Abstract
Alkali-silica gels formed during alkali-silica reaction (ASR) can vary in composition and structure. This variation depends on the concrete composition, environmental conditions, gel maturation and the location of gel formation within the concrete matrix. An effective and well-known method to mitigate ASR is the use of aluminum-rich supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). To investigate the effect of aluminum on ASR gel properties, concrete prisms with quartz sand, borosilicate glass, 90 wt.% Portland cement and 10 wt.% metakaolin were mixed. As an aluminum-free non-reactive “SCM”, limestone was used with the same replacement level. On these concretes, the expansion up to 140 days at 40 ℃ above water, the ASR gel composition and microstructure, as well as the spatial distribution of the gels, were investigated. Due to the small gel amounts formed, the structural investigations (29Si, 27Al NMR and 1H NMR spectroscopy) were performed on synthetic ASR gels with similar compositions as in the concretes. The concrete expansion for the mix with limestone was approximately three times higher than with metakaolin (0.5 vs. 1.5 mm/m). However, the concrete with metakaolin contained larger amounts of an Al-ASR gel than the concrete with limestone. Analytical investigations on the synthetic ASR gels indicate increased connectivity for the Al-ASR gel compared to the Al-free ASR gel. This connectivity change could alter the swelling properties of the gels, thus limiting the expansion pressure in concrete.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ramlochan, T., Thomas, M., Hooton, R.: The effect of pozzolans and slag on the expansion of mortars cured at elevated temperature. Cem. Concr. Res. 34, 1341–1356 (2004)
Duchesne, J., Bérubé, M.A.: Long-term effectiveness of supplementary cementing materials against alkali–silica reaction. Cem. Concr. Res. 31, 1057–1063 (2001)
Leemann, A., Bernard, L., Alahrache, S., Winnefeld, F.: ASR prevention—Effect of aluminum and lithium ions on the reaction products. Cem. Concr. Res. 76, 192–201 (2015)
Mansfeld, T.: The swelling behaviour of alkali silicate gels considering their composition. Doctoral dissertation, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (2008)
Gholizadeh-Vayghan, A., Rajabipour, F.: The influence of alkali–silica reaction (ASR) gel composition on its hydrophilic properties and free swelling in contact with water vapor. Cem. Concr. Res. 94, 49–58 (2017)
Thaulow, N., Jakobsen, U.H., Clark, B.: Composition of alkali silica gel and ettringite in concrete railroad ties: SEM-EDX and X-ray diffraction analyses. Cem. Concr. Res. 26, 309–318 (1996)
Broekmans, M.A.T.M.: Deleterious reactions of aggregate with alkalis in concrete. Rev. Mineral. Geochem. 74, 279–364 (2012)
Jaskulski, R., Jóźwiak-Niedźwiedzka, D., Yakymechko, Y.: Calcined clay as supplementary cementitious material. Materials 13, 4734 (2020)
Krüger, M.E., Heisig, A., Hilbig, H., Eickhoff, H., Heinz, D., Machner, A.: Effect of aluminum on the structure of synthetic alkali-silica gels. Cem. Concr. Res. 166, 107088 (2023)
Wild, S., Khatib, J.M., Jones, A.: Relative strength, pozzolanic activity and cement hydration in superplasticised metakaolin concrete. Cem. Concr. Res. 26, 1537–1544 (1996)
Ramlochan, T., Thomas, M., Gruber, K.A.: The effect of metakaolin on alkali-silica reaction in concrete. Cem. Concr. Res. 30, 339–344 (2000)
Krüger, M.E., Woydich, E., Weerdt, K. de, Heisig, A., Machner, A.: Can the R3-test be used as a rapid screening test for the ASR mitigation potential of calcined clays? In: Calcined Clays for Sustainable Concrete, Lausanne, Switzerland (2022)
Nguyen, Q.D., Kim, T., Castel, A.: Mitigation of alkali-silica reaction by limestone calcined clay cement (LC3). Cem. Concr. Res. 137, 106176 (2020)
Krüger, M.E., Stelzner, L., Heisig, A., Hilbig, H., Machner, A.: Effect of aluminum on the structure and swelling behavior of synthetic ASR gels. In: 16th International Congress on the Chemistry of Cement, Bangkok, Thailand (2023)
Gutberlet, T., Hilbig, H., Beddoe, R.E.: Acid attack on hydrated cement—Effect of mineral acids on the degradation process. Cem. Concr. Res. 74, 35–43 (2015)
Isobe, T., Watanabe, T., d’Espinose de la Caillerie, J.B., Legrand, A.P., Massiot, D.: Solid-state 1H and 27Al NMR studies of amorphous aluminum hydroxides. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 261(2), 320–324 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0021-9797(03)00144-9
Heidemann, D., Wieker, W.: Characterization of protons in C-S-H phases by means of high-speed 1H MAS NMR investigations. In: Colombet, P., Zanni, H., Grimmer, A.-R., Sozzani, P. (eds.) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Cement-Based Materials, pp. 169–180. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80432-8_11
Renaudin, G., Russias, J., Leroux, F., Cau-dit-Coumes, C., Frizon, F.: Structural characterization of C-S–H and C–A–S–H samples—Part II local environment investigated by spectroscopic analyses. J. Solid State Chem. 182, 3320–3329 (2009)
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the German Research Foundation (project number: 438217913) for their financial support. The Research Council of Norway is acknowledged for supporting the Norwegian Laboratory for Mineral and Materials Characterisation, MiMaC, project number 269842/F50. For the µ-XRF measurements, we acknowledge the Department of Structural Engineering at NTNU, Norway and thank Prof. Klaartje De Weerdt for the cooperation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Krüger, M.E., Heisig, A., Hilbig, H., Lode, S., Machner, A. (2024). Effect of Aluminum on Synthesized and Naturally Formed Alkali-Silica Gels. In: Sanchez, L.F., Trottier, C. (eds) Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Alkali-Aggregate Reaction in Concrete. ICAAR 2024. RILEM Bookseries, vol 49. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59419-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59419-9_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-59418-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-59419-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)