volume concept” of Bentz and Snyder (1999) using the near- 9
est surface distribution functions for polydispersed particles. The 8
paste-aggregate proximity was computed for various mixtures in 7
Table 2 with different cold-bonded aggregate and cement contents. 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Fig. 2 shows that for a given volume of cold-bonded aggregate, the (c) Age of concrete (days)

fraction of paste within a particular distance from the aggregate

reduces with an increase in cement content. It can also be noticed
that with an increase in volume of cold-bonded aggregate, there
exists significant variation in the amount of paste fraction within
1 mm from the aggregate surface. But beyond a proximity level
of 3 mm, the difference in paste fraction with the aggregate content
is quite marginal, i.e., approximately 85 to 100% of the paste frac-
tion is within 3 mm from the aggregate surface. The least residual
moisture content in the aggregate extracted from concrete with low
CA/TA (ratio of coarse aggregate volume to total aggregate vol-
ume) ratio under all curing regimes suggests that the moisture
in the aggregate has migrated through the hydrating paste to such
a distance as to give higher internal relative humidity for a greater
fraction of paste during the early age when the hydration is faster.
The paste-aggregate proximity in Fig. 2 implies that the water travel
distance of the water, at early ages, is at least 3 mm.
Fig. 1. Variation of moisture content in the cold-bonded aggregate with
age of concrete; (a) mist-cured concrete; (b) sealed concrete; (c) air-
cured concrete (CA/TA—ratio of coarse aggregate volume to total
aggregate volume)
Beyond 28 days, the change in moisture content of the aggregate
under all the curing regimes was marginal (Fig. 1), indicating low
moisture migration from aggregate irrespective of paste-aggregate
proximity. This is attributed to the improvement in microstructure
of the matrix and matrix-aggregate interface with the age of
concrete and slower hydration at later ages, reducing the moisture
demand. Only marginal variation in residual moisture content (0.12
to 1.7%) between aggregate extracted from sealed and mist-cured

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / APRIL 2011 / 395

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2011.23:393-401.

 1.0
a significant reduction (approximately 30 g=103 m3 ) in moisture
loss occurred as the cement content was increased from 250 to
0.8 450 kg=m3 . This is attributable to the improvement in microstruc-
ture of concrete with increase in cement content which corroborates
Fraction of cement paste

well with the higher residual moisture observed in aggregates ex-

0.6 3
cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
tracted from concrete having higher cement content [Fig. 1(c)].
3
cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=50% After 28-days, the moisture loss from concrete was marginal (sim-
3
cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=65% ilar to the observations made in moisture transfer from aggregate).
0.4 3
cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
3
cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=50% Minimum Entrained Water for Hydration
3
cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
0.2 3
cement=250 Kg/m , CA/TA=35%
Having estimated the moisture migration from cold-bonded fly-ash
3
cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=50% aggregate, as a next step a check whether the quantity of moisture
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0.0
0 1
Distance from aggregate surface (mm)
Fig. 2. Estimated fraction of cement paste from cold-bonded aggregate
surface
concrete of the same mixture composition. This shows that the
influence of internal curing promoted by cold-bonded aggregate
is more pronounced than the external mist curing. This further
emphasizes the effectiveness of moisture availability to the paste
within a certain proximity zone as compared with those made avail-
able on the surface. For a given mix, as expected, the moisture
transfer from the aggregate was the lowest in the mist-cured speci-
men and the highest in the air-cured concrete. However, it is inter-
esting to note that even at an age of 180 days the residual moisture
content in the aggregate was high, i.e., 12 to 17% in the case of
sealed and mist-cured specimens and 7 to 11.5% under air-cured
conditions.
Moisture Loss from Concrete
As the residual moisture content in the aggregate extracted
from air-cured condition was the least, the overall moisture loss
from 100 mm air-cured concrete cube specimens was assessed
at different ages. The moisture loss from the concrete was signifi-
cant during early age (Fig. 3). For a given cement content, a higher
moisture loss was observed in concrete with higher CA/TA ratio.
But the presence of residual moisture content in the aggregate
[Fig. 1(c)] indicates that aggregate still contains reserve water
and that the moisture is being utilized for internal curing. Moreover,
70
65
60
Moisture loss in concrete (g / (10 m ))
3
3
cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=65% migrated from aggregate was adequate for providing favorable con-
ditions for complete hydration was undertaken. The requirement of
2 3 4 5 6
entrained water (V wat ) in concrete for avoiding self-desiccation and
ensuring “complete curing” in a concrete under sealed conditions
was evaluated using the relationship proposed by Bentz and Snyder
(1999) and updated by Bentz et al. (2005). This is because of the
quantity of water “consumed” during hydration owing to chemical
shrinkage. Then
V wat ðm3 water=m3 concreteÞ ¼ C f · CS · αmax =ρw :
where C f = cement content in kg=m3 ; CS = chemical shrinkage
occurring during hydration of cement, typically 0.07 kg water
per kg cement hydrated; αmax = maximum degree of achiev-
able hydration, estimated as ðw=cÞ=0:36, assuming 100% hydra-
tion at w=c ratio higher than 0.36; and ρw = density of water
(1;000 kg=m3 ).
The amount of water migrated from the aggregate with age of
concrete was estimated as the difference between the water content
in the aggregate (19.07%) at the time of mixing and residual water
content at each age per unit volume of concrete. Fig. 4 compares the
quantity of water migrated from aggregate under various curing
regimes and the quantity needed for complete hydration. For con-
cretes under mist-cured and sealed regimes moisture migrated from
the aggregate increases with an increase in cement content. It can be
noted that the water migrated from the aggregate of concretes under
sealed regime is almost equal to the entrained water required for
complete curing. It is slightly lower (1.7 to 5:5 kg=m3 ) in the con-
cretes of mist-cured regime with cement contents of 350 and
450 kg=m3 , indicating that a fraction of water (5 to 18%) required
for complete curing has only been used from the misting environ-
ment. Fig. 4(c) shows that water has also migrated from the aggre-
gates of mist-cured concrete with cement content of 250 kg=m3 in
which a higher w=c ratio (0.5) was maintained. The quantity of
migrated water varies from 56 to 80% of that required for complete
curing.
The higher moisture migration/loss from the aggregate if any, as

