Materials and Structures (2006) 39:817–825

DOI 10.1617/s11527-006-9136-6

O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E

Techniques and materials for internal water curing

of concrete
Ole Mejlhede Jensen Æ Pietro Lura

Received: 1 August 2004 / Accepted: 29 November 2005 / Published online: 13 July 2006

RILEM 2006

Abstract This paper gives an overview of can be used to counteract the adverse effects of
different techniques for incorporation of internal water loss to the surroundings by ensuring avail-
curing water in concrete. Internal water curing able water for the cementitious reaction. How-
can be used to mitigate self-desiccation and self- ever, water loss to the surroundings can be
desiccation shrinkage. Some concretes may need mitigated by other more direct means, such as
50 kg/m3 of internal curing water for this purpose. membrane curing, and this use of internal water
The price of the internal curing water is in the curing will not be addressed further; the focus of
approximate range 0.1–1 e/kg. this paper is the use of internal curing water to
mitigate self-desiccation and self-desiccation
shrinkage during hydration [1, 2].
Résumé L’article offre un aperçu des différentes This principle has been debated in the litera-
techniques d’incorporation de l’eau de cure interne ture for several years [3] and has become partic-
des bétons. La cure interne à l’eau peut être utilisée ularly relevant due to the increased use of
pour limiter l’auto-dessiccation et le retrait d’auto- high-performance concrete, HPC. Several tech-
dessiccation. Á cet effet, il se peut que certains niques may, potentially, be used for incorporation
bétons aient besoin de 50 kg/m3 d’eau de cure in- of internal curing water in concrete. In the
terne. Le prix de cette eau de cure interne est de following some of these are presented and
l’ordre approximatif de 0,1–1 e/kg. commented. Also apparently impracticable tech-
niques are presented in the paper, since these may
Keywords High-performance concrete Æ be the basis for useful further development in this
Shrinkage Æ Curing Æ Autogenous strain area. However, special emphasis is put on tech-
niques with proven applicability: internal water
1 Introduction curing based on saturated lightweight aggregate
particles and superabsorbent polymers.
This paper presents a survey of different tech-
niques for incorporation of curing water in
concrete: Internal water curing. Internal curing 2 General requirements for internal water curing
of concrete
O. M. Jensen (&) Æ P. Lura
Department of Civil Engineering, Technical
University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark Internal water curing of concrete requires some
e-mail: [email protected] sort of water store that can supply water to the
818 Materials and Structures (2006) 39:817–825

cement paste during the cementitious reactions. for internal water curing. Instinctively, water-
Cells and gels are examples of water containers absorbing materials may be thought of as the sole
found in nature. A cell membrane provides a group of candidates for this purpose [7]. How-
boundary to water, whereas a polymer network ever, as will be shown other materials may also be
incorporates water in its intermolecular space. used. In general, the water store may function
Such containers allow water to be stored as an based on several different physical or chemical
entity. principles:
In relation to concrete the water store may be
– chemically bound water, e.g. crystalline water
formed either before or after the start of mixing.
in ettringite,
If encapsulated, liquid water is added to the
– physically adsorbed water, e.g. water in su-
concrete as particles, these particles must be
perabsorbent polymers,
strong enough to withstand the mixing process.
– physically held water, e.g. capillary water in
If the formation of the water store is started
fine pores,
after mixing, it must be finished before setting.
– unbound water, e.g. encapsulated water.
Finally, after setting the stored water must be
freely accessible for the cement hydration, which In the following, examples of internal curing
means the water must be thermodynamically water are presented based on this classification.
and kinetically available for the cementitious
reactions.
Thermodynamic availability requires the water 3 Theoretically necessary amount of internal
to have an activity close to 1, or in other words an curing water
equilibrium relative humidity close to 100%.
Even a slight lowering of the relative humidity is The theoretical amount of internal curing water
known to significantly affect the cement hydra- needed to offset self-desiccation can be calculated
tion [4]. Pure water held in a porous material will with Powers’ model [2]. According to this model
have an equilibrium relative humidity of 99% the maximum amount is required at w/c = 0.36,
when the meniscus diameter is 100 nm. As a and corresponds to 0.065 kg of water per kg of
rough guide, only water held in larger pores may cement. The following calculation converts this
be considered useful as internal curing water figure to the unit ‘‘kg of water per m3 of con-
supplied from porous particles. crete’’.
Kinetic availability refers to the transport of The relative volume of components in air-free
water from the water store to all parts of the self- concrete sums up as:
desiccating, cementitious material. First of all,
this requires that the water is not confined but is 1 ¼ Vagg þ Vpaste ¼ Vagg þ Vw þ Vc ð1Þ
readily released as the relative humidity in the
surrounding cement paste drops. Secondly, the where Vi is the relative volume [m3 per m3] of
internal curing water should be properly spatially component i in the concrete: agg = aggregate,
distributed. Simulations by Bentz and Snyder [5] w = water, c = cement.
suggest that water transport in the paste matrix The aggregate content in a HPC mixture is
may be effectively limited to 200 lm in modern, normally lower than in a traditional concrete. On
ultra high-performance concretes due to deper- the safe side it is here assumed to be 50vol%.
colation of the capillary pore structure. However, Conversion to masses, insertion of figures and
the relevance of this percolation threshold has rearranging Eq. (1) thereby gives:
been debated for less extreme concretes [6]. In
any case, an improved spatial distribution can be 0:5 ¼ Mc
ðw/cÞ=qw þ Mc =qc
achieved by reducing the size of the single water ¼ Mc
ð0:36=1000 þ 1=3150Þ ð2Þ
containers and increasing their number.
Despite these partly conflicting requirements, where Mi is the mass [kg per m3] and qi the
several techniques may, potentially, be used density [kg/m3] of component i in the concrete.
Materials and Structures (2006) 39:817–825 819

