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Effect of Internal and External Factors on the Volume Changes of Slag Binder Activated by Sodium Hydroxide at Early-Age

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International RILEM Conference on Synergising Expertise towards Sustainability and Robustness of Cement-based Materials and Concrete Structures (SynerCrete 2023)

Part of the book series: RILEM Bookseries ((RILEM,volume 44))

Abstract

As concrete is the second most used material after water, representing 5% to 7% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions, it is crucial to decrease its CO2 production. One way to reach this goal is to use alkali-activated materials. It is known that they have adequate mechanical properties for the construction sector. However, alkali-activated materials suffer from significant early-age volume changes such as autogenous and thermal strains. Factors such as the amount of solution, activator type, molarity, curing conditions and internal relative humidity have an important influence on how the early-age volume develops. The objective of this research is to study the impact of internal (solution-to-binder ratio) and external (curing temperature) parameters on the autogenous strain of slag activated by sodium hydroxide. A revisited version of the AutoShrink device, developed at ULB, has been used to determine the autogenous strain as well as the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) through temperature cycles applied to the samples since casting. In a general way, increasing the solution-to-binder ratio has a magnifying effect on the cumulative heat while the autogenous shrinkage decreases. Moreover, increasing the solution-to-binder ratio and the curing temperature leads to a higher autogenous swelling of the paste after setting. Decreasing the curing temperature results in a lower heat flow while the autogenous strain increases in magnitude. The increase in the CTE is proportional to the increase in the solution-to-binder ratio. Additionally, lowering the temperature induces a decrease in the CTE.

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Acknowledgements

The Interact project partners from four universities (ULB, KULeuven, UGent, TU Wien) and one institution (VITO) are gratefully acknowledged. The paper has significantly benefited from the discussions during the several meetings organized during the project [9].

This paper is the result of research actions performed in the framework of the FNRS-FWO-EOS project 30439691 ‘INTERdisciplinary multiscale Assessment of a new generation of Concrete with alkali-activated maTerials’ (https://interact.ulb.be/). The financial support by FNRS-FWO-EOS is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BATir, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium

    Maïté Lacante, Brice Delsaute & Stéphanie Staquet

Authors
  1. Maïté Lacante
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  2. Brice Delsaute
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  3. Stéphanie Staquet
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Correspondence to Maïté Lacante .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structural Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland

    Agnieszka Jędrzejewska

  2. Technical Specialist Services, Materials, ARUP, London, UK

    Fragkoulis Kanavaris

  3. ISISE, University of Minho, Guimaraes, Portugal

    Miguel Azenha

  4. Laboratoire de Mécanique Paris-Saclay, ENS Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Farid Benboudjema

  5. Institute of Structural Concrete, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

    Dirk Schlicke

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Lacante, M., Delsaute, B., Staquet, S. (2023). Effect of Internal and External Factors on the Volume Changes of Slag Binder Activated by Sodium Hydroxide at Early-Age. In: Jędrzejewska, A., Kanavaris, F., Azenha, M., Benboudjema, F., Schlicke, D. (eds) International RILEM Conference on Synergising Expertise towards Sustainability and Robustness of Cement-based Materials and Concrete Structures. SynerCrete 2023. RILEM Bookseries, vol 44. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33187-9_33

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33187-9_33

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33186-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33187-9

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