compared with that required for complete curing in sealed and mist-
55
-3

cured regimes may be attributed to (1) utilization of moisture by

50
cold-bonded fly-ash aggregate itself for its continuous pozzolanic
45 reaction and (2) the capillary suction caused by the moisture
40 gradient existing in concrete (Weber and Reinhardt 1997), which
35 3
cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=35% ensures extended hydration and refinement of gel pores and capil-
3
30 cement=450 kg/m , CA/TA=65% laries. Comparison of Figs. 3 and 4 for an equal volume of concrete
3
25 cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=35% reveals that the moisture lost from the concrete during air curing has
3
cement=350 kg/m , CA/TA=65% been compensated by the moisture migrated from the aggregate.
20 3
cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=35%
3
15 cement=250 kg/m , CA/TA=65%
crushed granite aggregate concrete Degree of Hydration
10
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 The nonevaporable water (wn ) in concrete with cement content of
Age of concrete (days)
450 kg=m3 , subjected to different curing conditions is presented in
Fig. 5. At a given age and aggregate content, the nonevaporable
Fig. 3. Moisture loss in air-cured concrete
water content in concrete was almost the same under mist-cured

396 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / APRIL 2011

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2011.23:393-401.

 70 17.0
3 3
cement = 450 kg/m cement = 450 kg/m
CA/TA=35%, mist
w/c=0.35 16.5
60 CA/TA=65%, mist

wn (% by weight of hydrated cement)

CA/TA=35%, sealed 16.0
Quantity of water migrated from
CA/TA=65%, sealed
50 CA/TA=35%, air 15.5
CA/TA=65%, air mist cured
aggregate (kg/m )
3

sealed
40 15.0
air cured
14.5
30
14.0
20 13.5
entrained water required for 13.0 solid line :28-day
10 'complete curing' (Bentz et al., 2005) dotted line:180-day
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12.5
0 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 CA/TA (Vol.%)
(a) Age of concrete (days)
Fig. 5. Nonevaporable water content in concrete of different curing
70
cement=350 kg/m
3 CA/TA=35%, mist regimes
w/c=0.35 CA/TA=65%, mist
60 CA/TA=35%, sealed
CA/TA=65%, sealed
Quantity of water migrated from

50 CA/TA=35%, air 17.0

CA/TA=65%, air air-cured
aggregate (kg/m )
3

16.5
40

wn (% by weight of hydrated cement)