An upper limit for the cement content in HPC rough guide for the lower limit of useful pores in
is thus: aggregate particles.
The most important element, however, is the
Mc ¼ 740 kg=m3 ð3Þ total aggregate porosity. In the self-desiccating
concretes where internal curing is particularly
From this figure the theoretical maximum relevant—HPC—dense rocks are used because
amount of internal curing water needed for con- the aggregate strength is the limiting factor for
crete, Mwic.max, can be calculated as: the strength of such concretes. The dense rocks,
such as quartzite, granite or bauxite, may contain
Mwic:max ¼ 740
0:065  50 kg=m3 ð4Þ virtually no porosity, and no internal curing water
will thus be induced from the aggregate. In these
If the aggregate content is higher than 50 cases it may be necessary to selectively induce
vol% or if the w/c ratio is different from 0.36 internal curing water through a special additive.
the concrete needs less internal curing water.
For example, at an aggregate content of 75% and
w/c = 0.36 the value is: 5 Substances for internal water curing

Mwic:max  25 kg=m3 ð5Þ 5.1 Substances with chemically bound water

A large number of chemical substances contain

chemically bound water. This water is held by
4 Internal curing water in normal aggregate primary chemical bonds within the molecular
structure. To serve as a potential candidate for
Aggregate used in a normal concrete may contain internal water curing the water content of the
water which can serve as internal curing water. substance must be high and the water must be
This water is physically held in natural porosities easily given off as the surrounding relative
in the aggregate. Gritstone and limestone may humidity drops. In addition, the chemical sub-
have a porosity of 25% [8]. If this porosity is stance must be compatible with the cementitious
water-filled and if the aggregate content is 75 system.
vol%, such aggregate will contain up to 190 l of Some substances which commonly occur in
internal curing water per m3 of concrete. As seen cement pastes do to some extent have such
from Eq. (5) this is, potentially, much more than properties, especially the calcium-aluminates.
needed for any concrete. This reasoning shows Examples of these are C4AH19 and ettringite,
that water in normal aggregate certainly is a fac- C3 AðCSÞ H32 . They contain about 50% water by
3
tor which should be taken into consideration as a weight which can be released if the relative
potential source of internal curing water. This has humidity is lowered. However, only a part of the
also been pointed out by Hammer et al. [9]. water is released at high relative humidities, and
The porosities in normal aggregate particles, these substances are also linked to deleterious
however, may only be partly water-filled. In reactions in the cement paste. No attempt to
addition, the spatial distribution of the water in utilize this technique has been identified.
normal aggregate particles is unfavorable; only
the fine aggregate fraction may be able to ensure 5.2 Substances with physically adsorbed water
internal curing due to depercolation of the paste
fraction [10]. The pore sizes distribution in the 5.2.1 Bentonite clay
aggregate particles is a further important element.
Generally speaking, water moves spontaneously Some natural types of clay such as bentonite have
only towards a lower energy level, i.e. from a a high specific surface, often exceeding 100 m2/g,
coarse to a fine pore structure. The above men- and this enables them to adsorb several molecular
tioned pore size of 100 nm may be considered a layers of water between their platelet structure
820 Materials and Structures (2006) 39:817–825

