United States Department of Transportation
i
Investigating the Use of Rapid Setting Hydraulic Cements (RSHCs) for Structural Applications
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2024-05-01
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[PDF-9.41 MB]
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Edition:September 2020 – December 2023
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Abstract:Construction and replacement of infrastructure assets results in costly road closures. Rapid setting hydraulic cements (RSHCs), like calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement and calcium aluminate cement (CAC), can dramatically reduce the time needed for construction. These cements are beginning to gain the attention of various stakeholders in the cement and concrete industry owing to their remarkable properties and notably lower carbon footprint compared to ordinary portland cement (OPC) and other traditional infrastructure materials. Currently, the use of CSA and CAC cement is often limited to rapid repair applications and other special applications where their exclusive qualities are required. The primary goal of the work outlined in this report is to demonstrate the use of RSHCs for use in structural applications. This study showed that RSHC concrete can be designed to meet structural class specifications in terms of fresh (i.e., workability and working time) and hardened properties (early- and/or later-age strength). All RHSCs mixtures, when evaluated under accelerated carbonation, showed significantly lower carbonation resistance when compared to OPC at an equivalent w/c ratio and curing age. When the RHSCs mixtures were evaluated for natural concrete carbonation outdoors in Texas, the performance of RSHCs was dependent on exposure type. Samples placed outdoors and exposed to precipitation had a markedly higher resistance to carbonation compared to samples placed in sheltered conditions. Regarding corrosion potential, all RSHC mixtures, with the exception of a few CSA cement types of corrosion potential appears to be comparable to OPC after 3 years of exposure. Bulk-chloride diffusion test showed that these cements had much lower chloride binding capacity compared to CAC and OPC systems. Despite these results more information is still needed to fully understand the performance of RSHC in various durability-related distresses. In particular, more work is needed to understand their potential implication in chloride- and carbonation-induced corrosion. While many RSHCs showed potential in being capable of meeting durability performance, time is still needed to discern their behavior in these conditions, especially under long-term service conditions (i.e., cracked and carbonated RSHC concrete). Nonetheless, opportunities may arise for some RSHCs to be used in targeted structural applications that can achieve durability requirements.
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