16.0
3
30 cement=450 kg/m
15.5
3
cement=350 kg/m
3
20 15.0 cement=250 kg/m

14.5
10
entrained water required for 14.0
'complete curing' (Bentz et al., 2005)
0 13.5
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
(b) Age of concrete (days) 13.0 solid line : 28-day
dotted line : 180-day
3
12.5
80 cement=250 kg/m CA/TA=35%, mist 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
w/c=0.5 CA/TA=65%, mist
CA/TA (Vol.%)
70 CA/TA=35%, sealed
CA/TA=65%, sealed
Fig. 6. Nonevaporable water content in concrete with different cement
Quantity of water migrated from

CA/TA=35%, air
60
CA/TA=65%, air content
aggregate (kg/m )
3

50

40
Fig. 6 implies that only marginal variation in the degree of hy-
30 dration with cement content and the internal curing is effective even
in concrete with 450 kg=m3 cement content. A comparison of non-
20
evaporable water content with a similar mixture of concrete with
10 crushed-granite aggregate in Fig. 7 shows (1) a lower degree of
entrained water required for 'complete curing'(Bentz et al., 2005) hydration in all curing regimes and (2) a higher influence of curing
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
regimes on the degree of hydration of concrete with crushed-granite
(c) Age of concrete (days)
18
mist-cured 3
cement =450 kg/m ,w/c=0.35,CA/TA=65%
Fig. 4. Quantity of water migrated from aggregate with age of
wn (% by weight of hydrated cement)

17 sealed
concrete: (a) cement content of 450 kg=m3 ; (b) cement content of 16 air-cured
350 kg=m3 ; (c) cement content of 250 kg=m3
15
14

and sealed regimes, suggesting same degree of hydration and con- 13

forming to the moisture transfer from the aggregate (Fig. 4). Under 12
the air-cured regime, there existed a small reduction (3.1%) in non- 11
evaporable water content, indicating a marginal difference in the 10
degree of hydration. An increase in volume fraction of cold-bonded solid line :cold-bonded aggregate concrete
9
dotted line :crushed granite aggregate concrete
aggregate resulted in only approximately a 2.6% increase in non- 8
evaporable water content, indicating that the paste-aggregate prox- 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
imity and the moisture migration from 35% volume fraction of Age of concrete (days)

aggregate were quite adequate for counteracting the reduction in

Fig. 7. Nonevaporable water content with age of concrete
internal relative humidity arising because of hydration and drying.

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / APRIL 2011 / 397

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2011.23:393-401.

 100
3 aggregate than those with cold-bonded aggregate, caused by the
cement=450 kg/m
98 reduction in internal relative humidity because of nonavailability
w/c=0.35
Weight of hydrated cement (%) 96 0
air-cured of “water reservoirs” inside the concrete.
402.9 C
94 Fig. 8 depicts the weight loss in hydrated cement paste for
air-cured samples in a TGA test with an increase in temperature
92 0
453.7 C
0
from 100°C to 1,000°C, because of the removal of chemically
90 716.1 C
0
c bound water at various stages. The total reduction in % by weight
444.8 C
88
0 d of the hydrated sample at 1,000°C in the TGA curve exhibits
717.3 C
86 a almost the same nonevaporable water content as in the furnace
84 0
method (Figs. 5–7). In addition, a distinct increase in the weight
719.1 C b
loss with period of curing clearly indicates an increase in hydrates.
82
Typically, the weight loss observed in TGA is divided into three
80 parts to represent the weight loss from each of the hydration prod-
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0 200 400 600 800 1000

(a) Temperature (0C)
ucts such as C-S-H, CH, and other hydrates (Alarcon-Ruiz et al.
a- cold-bonded aggregate concrete (CA/TA=35%,28-day) 2005; Li et al. 2000). The weight loss between 100 to 400°C
b- cold-bonded aggregate concrete (CA/TA=35%,180 day) corresponds to the loss of chemically bound water mainly from
c- crushed granite aggregate concrete (28-day) C-S-H and calcium aluminate hydrates and AFt and AFm. Then,
d- crushed granite aggregate concrete (180-day)
there follows an abrupt weight loss near 450°C, associated
100 with the dehydration of CH and a third loss between 700°C and
98
CA/TA=35% 900°C, because of the decomposition of calcium carbonate and a
air-cured secondary range of C-S-H dehydration. Fig. 8(a) shows a clear
96
Weight of hydrated cement (%)