[11]; such water is held by secondary chemical absorbency may be below 20 g/g [13]. The
bonds and the bentonite may swell up to 14 times absorption of water in the SAP is based on sec-
its volume as a consequence of this water uptake. ondary chemical bonds, and the water is so
If the relative humidity in the surroundings is loosely held that all of it essentially can be con-
lowered, this water is reversibly released. Poten- sidered bulk water.
tially, bentonite or other layered clay minerals Most SAPs are cross-linked polyelectrolytes.
may be used as a water reservoir for internal Because of their ionic nature and interconnected
water curing. However, this requires at least one structure, they absorb large quantities of water
important problem to be solved: In high ionic and other aqueous solutions without dissolving.
media such as in cementitious materials these SAPs have found a widespread use as a high-tech
clays agglomerate and form a compact structure material e.g. for contact lenses, breast implants,
(H. Lindgreen, personal communication, 2002). fire fighting, drug delivery, in baby diapers and as
As a consequence, the clays would not be able to soil conditioners. Today’s world production ex-
retain water and act as an internal curing agent in ceeds 500,000 tons per year of which about 85% is
concrete. used for baby diapers [14].
A description of the use of SAP for internal
5.2.2 Superabsorbent polymers water curing can be found in the literature [2, 13].
Compared with lightweight aggregate SAP has
A superabsorbent polymer, SAP, is a polymeric some peculiarities. SAP can be used as a dry
material which is able to absorb a significant concrete admixture since it takes up water during
amount of liquid from the surroundings and to the mixing process, and the use of SAP permits
retain the liquid within its structure without dis- free design of the shape and the size of the
solving [12], see Fig. 1. SAPs are principally used formed inclusions.
for absorbing water and aqueous solutions. With Commercially produced crosslinked acrylam-
the present polymer types the theoretical maxi- ide/acrylic acid copolymers cost from around
mum water absorption is approx. 5,000 times 3.5 e/kg. Since specially designed SAPs are more
their weight. However, the absorbency of com- expensive a representative price for concrete use
mercially produced SAPs is around 50 g/g in di- may be around 6 e/kg. If the water-uptake is as-
lute salt solutions such as urine, and in high ionic sumed to be 15 kg/kg, this corresponds to a price
solutions such as cement paste pore fluid the of about 0.4 e per kg of internal curing water.

5.3 Substances with physically held water

A large number of naturally occurring or artifi-

cially produced materials are potentially useful as
a container for internal curing water due to a
significant internal, open porosity. As described
below, these materials have widely different
composition and pore structure, but still they
have some common features which will be ad-
dressed here. Many of the materials are used as
general lightweight aggregates in concrete. The
specific purpose of using them for reservoirs of
internal curing water has been researched exper-
Fig. 1 Superabsorbent polymers are swellable substances imentally for some years [15].
which can absorb many times their own weight of liquids To act as an internal water reservoir an initially
by forming a gel. The absorbed liquid is not released even
under moderate pressure [12]. The picture shows a dry,
dry material will need water saturation. By sub-
collapsed and a swollen suspension polymerized SAP mersion, the porous particles will by themselves
particle take up water; however, complete saturation may
Materials and Structures (2006) 39:817–825 821

