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Kinetics and Equilibrium Isotherms of Water Vapor Adsorption/Desorption in Cement-Based Porous Materials

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Abstract

The kinetics and equilibrium of water vapor adsorption/desorption isotherm (WVSI) are fundamental information for solid–moisture interaction in the microstructure of cement-based porous materials (CBPM). This paper presents firstly the experimental data for WVSI of CBPM with a ternary binder. Mass changes in specimen are recorded in sorption tests for materials with different aggregate contents and water-to-binder (w/b) ratios under controlled ambient relative humidity. Both the sorption equilibrium and sorption kinetics are investigated through some established physical models, and the corresponding intrinsic parameters of moisture sorption are determined. For sorption kinetics, the mass change during sorption is interpreted through Elovich model, power model and pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. The mass change in sorption occurs mainly in the first 40 days, and the pseudo-second-order model shows the best adaption to all adsorption/desorption processes. For sorption equilibrium, Guggenheim–Anderson–de Boer (GAB), modified Halsey and Oswin models are used to interpret the moisture sorption capacity. The hysteresis between adsorption and desorption processes is attributed, respectively, to the mechanisms of snap-through, energy instability and pore constrictivity for low, middle and high relative humidity ranges. From the analysis, it is found that (1) through the interpretation of pseudo-second-order model the moisture sorption kinetics can be controlled by the sorption between the water molecules and the pore wall in addition to vapor diffusion; (2) the sorption capacity is sensitive to aggregate content and w/b ratio; incorporating aggregates, decreasing w/b ratio and increasing humidity gradient tend to decrease the sorption capacity of CBPMs; (3) the sorption isotherm hysteresis is well described by GAB-H model, both the extent of hysteresis and the energy constant related to pore surface tension showing clear correlation with the aggregate content and w/b ratio of CBPMs.

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Acknowledgments

The research is supported by NSFC Project Grant No. 51378295. Also, the help of Mr. Zhiling Zhang and Mr. Yuyang Wang is acknowledged for their work on the sorption experiments.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People’s Republic of China

    Qiang Zeng, Dongdong Zhang & Kefei Li

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Zeng, Q., Zhang, D. & Li, K. Kinetics and Equilibrium Isotherms of Water Vapor Adsorption/Desorption in Cement-Based Porous Materials. Transp Porous Med 109, 469–493 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-015-0531-8

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