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The temperature variation of the water sorptivity of construction materials

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Abstract

The sorptivity is used widely to characterise water dynamics in construction materials. Yet its variation with temperature has been little investigated. We report the results of a collaborative study between two laboratories in which the temperature dependence of the sorptivity of ten materials has been measured in part or all of the range 5–45 °C. The materials cover a wide range of compositions and of numerical sorptivity values. We find that the sorptivity is about 50% greater at 45 °C than at 5 °C, and that, with one exception, the temperature coefficient is similar in all the materials studied. This shows that for practical purposes the value of the sorptivity of an individual material at any temperature in this range may be estimated from a single measured value. The observed variation with temperature is attributed to the changes in the viscosity and surface tension of water, and is as predicted by a simple classical scaling of capillary dynamics, assuming that neither the wetting index nor the capillary moisture content vary with temperature. One of the materials studied, Lympia chalk, shows a somewhat smaller temperature variation than predicted by this scaling. We comment that commonly-used standards do not recognise adequately that the sorptivity varies with temperature.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor W. D. Hoff for his comments. We also wish here to recognise his lifelong contributions to water transport studies. CH acknowledges the use of the Stapleford laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Ioannis Ioannou & Cleopatra Charalambous

  2. School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FB, UK

    Christopher Hall

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  1. Ioannis Ioannou
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  2. Cleopatra Charalambous
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  3. Christopher Hall
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Correspondence to Ioannis Ioannou.

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Ioannou, I., Charalambous, C. & Hall, C. The temperature variation of the water sorptivity of construction materials. Mater Struct 50, 208 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-017-1079-6

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