take many hours or days since the air in the completely closed to completely open. A repre-
particles will delay the water ingress [6]. An sentative value for the absorption of pumice is
accelerated water uptake can be achieved by 0.27 kg/kg [16]. The price is approximately 60 e/
evacuating, boiling or by applying a high pressure, ton, resulting in a price for the internal curing
however, from a production point of view these water of 0.2 e/kg.
methods are perhaps not relevant.
If the dry material is added to the concrete 5.3.2 Perlite
mixer only partial saturation may be achieved. In
addition, particles of cementitious materials may Perlite is a naturally occurring siliceous, glassy
be partly sucked into the pore structure of the rock which contains 2–6% combined water. When
material together with the water. This will im- quickly heated to above 900C, the crude rock
prove the bond with the surrounding paste expands 4–20 times its original volume as the
structure, but it will also to some extent offset the combined water vaporizes and creates countless
internal curing effect. This is due to lengthening tiny bubbles. This results in a bulk density in the
of the water transport path and due to reduction range 30–400 kg/m3, and water absorption of 200–
of the volume available for storage of the internal 600%. Perlite has found multiple uses such as for
curing water. filtration, as an abrasive and within horticulture to
The primary mechanism responsible for hold- provide aeration and moisture retention. How-
ing the water in these materials is physical capil- ever, perlite is primarily used within the con-
lary forces. As previously mentioned, only pore struction area for example as concrete aggregate
sizes above approximately 100 nm are useful for and as a cavity-filling insulation. Disintegration of
storage of internal curing water. In smaller pores perlite particles has been observed during mixing
the water is held so tightly that it is not available due to their high porosity and consequently low
for the cementitious reactions. strength [16]. This may have adverse effects on
the concrete. Fully saturated, the water content of
5.3.1 Pumice perlite may be 4.5 kg/kg [16], and with a price of
about 300 e/ton the internal curing water conse-
Pumice is a porous volcanic rock which resembles quently costs 0.07 e/kg.
a sponge, see Fig. 2. The porous structure is
formed by dissolved gases which are precipitated 5.3.3 Liapor and Leca
during the cooling as the lava hurtles through the
air. All types of magma may form pumice. The Liapor and Leca are brand names for an ex-
connectivity of the pore structure may range from panded clay clinker which is burned in a rotary
kiln at approx. 1,200C. They are produced from
special types of clay which expand during heating
due to development of gases from organic mate-
rial in the clay. This results in ceramic particles
with a dense shell surrounding a porous core, see
Fig. 3.
The total porosity of the expanded clay clinker
may be as high as 90%, however a large part of
the pores are closed, and for that reason not
available for water absorption. Based on mercury
intrusion porosimetry the typical pore size of the
open porosity is around 400 lm, and most of the
pore volume is in pores with a size above 100 lm.
Fig. 2 Scanning electron micrograph of a fracture surface
For this reason all the absorbed water in these
of a pumice aggregate particle. The open porosity of this expanded clay clinkers may be considered freely
aggregate has been measured to 40% available as internal curing water [17, 18]. The
822 Materials and Structures (2006) 39:817–825

ranges from 25% to 100%. The diatom particles

have an average size of 5–20 lm in diameter and,
generally, exhibit either radial symmetry or line
symmetry. The open porosity of the diatoms de-
pends on the type, but may be around 50–70%
leading to a water absorption of about 1 kg/kg,
see Fig. 4 [20, 21].
Diatomaceous earth has multiple uses within
e.g. filtration, drilling mud thickener, chromatog-
raphy, as catalyst carrier and insecticide. Diato-
maceous earth has been tested in relation to
concrete technology. Diatoms are highly reactive
towards lime owing to their high content of
Fig. 3 Scanning electron micrograph of a fracture surface amorphous silica and high specific surface area.
of Liapor showing numerous pores from lm-size and
upwards. The total porosity has been measured to be However, the use of diatoms in concrete is ham-
45% whereas the open porosity is 40% pered by their particle shape which has an unfa-
vorable effect on the paste consistency and causes
absorbed water in Leca and Liapor may for the water demand of concrete to increase [22, 23].
example be 0.17 kg/kg [6, 17]. The prices are Diatomaceous earth has previously been sug-
about 0.06 and 0.1 e/kg for the two types of dry gested as a source of internal curing water [24].
aggregate. This corresponds to a price of internal The price of diatomaceous earth varies con-
curing water of 0.4 e/kg for Leca and 0.6 e/kg for siderably depending on the type and purity. A
Liapor. representative price for the cheaper types may be
around 1 e/kg of dry material which corresponds
5.3.4 Stalite to 1 e/kg of internal curing water.

