• Computers and Concrete
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.17-38
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• 2010

This research aimed to investigate the influence of high-volume mineral admixtures (MAs), i.e., fly ash and slag, on the hydration characteristics and microstructures of cement pastes. Degree of cement hydration was quantified by the loss-on-ignition technique and degree of pozzolanic reaction was determined by a selective dissolution method. The influence of MAs on the pore structure of paste was measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry. The results showed that the hydration properties of the blended pastes were a function of water to binder ratio, cement replacement level by MAs, and curing age. Pastes containing fly ash exhibited strongly reduced early strength, especially for mix with 45% fly ash. Moreover, at a similar cement replacement level, slag incorporated cement paste showed higher degrees of cement hydration and pozzolanic reaction than that of fly ash incorporated cement paste. Thus, the present study demonstrates that high substitution rates of slag for cement result in better effects on the short- and long-term hydration properties of cement pastes.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 1998.10b
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• pp.883-887
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• 1998

Hydration is the main reason for the growth of the material properties. A exact parameter to control the chemical and physical process is not the time, but the degree of hydration. Therefore, it is reasonable that development all material properties should be formulated in terms of degree of hydration. Mathematical formulation of degree of hydration is based on combination of reaction rate functions. The effect of moisture conditions as well as temperature on the rate of reaction is considered in the degree of hydration model. This effect is subdivided into two contributions: water shortage and water distribution. The former is associated with the effect of on the progress of hydration. The water needed for progress of hydration do not exist and there is not enough space for the reaction products to form. The latter is associated with the effect of free capillary water distribution in the pore system. Physically absorption layer does not contribute to progress of hydration and only free water is available for further hydration.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.13-14
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• 2014

Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) consists of cement, silica fume (SF), sand, fibers, water and superplasticizer. Typical water/binder-ratios are 0.15-0.20 with 20-30% of silica fume. The development off properties of hardening UHPC relates with both hydration of cement and pozzolanic reaction of silicafume. In this paper, by considering the production of calcium hydroxide in cement hydration and its consumption in the pozzolanic reaction, a numerical model is proposed to simulate the hydration of UHPC. The degree of hydration of cement and degree of reaction of silica fume are obtained as accompanied results from the proposed hydration model. The properties of hardening UHPC, such as degree of hydration of cement, calcium hydroxide contents, and compressive strength, are predicted from the contribution of cement hydration and pozzolanic reaction. The proposed model is verified through experimental data on concrete with different water-to-binder ratios and silica fume substitution ratios.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.377-392
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• 2013

This paper investigates prediction models estimating the hydration properties of concrete, such as the compressive strength, the splitting tensile strength, the elastic modulus,and the autogenous shrinkage. A prediction model is suggested on the basis of an equation that is formulated to predict the compressive strength. Based on the assumption that the apparent activation energy is a characteristic property of concrete, a prediction model for the compressive strength is applied to hydration-related properties. The hydration properties predicted by the model are compared with experimental results, and it is concluded that the prediction model properly estimates the splitting tensile strength, elastic modulus, and autogenous shrinkage as well as the compressive strength of concrete.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.439-450
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• 2021

In recent years, nano-reinforcing materials are widely utilized in cement composites due to their unique multifunctional properties. This study incorporated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into the cementitious composites at ratios of 0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5%, and investigated their influence on the flowability, mechanical strength, and hydration heat properties. The addition of MWCNTs enhanced the compressive and split tensile strengths approximately by 18-51%. In the semi-adiabatic temperature rise test, the internal hydration heat of the composites reduced by 5%, 9%, and 12% with the increase of MWCNTs in 0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5%. This study further performed hydration heat analysis and estimated the adiabatic temperature rise, thermal stress, and thermal crack index. The internal hydration heat of the concrete decreased by 5%, 10%, and 13% with the increase of MWCNTs. The thermal stress of the concrete decreased with increase in the addition of MWCNTs, and the obtained temperature crack index was effective in controlling the thermal cracks.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2020.11a
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• pp.27-28
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• 2020

