New Admixtures For Eliminating Steam Curing and Its Negative Effects On Durability
New Admixtures For Eliminating Steam Curing and Its Negative Effects On Durability
New Admixtures For Eliminating Steam Curing and Its Negative Effects On Durability
Synopsis: Heat curing is the most common method used for accelerating the
strength development in concrete. Accelerated curing finds large applications
in the precast industry for quick turnaround of forms and casting beds. The
increase in the initial strengths is simply a result of increased rate of hydra-
tion caused by higher temperature.
However, later strengths are often lower than those of the same concrete
cured at 20° C.
The causes of the strength loss are of physical and chemical nature. The
physical cause results in increased porosity and cracking because the con-
crete constituents have different thermal expansion, (air has the highest). The
chemical causes are the differences in the hydration products, microstructure
and degree of hydration. Generally, physical causes are the dominating fac-
tors for strength loss in heat cured concrete.
Results of extensive laboratory and field tests are presented showing that
equivalent compressive strengths at 18 hours are obtained with concrete con-
taining the new generation superplasticizers and heat cured concretes at 60°
C. The 28 day strengths of concretes with admixtures are substantially
higher. Thus, with the use of these new generation superplasticizers it's pos-
sible to overcome the negative effects of steam curing such as strength loss,
permeability, shrinkage, creep and frost resistence.
83
84 Khurana and Torresan
INTRODUCTION
of cement particles. This paper reports the results of laboratory and field
tests carried out with this superplasticizer (CE) vis a vis a state of the art,
high molecular weight sulphonated naphtalene formaldehyde condensate su-
perplasticizer (NS).
MIXTURE PROPORTIONS
The proportions of sand (0-5 mm), medium aggregate (5-1 5 mm) and
coarse aggregate (15-20 mm) were optimized in accordance with Bo1omey's
reference grading curve for a concrete having a cement content of 370
Kg/m 3 • The weights of the aggregates were adjusted to compensate the vol-
ume of water reduced by the superplasticizers. The mixture proportions for
the reference concrete are shown below.
Mixture Proportions
Cern I 52.5 Cement 370 kg/m3
Consistence class S5
Slump 22 em
86 Khurana and Torresan
Precast structural elements have usually thin cross sections and are
normally heavily reinforced with steel bars and prestressed tendons or cables.
For a rapid placement and efficient consolidation, concrete having a fluid
consistence (slump > 200 mm) is preferably used. To allow the concrete to
be mixed, transported and placed in forms, the concrete should maintain its
initial slump for at least 30 minutes. The properties of the fresh concretes are
reported in Table 1.
The water reduction with CE superplasticizers is 36.5% as compared
to 27% with NS superplasticizer. Also, the slump retention is better with CE
(230 mm slump after 30' forCE against 140 mm slump for NS).
Compressive Strengths
Bond to Steel
Bond to steel was determined on plain bars using the "pull out" test
method. The results are reported in Table 6. The bond strength with concrete
' containing CE superplasticizers is extremely high (19.3 and 21.0 MPa at 7
' and 28 days respectively). They are 30% more than those with NS superplas-
ticizer. These high values maybe due to the low W/C, excellent flow charac-
teristics and cohesive nature of the concrete mix with CE superplasticizer.