increase in weight loss attributable to removal of water from each

94 of the hydration products with period of curing. For the same
0
445.8 C
92 0 cement content, a relatively higher weight loss in cold-bonded
453.7 C
90 0
649.2 C
0
aggregate concrete (16.5%) as compared with concrete with
444.1 C
88
0
444.8 C 0
crushed-granite aggregate (12.8%) confirms the effective utilization
717.3 C c of moisture migrated from the aggregate for hydration. Fig. 8(b)
86 a
0
711.1 C demonstrates that for a given cold-bonded aggregate content the
84 d
719.1 C
0
b increase in weight loss because of removal of water from each
82 of the hydrates is marginally higher in concrete with a higher
80 cement content even though the w=c ratio is less. However, the
0 200 400 600 800 1000 distinct increase in weight loss with period of curing represents
0
(b) Temperature ( C) additional hydrates and improvement in the degree of hydration,
3
a- cold bonded aggregate concrete (cement=450 kg/m ,w/c=0.35,28-day) both in concrete with low and high cement content (and low
3
b- cold bonded aggregate concrete (cement=450 kg/m ,w/c=0.35,180 day)
3
and high w=c ratio). For a quantitative analysis, the degree of
c- cold bonded aggregate concrete (cement=250 kg/m ,w/c=0.5,28-day)
3 hydration of sealed and air-cured concrete as a percentage of
d- cold bonded aggregate concrete (cement=250 kg/m ,w/c=0.5,180 day)
mist-cured concrete is presented in Table 3.
Fig. 8. Weight loss curves of hydrated cement paste in TGA test:
(a) cold-bonded aggregate concrete and concrete with crushed-granite Compressive Strength
aggregate; (b) cold-bonded aggregate concrete with different cement
The variation in compressive strength of cold-bonded aggregate
content
concrete with period of curing (up to 28 days) under the three

Table 3. Degree of Hydration and Compressive Strength as % of Mist-Cured Concrete (180-Day)

Nonevaporable water content Compressive strength
(%) (%)
Mixture details Sealed Air-cured Sealed Air-cured
Cold-bonded aggregate concrete Cement ¼ 450 kg, w=c ¼ 0:35
CA=TA ¼ 35% 98.8 96.4 101.7 97.8
CA=TA ¼ 65% 99.2 96.9 102.1 100.0
Cement ¼ 350 kg, w=c ¼ 0:35
CA=TA ¼ 35% 98.5 97.5 101.8 98.2
CA=TA ¼ 65% 99.0 98.0 102.0 98.0
Cement ¼ 250 kg, w=c ¼ 0:5
CA=TA ¼ 35% 99.5 97.2 101.4 95.2
CA=TA ¼ 65% 100.0 97.5 101.0 98.0
Crushed-granite aggregate concrete (cement ¼ 450 kg, 96.1 89.1 95.8 90.8
w=c ¼ 0:35, CA=TA ¼ 65%)
Ratio of nonevaporable water content in mist-cured crushed-granite aggregate 84.7
concrete to mist-cured cold-bonded aggregate concrete (%)

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2011.23:393-401.

 56
3 Also, 7-day strength varied from 71 to 82% of the 28-day strength.
54 cement =450 kg/m
The higher moisture migration from aggregate observed during the
52 first 7 days (Fig. 4) resulted in steeper strength enhancement. Also,
50 only a marginal variation in 28-day strength for specimens sub-
Compressive strength (MPa)

48 jected to different curing regimes. This reconfirms the observations

46 made in “Degree of Hydration” that the paste-aggregate proximity
and moisture migration for a concrete with CA/TA of 35% has been
44 CA/TA=35%,mist
CA/TA=35%,sealed adequate for the strength development of concrete under all the
42
CA/TA=35%,air curing regimes.
40 CA/TA=50%,mist Again, for a given curing regime, though the degree of hydration
CA/TA=50%,sealed
38
CA/TA=50%,air
marginally increased with CA/TA ratio (Fig. 6), the higher CA/TA
36 CA/TA=65%,mist resulted in a reduction in the strength of concrete in mixes with
CA/TA=65%,sealed cement contents of 450 and 350 kg=m3 [Figs. 9(a) and 9(b)]. With
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34
CA/TA=65%,air 250 kg=m3 cement content [Fig. 9(c)], the strength of concrete
32
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 improved with the volume fraction of cold-bonded aggregate. This
(a) Age of concrete (days) is because of the initiation of failure in the matrix or matrix-
50 aggregate bond in cold-bonded aggregate concretes with low
48
3
cement=350 kg/m cement content (< 300 kg=m3 ) whereas the failure is governed
by cold-bonded aggregate in concretes with a higher cement con-
46
tent (Joseph and Ramamurthy 2009).
Compressive strength (MPa)

