Abstract
To address the sustainability concerns associated with Portland cement clinker production, the ternary blend of limestone, calcined clay and cement (which was named LC3) has recently been demonstrated to be an efficient solution. This work aims to contribute to the development of this promising material by applying latest techniques to characterize the chemo-mechanical properties of the complex heterogeneous microstructure of an LC3 paste by combining statistical nanoindentation and quantitative SEM-EDS techniques (SNI-QEDS). The results showed that the mechanical properties of LC3 come from a complex microstructure assemblage of C-A-S-H, Al-rich hydrates and anhydrous grains. Thus, the LC3 microstructure is composed by large anhydrous grains (clinker and calcined clay) embedded in a cementitious paste made of hydrates incorporating finely graded grains of anhydrous calcined clay, limestone and quartz. Moreover, the partial reaction of the calcined clay, limestone and Portlandite formed C-A-S-H and other Al-rich hydrates (likely including carboaluminates). Notably, the latter exhibited higher mechanical properties than those of C-A-S-H. Finally, the present work provides new knowledge for better understanding the complex LC3 microstructure towards advanced modelling and mix design optimization.
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Wilson, W., Sorelli, L., Krishnan, S., Bishnoi, S., Tagnit-Hamou, A. (2018). Micro-Chemo-Mechanical Characterization of a Limestone-Calcinated-Clay Cement Paste by Statistical Nanoindentation and Quantitative SEM-EDS. In: Martirena, F., Favier, A., Scrivener, K. (eds) Calcined Clays for Sustainable Concrete. RILEM Bookseries, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1207-9_79
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1207-9_79
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