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EFFECTS OF LIMESTONE POWDER ON THE

PROPERTIES OF CEMENT-BASED MATERIALS

By Tarun R. Naik and Fethullah Canpolat

Report No. CBU-2003-38

REP-532
October 2003

A CBU Report

Department of Civil Engineering and Mechanics

College of Engineering and Applied Science
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN – MILWAUKEE
 EFFECTS OF LIMESTONE POWDER ON THE PROPERTIES OF CEMENT-

BASED MATERIALS

Question:

“Does the limestone powder act as just a filler in concrete or does it transform itself and

also act as a chemical additive?”

Answer:

Limestone powder acts as a filler as well as a chemical additive in concrete.

Use of a type of blended cement, known as Portland L limestone cement, in Europe has

been reported. This cement contains up to 35 % limestone powder, the rest being

portland cement. As limestone powder is in effect a type of filler, the limestone cement

can be said to have a filler content of up to 35 % [1].

“The performance of limestone filler addition to portland cement has been widely studied

in pastes, mortars, and concretes [2]. In general, limestone filler improves the hydration

rate of cement compounds and consequently increases the strength at early ages [3].

From a chemical point of view, limestone filler does not have pozzolanic properties, but

it reacts with the alumina phases of cement to form an Afm phase (calcium

monocarboaluminate hydrate) with no significant changes on the strength of blended

cement” [4].

1
Hornain et al. [5] studied the diffusion of chloride ions in mortars as influenced by the

use of limestone powder as a filler. All mixtures were prepared at a fixed water to

cement (w/c) ratio of 0.55. Test results showed that the diffusion coefficient of chloride

ions was reduced with the use of limestone filler [5].

Sawicz et al. [6] reported the influence of powdered limestone and water-cement ratio

(w/c) on the durability of concrete immersed in a sulphate solution (5 % Na2SO4).

Sulphate durability was estimated by means of a length change of concrete and X-ray

diffraction analysis of pastes made with and without limestone powder. A beneficial

influence of powdered limestone on the sulphate resistance of concrete was observed for

w/c < 0.60. For w/c > 60, the powdered limestone showed almost no effect on sulphate

resistance of concrete. Due to the addition of limestone powder, transformation of

ettringite to monosulphate and hemi-sulphate was prevented. Instead, ettringite

transformed to monocarbonate and hemicarbonate [6].

“The phase composition and pore structure of cement paste in concrete may be changed

by use of aggregate. The presence of CO2 in the pastes prevents the reaction of ettringite,

formed in the course of the hydration stages, with C3A to monosulfate at the end of the

induction period. Instead the concentration of ettringite remains almost unchanged and

the crystallisation of hemicarbonate, monocarbonate or both is observed. The limestone

aggregates affect not only the permeability of concrete, but also the chemical structure of

pastes in concrete [7]”. This is an important factor for the deterioration of concrete under

sulphate attack [8].

2
References

1 Neville, A. M., 1995, “Properties of concrete,” Longman Group Limited, London,

UK, pp. 88.

2 Bonavetti, V., Donza, H., Rahhall, V., and Irrassar, E., 2000, “Effect of Initial curing

on properties of concrete with limestone filler cement,” Cement and Concrete

Research, Vol. 30, No. 5, pp. 703-708.

3 Ingram, K. and Daugherty, K., 1992, “Limestone additions portland cement: uptake,

chemistry and effects,” Proc. 9th Int. Congr. Chem. Cem., National Council for

Cement and Building Materials, New Delhi, India, pp. 180-186.

4 Soroka, I. and Setter, N., 1977, “The effect of fillers on strength of cement mortars,”

Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 449-456.

5 Hornain, H., Marchand, J., Duhot, V., and Moranville-Regourd, M., 1995, “Diffusion

of chloride ions in limestone filler blended cement pastes and mortars,” Cement and

Concrete Research, Vol. 25, No. 8, pp. 1667-1678.

6 Sawicz, Z. and Heng, S. S., 1996, “Durability of concrete with addition of limestone

powder,” Magazine of Concrete Research, Vol. 48, No. 175, pp. 131-137.

7 Kuzel, H. J. and Pöllmann H., 1991, “Hydration of C3A in presence of Ca(OH)2,

CaSO4. 2H2O and CaCO3,” Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 885-

895.

8 Winslow, D. N., and Cohen M. D., 1994, “Percolation and pore structure in mortars

and concrete,” Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 24, No.1, pp. 25-37.