44 At 180 days, the strength of cold-bonded aggregate concrete

42 (Fig. 10) showed no significant effect of curing regime in mixes
40 with low and high cement content, i.e., the maximum reduction
38
CA/TA=35%,mist in strength of air-cured concrete was less than 5% (Table 3). This
CA/TA=35%,sealed
36 CA/TA=35%,air is consistent with the observation made in “Degree of Hydration”
CA/TA=50%,mist caused by moisture migration. The influence of curing regime is
34 CA/TA=50%,sealed
CA/TA=50%,air
less pronounced in cold-bonded aggregate concrete, suggesting
32
CA/TA=65%,mist the efficiency of autogenous curing. These results conform to
30 CA/TA=65%,sealed Weber and Reinhardt (1997) wherein at 360 days the differences
CA/TA=65%,air
28 in strength of concrete with 25% lightweight aggregate of high
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Age of concrete (days)
water absorption (20.2%) in total volume of aggregate, under dif-
(b)
ferent curing regimes were approximately 5%; but against loss in
36 strength of approximately 10–12% reported by researchers (Swamy
3
34 cement=250 kg/m and Lambert 1983; Dhir et al. 1984; Khaloo and Kim 1999)
32 in air-cured lightweight aggregate concrete with aggregate of
30 less absorptive capacity. The compressive strength of concrete
Compressive strength (MPa)

28 with crushed-granite aggregate (Fig. 11) exhibited a reduction in

26 strength under both sealed and air-cured conditions as compared
24 with mist-cured from an early age onward and a decrease of around
CA/TA=35%,mist 10% (Table 3) at 180 days in air-cured concrete, concurring with
22
CA/TA=35%,sealed
20 CA/TA=35%,air
the extensive literature on normal concrete. This again confirms
18 CA/TA=50%,mist the autogenous curing efficiency of aggregate with higher water
16
CA/TA=50%,sealed absorption capacity and demonstrates that the water entrained in
CA/TA=50%,air
CA/TA=65%,mist
the saturated aggregate is sufficient for maintaining higher internal
14
12 CA/TA=65%,sealed
CA/TA=65%,air
10 65
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
(c) Age of concrete (days) 60
180-day Compressive strength (MPa)

Fig. 9. Variation in compressive strength with age (up to 28 days): 55

(a) cement content of 450 kg=m3 ; (b) cement content of 350 kg=m3 ; 50
(c) cement content of 250 kg=m3
45

40
curing regimes is presented in Fig. 9. At 7 days, for a given cement
35
and aggregate content, the compressive strength was almost the 3
cement=350 kg/m , sealed
3
same for concrete irrespective of the curing regimes. Also there 30 cement=450 kg/m , mist 3
cement=350 kg/m , air
3 3
was no appreciable reduction in strength in air-cured concrete as cement=450 kg/m , sealed cement=250 kg/m , mist
3
25 cement=450 kg/m , air 3
compared with those under other regimes, indicating that the higher 3
cement=250 kg/m , sealed
3
cement=350 kg/m , mist cement=250 kg/m , air
moisture loss of approximately 60 to 75% of total loss (Fig. 3) in 20
the first 7 days of exposure during air curing had not affected the 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
compressive strength. This is because of the higher amount of CA/TA (Vol.%)
moisture migration from the aggregate in the initial days (Fig. 4)
Fig. 10. Influence of curing regimes on 180-day strength
for compensating the moisture loss from the air-cured concrete.

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2011.23:393-401.

 76
c=450 kg/m
3 occurred with higher CA/TA ratio). In concrete with 250 kg=m3
72 cement content, the pores in the matrix and the matrix-aggregate in-
68 terfaces are coarse (> 10 μm) and most of them are interconnected.
In concrete with low cement content, an increase in cold-bonded
Compressive strength (MPa)
64
60
aggregate content can reduce the porosity in the matrix phase to
some extent by a packing effect owing to the reduction in total sur-
56
face area because of the decrease in fine aggregate content, allowing
52 the available paste to produce a better binding of particles. in whi-
48 mist-cured chas in concrete with a higher cement content in which the matrix
sealed phase is dense, the difference in quality of the matrix-aggregate
44 air-cured
interface, which decreases with an increase in aggregate content,
40
determines the variation in permeable porosity.
36 solid line - cold-bonded aggregate concrete
For the same cement content, w=c ratio and CA/TA ratio, a
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dotted line - crushed granite aggregate concrete

