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Effect of calcium carbonate whiskers on the setting behavior, autogenous shrinkage, drying shrinkage, and micro-structure of cement paste

  • Metals & corrosion
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Abstract

Improving the volume stability of cement paste is crucial for designing high-strength and high-durability cementitious materials. Therefore, this study proposes a novel approach using calcium carbonate whiskers (CW) with high aspect ratio and high modulus to control the autogenous shrinkage and drying shrinkage of cement paste, and reveals its regulation mechanism through microscopic experiments. The results showed that the addition of 3 vol.% CW in cement paste had the most significant effect on reducing autogenous shrinkage and drying shrinkage, which were reduced by 33.2% and 19.8%, respectively. One is that CW has a retarding effect, which reduced shrinkage cracking due to rapid hydration. Secondly, the water-locking effect of CW slowed down the rapid evaporation of water, thus reducing the mechanical stress in the capillary pores due to water loss, and at the same time reducing the low mass loss. In addition, CW constrained the shrinkage and deformation of capillary pores due to water loss by crossing the capillary pores, and CW also formed a three-dimensional network structure in the microstructure, which increased the overall volume stability of the paste. It is worth that CW as a micron-sized fiber also bridged microcracks due to shrinkage, exhibiting the reinforcement effect of CW.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51678111. Cooperation project between Dalian University of Technology and CHINA MCC22 GROUP CORPORATION LTD. Key technology of concrete crack control for continuous cast-in-place box girder of Yanyingzi Bridge DUT-HX20200728. In addition, the authors acknowledge the assistance of DUT Instrumental Analysis Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Shaoyong Wen, Yuxiang Li & Mingli Cao

  2. China MCC22 Group Corporation Ltd., Tangshan, 064000, China

    Guisheng Yao

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  1. Shaoyong Wen
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Contributions

SW: Data curation, Writing—original draft, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing—review & editing. YL: Data curation, Visualization. GY: Funding acquisition. MC: Conceptualization, Supervision, Funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Mingli Cao.

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Wen, S., Li, Y., Yao, G. et al. Effect of calcium carbonate whiskers on the setting behavior, autogenous shrinkage, drying shrinkage, and micro-structure of cement paste. J Mater Sci 59, 7028–7043 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09573-w

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