In this paper, we investigated the performance of synthetic graphene oxide-functionalized carbon nanotubes (GF) to promote cement hydration and increase the mechanical properties of cement paste. The enhancement effect of GF on the various properties of cement paste was evaluated via the mechanical strength, X-ray diffraction, and heat of hydration of cement paste. The results clearly showed that GF incorporation into cement paste promotes the early hydration of cement paste, generates more hydration products, which results in the mechanical improvement of cement paste. The compressive and splitting tensile strength were increased by 32.17% and 17.31%, respectively, compared to ordinary Portland cement at 28 days of hydration.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.271-289
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• 2013

In this research, a developed microstructural model of cement particles was presented to describe the cement hydration procedure. To simplify the hydration process, the whole hydration was analyzed in a series of sub-steps. In each step, the hydration degree, as well as the microstructural size of the hydration cell, was calculated as a function of the radius of the unreacted cement particles. With the consideration of the water consumption and the reduction of the interfacial area between water and hydration products, the micro-level expressions of the cement hydration kinetics were established. Then the heat released and temperature history of the concrete was carried out with the hydration degree obtained from each sub-steps. The equivalent age method based on the Arrhenius law was introduced in this research. Based on the equivalent age method, a maturity model was applied to describe the evolution of the mechanical properties of the material during the hydration process. The finite element program ANSYS was used to analyze the temperature field in concrete structures. Then thermal stress field was calculated using the elasticity modulus obtained from code formulate. And the risk of thermal cracking was estimated by the comparison of thermal stress and concrete tensile strength.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.35-39
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• 1999

For many years, alkali activated blast furnace slag cement containing no ordinary portland cement has received much attention in the view of energy saving and its many excellent properties. We examined the structural change of slag glass which was activated by alkali metal compounds using IR spectroscopy. The properties of hydrated products and unhydrated slag grains was characterized by XRD and micro-conduction calorimeter. Ion concentration change in the liquid during the hydration of blast furnace slag was also studied to investigated the hydration mechanism.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.125-140
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• 2015

This paper describes the numerical calculation of elastic properties of a simulated microstructure of cement paste from very early age, when most previous models fail to give accurate results. The development of elastic properties of tricalcium silicate pastes was calculated by discretising a numerical resolution-free 3D vector microstructure to a regular cubic mesh. Due to the connections formed in the microstructure as an artefact of the meshing procedure, the simulated elastic moduli were found to be higher than expected. Furthermore, the percolation of the solids was found to occur even before hydration started. A procedure to remove these artefacts, on the basis of the information available in the vector microstructures was developed. After this correction, a better agreement of the experimental results with calculations was obtained between 20% and 40% hydration. However, percolation threshold was found to be delayed significantly. More realistic estimates of percolation threshold were obtained if either flocculation or a densification of calcium silicate hydrate with hydration was assumed.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.179-193
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• 2012

The hydration of cement contributes to the performance characteristics of concrete, such as strength and durability. In order to improve the utilization efficiency of cement and its early properties, the particle size distribution (PSD) of cement varies considerably, and the effects of the particle size distribution of cement on the hydration process should be considered. In order to evaluate effects of PSD separately, experiments testing the isothermal heat generated during the hydration of cements with different particle size distributions but the same chemical composition have been carried out. The measurable hydration depth for cement hydration was proposed and deduced based on the experimental results, and a PSD hydration model was developed in this paper for simulating the effects of particle size distribution on the hydration process of cement. First, a reference hydration rate was derived from the isothermal heat generated by the hydration of ordinary Portland cement. Then, the model was extended to take into account the effect of water-to-cement ratio, hereinafter which was referred to as PSD hydration model. Finally, the PSD hydration model was applied to simulate experiments measuring the isothermal heat generated by the hydration of cement with different particle size distributions at different water-to-cement ratios. This showed that the PSD hydration model had simulated the effects of particle size distribution and water-to-cement ratio on the hydration process of cement with satisfactory accuracy.