32 comparison of the permeable porosities of cold-bonded aggregate
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Age of concrete (days)
concrete and concrete with crushed-granite aggregate is presented
in Fig. 13. The variation in permeable porosity owing to curing
Fig. 11. Development of strength in concrete (up to 180 days) conditions was more pronounced in concrete with crushed-granite
aggregate than in cold-bonded aggregate concrete, caused by the
variation in the degree of hydration (Fig. 7).
relative humidity for adequate curing. A marginal reduction in For the same strength level, Fig. 14 shows that the permeable
strength of mist-cured concrete as compared with sealed concrete porosity of air-cured concrete was relatively higher; this may be
has been attributed to the increased moisture content in the mist- attributable to the porosity induced on the outer shell of concrete
cured concrete at the time of testing causing a reduction in surface which was always exposed to the atmosphere.
energy and dilation of gel particles (Bartlett and MacGregor 1994).
11
Permeable Porosity 3
cement=450 kg/m ,w/c=0.35,CA/TA=65% mist-cured
sealed
The influence of different curing conditions on permeable porosity 10 air-dried
of concrete with a range of cement contents is presented in Fig. 12.
For a given cement content and volume fraction of cold-bonded
Permeable Porosity (%)

9
aggregate, the variation in porosity between mist-cured and sealed
concrete was not prominent, similar to the observations made
8
on degree of hydration and compressive strength. However, the
volume of permeable pores was higher in air-cured concrete than
under other curing regimes; this difference reduced with an increase 7
in cement content and volume fraction of cold-bonded aggregate.
Fig. 12 also indicates that in concrete with 250 kg=m3 cement 6
sold line -cold-bonded aggregate
content, subjected to a particular curing regime, the permeable dotted line -crushed granite aggregate
porosity decreases with an increase in CA/TA ratio. In concrete 5
with cement contents of 350 and 450 kg=m3 , permeable porosity 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
is observed to increase marginally with an increase in CA/TA ratio Age of concrete (days)
(even though the paste-aggregate proximity is closer and a relatively
higher amount of moisture migration from aggregate to concrete Fig. 13. Variation in permeable porosity of normal concrete with age

18
CA/TA=35%,mist-cured 17
CA/TA=35%,sealed mist-cured
16 CA/TA=35%,air-cured 16
sealed
CA/TA=65%,mist-cured 15 air-cured
CA/TA=65%,sealed
Permeable Porosity (%)

14 14
Permeable porosity (%)

CA/TA=65%,air-cured
13

12 12
11
10 10
9
8 8
7
6 6
200 250 300 350 400 450 500 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65
3
Cement content (kg/m ) Compressive strength (MPa)

Fig. 12. Permeable porosity under different curing conditions Fig. 14. Relation between permeable porosity and compressive
(180 day) strength (180 day)

400 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / APRIL 2011

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2011.23:393-401.

 Conclusions
The conclusions drawn from this study, specific to the character-
istics of cold-bonded fly-ash aggregate and mixture composition
used in the experimental program, are summarized below.
1. Cold-bonded aggregate concrete under all curing regimes
(including the mist-cured regime) is supported by internal cur-
ing attributable to moisture migration from the aggregate.
Moisture migration from the aggregate is influenced by the
curing conditions, cement content and volume fraction of
aggregate in the mixture composition. A significant amount
of moisture transfer from aggregate in all curing regimes
occurs within 28 days.
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2. Degree of hydration is less sensitive to curing conditions
because of autogenous curing in cold-bonded aggregate.
The variation in degree of hydration because of the increase
in cold-bonded aggregate content from 35 to 65% is marginal.
TGA has exhibited a higher amount of hydration products in
cold-bonded aggregate concrete with age as compared with
concrete with crushed-granite aggregate.
3. Influence of curing regime on compressive strength of cold-
bonded aggregate concrete is marginal.
4. The efficiency of cold-bonded aggregate in supporting autoge-
nous curing can be effectively utilized with no variation from
mist-cured concrete with respect to compressive strength and
porosity, provided the concrete is properly covered to avoid
evaporation loss.
5. Unlike cold-bonded aggregate concrete, degree of hydration,
compressive strength, and permeable porosity of crushed-
granite aggregate concrete is significantly influenced by curing
conditions.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
CA/TA = ratio of coarse aggregate volume to total aggregate
volume;
C f = cement content;
p = permeable porosity;
V wat = volume of entrained water for avoiding self-desiccation;
W dry = weight of oven-dried specimen;
W sat = weight of vacuum saturated specimen in air;
W wat = weight of vacuum saturated specimen in water;
wn = nonevaporable water;
αmax = maximum degree of achievable hydration; and
ρw = density of water.
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