Drying Shrinkage
DURABILITY EV ALVATION
Water Permeability
after 90 cycles. All the heat cured samples and the sample with CE super-
plasticizer show no deterioration upto 300 cycles
Carbonation
FIELD TESTS
Results of the laboratory test have shown that concrete made with
CE superplasticizer and cured at 20° C give similar compressive strengths of
concretes made with NS superplasticizer and steam cured (60° C peak tem-
perature). With the objective of verifying the possibility of eliminating steam
curing in the precast industry, full scale production of precast prestressed
beams were made in 2 precast plants located in the north and the centre of
Italy. The data and results are given below.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
REFERENCES
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TABLE 1 -PROPERTIES OF FRESH CONCRETE =
Cl
Cl
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Mix 1 2 3 -4
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Cll
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Admixture type Reference CE NS Cl
=
Dosage (%) -- 0,70 1,50
Mix 2 3
Admixture Type Reference CE NS
Dosage(%) 0,70 1,50
Compressive Strength (MPa) : Cured at +20°C
18 h 12,2 43,2 31,8
1 day 15,8 55,4 38
7 days 36 84,1 60,9
28 days 44 93,8 71
90 days 48,5 102,1 77,6
Co!!Jpressive Strength (MPa) : Steam Cured
18 h 22,6 61,9 44,2
1 day 25,5 67,2 49,6
7 days 33,5 74,1 60,8
28 days 41,1 84,1 68,5
----------··--
90 days 43,4 94,8 73,7
Steam Cured : % of Increment or Decrement
18 h 85,2 39 54,7
1 day 61,4 21,3 30,5
7 days -6,9 -11,9 -0,2
28 days -6,6 -10,3 -3,5
90 days -10,5 -7,1 -5,0
94 Khurana and Torresan
Mix 1 2 3
Mix 2 3
Admixture Type Reference CE NS
Dosage (%) 0,70 1,50
Tensile Splitting Strength (MPa): Cured at +20°C
18 h 1,3 3,5 3,1
1 day 1,3 4,2 3,7
7 days 3,3 4,8 4,9
28 days 4,4 5,3 5,0
90 days 4,4 6,0 6,1
Tensile Splitting Strength (MPa): Steam Cured
18 h 1,8 4,1 3,1
1 day 2,0 4,6 3,3
7 days 3,1 5,2 4,1
28 days 3,4 4,6 4,1
90 days 4,1 5,9 5,7
Steam Cured ( % ) : % Increment or Decrement
18 h 38,5 17,1 0,0
1 day 53,8 9,5 -10,8
7 days -6,1 8,3 -16,3
28 days -22,7 -13,2 -18,0
90 days -6,8 -1,7 -6,6
96 Khurana and Torresan
Mix 2 3
Mix 1 2 3
Admixture Type Reference CE NS
Dosage (%) 01 70__ ___12_0_
Bond Strength ( MPa ) :
7 days 5,3 19,3 10,4
------~ays _____ 5,8 21,0 15,2
Bond Strength ( MPa ) : --··--------
7 days 5,8 19,5 11,3
28 da~s 5,8 20,7 11,7
Mix 1 2 3
Admixture Type Reference CE NS
Dosage (%) 0,70 1,50
W/C 0,63
----'--·------·-
0,40 0,46
Depth of Penetration (mm): Cured at +20°C
______ 28 days 85,0 ___ 12,0 ___!!L
Depth of Penetration (mm): Steam Cured
28 days 87,0 14,0 25,0
98 Khurana and Torresan
Mix 1 2 3 4
Admixture Type NS CE CE CE
Dosage (%) 1 0,5 0,7 0,7
W/C 0,41 0,42 0,35 0,36
Slump (em) 18 19 24 21
Air Content (%) 1,3 0,7 0,7 0,7
Compressive Strength (MPa):Cured at +20°C
17 h -- 35,6
1 day -- 43,3
28 days -- 84,2
Compressive Strength (MPa): Steam Cured
17 h 36,6 38,6 53,5 --
1 day 43,0 46,5 55,4 --
28 days 56,6 76,1 86,2 --
M~ 1 2
Admixture Type NS CE
Dosage (%) 1,8 0,7
W/C 0,39 0,35
Slump ( em ) 24 24
Air Cq_nt~t:l_!l..!o ) 1,4 1,1
Compressive Strength (MPa):Cured at +20°C
17 h 36,2
1 day 41,4
28 days 86,6
Compressive Strength (MPa): Steam Cured
17h 38,0
1 day 42,6
28 days 76,0
0,000 .....- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . , , . - - - - - - - - - - - - ,
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·~ 19500
--M--NS -1.5% Cured at 20 ·c
c:
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c 13000
6500
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 Number of Cycles
-E
2,00 _.__Reference Cured at 20 ·c
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0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Time (Days) c
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Fig. 5-Carbonation depth development Cl
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