Internal curing water effect of superabsorbent polymer on microstructure of high-performance fine-grained concrete

Manuel Alejandro Rojas Manzano, Yuri Sotero Bomfim Fraga, Eugênia Fonseca da Silva, Renato Batista de Oliveira, Bernardo Caicedo Hormaza, Romildo Dias Toledo Filho

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of internal curing water on the compressive strength and microstructure of high-performance cementitious materials. For this, three high-performance fine-grained concrete (HPFC) and cement pastes were prepared. Two reference mixtures were investigated with total water-cement ratios (w/c) of 0.30 and 0.35. The third mixture was prepared with a basic w/c of 0.30 and the addition of 0.3% of superabsorbent polymer (SAP), resulting in a total w/c of 0.35. X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), and compressive strength tests were performed. The incorporation of SAP resulted in a refinement of the porous structure of the paste, despite increasing the total porosity. In addition, the paste containing 0.3% SAP resulted in an intermediate calcium hydroxide content compared with the reference pastes. Thus, it was concluded that SAP internal curing water participates in the hydration reactions of the cementitious material.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)125-135
Number of pages11
JournalACI Materials Journal
Volume118
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021

Keywords

  • Internal curing
  • Microstructure
  • Superabsorbent polymers

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