Stalite is produced by processing crushed slate in 5.4 Substances with unbound water
rotary kilns at temperatures up to approximately
1,150C. During the heating, the rock becomes 5.4.1 Microencapsulation
plastic and evolves gases which are entrapped as
small unconnected voids in the stone [19]. Com- Microencapsulation is a technique by which par-
pared with other lightweight aggregate, Stalite cels of a gas, liquid, or solid are packaged inside
has a relatively fine and less continuous pore
system—some of the pore water is held down to
at least RH = 70%. Consequently only a part of
the water held in Stalite will be useful for internal
curing [9]. The price of Stalite is approximately
0.04 e/kg, and the amount of held water at satu-
rated surface dry condition is 0.06 kg/kg, i.e. the
price of internal curing water is about 0.7 e/kg.

5.3.5 Diatomaceous earth

Diatomaceous earth originates from the skeletons

of prehistoric single celled algae, diatoms, which
synthesized shells for themselves out of silica.
When the diatoms died the shells settled on the Fig. 4 Scanning electron micrograph of pennate (i.e. line
bottom of sea or lake beds and fossilized. The symmetric) diatoms in a cement paste matrix. The open
amorphous silica (opaline) content in diatomites porosity of these particles has been measured to 68% [21]
Materials and Structures (2006) 39:817–825 823

tiny spheres of a second material. The capsules induce the water into the particles or to ensure its
may be as small as 1 micron [25]. Many different proper release when needed seems to be available.
capsule wall materials have been developed as It has not been possible to obtain prices on
well as techniques by which a substance might be microencapsulation of water; however, it is be-
encapsulated. The process may consist of dis- lieved to be a relatively expensive as well as
persing fine droplets of the active material in an delicate technique. The capsule wall has to be
aqueous medium. The droplets are subsequently both chemically and physically strong enough to
encapsulated by a polymer formed by a produc- remain intact until setting. Thereafter it should
tion technique called interfacial surface polycon- allow the release of water.
densation, see Fig. 5.
The core material is released from the micro- 5.4.2 Emulsified water
capsule e.g. due to mechanical rupture of the
capsule wall, dissolution of the wall, melting of A colloid is a dispersion of small particles of one
the wall or by diffusion through the wall. Micro- material in another. If both materials are liquid
encapsulation is used in many different products, the colloid is termed an emulsion. Many examples
examples are: Inks for carbon-free copy paper, of emulsions both natural and artificial can be
chemicals for multi-component adhesives, taste given, one being milk which is a dispersion of fats
masking of drugs, and pesticides. In relation to in water. An emulsion needs to be stabilized by
cementing materials microencapsulation of water an emulsifying agent which forms a protective
has been previously used. With this technique it film around the dispersed phase. In the case of
was possible to prepare a dry mix of water-filled milk this emulsifier is a protein, casein.
wax capsules and fast-setting grouting cement. Within concrete technology a similar technique
The capsules were crushed and the mixture is used to improve the frost resistance of concrete.
hardened when an anchor element in a one-step This is done by introducing 10–250 lm spherical
operation was inserted into the mixture. These air-voids into the fresh concrete, which is enabled
micro-capsules consisted of 33% shell and had a by an air-entraining agent. The air-entraining
size of 1–2 mm [26]. agent produces a foam by lowering the surface
Another example within concrete related ma- tension of the liquid and forming a stabilizing film
terials is fly ash extendospheres. These are hollow in the liquid–air interface.
fly ash particles which are produced accidentally It may be possible to form water inclusions in a
together with normal fly ash. If water-filled, the similar way, i.e. an emulsion of water in water.
capsule wall could have beneficial pozzolanic The emulsifying agent will have to be rather
properties whereas the water might serve as special, since a natural interface between two
internal curing water. However, no method to different phases does not exist in that case. It has
not been possible to identify an existing technique
like the one described.

6 Comparison of techniques for internal water

curing

So far the realistic possibilities for internal water

curing of concrete are found within superabsor-
bent polymers and substances with physically held
water, i.e. mainly lightweight aggregates. For
comparison, Table 1 sums up relevant data for
materials in these two groups. It should be noted
Fig. 5 Scanning electron micrograph of a microencapsu- that the data are only a rough guide; they may
lated ink embedded in a self-copying paper depend significantly on the specific material type
824 Materials and Structures (2006) 39:817–825

Table 1 Material prices and examples of water content of References

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content price price autogenous shrinkage cracking. Cem Concr Comp
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2. Jensen OM, Hansen PF (2001) Water-entrained
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polymer background. Cem Concr Res 31(4):647–654
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