Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231

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Construction and Building Materials

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Mechanical properties of reactive powder concrete containing mineral

admixtures under different curing regimes
Halit Yazc *, Mert Ycel Yardmc, Serdar Aydn, Anl S . Karabulut
_
Department of Civil Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Dokuz Eyll University, Buca 35160, Izmir, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Mechanical properties (compressive strength, exural strength, and toughness) of reactive powder con-
Received 23 June 2008 crete (RPC) produced with class-C y ash (FA) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) were
Received in revised form 23 July 2008 investigated under different curing conditions (standard, autoclave and steam curing) in this study. Test
Accepted 7 August 2008
results indicate that, compressive strength of RPC increased considerably after steam and autoclaving
Available online 14 September 2008
compared to the standard curing. On the other hand, it was observed that steam and autoclave curing
decreased the exural strength and toughness. Increasing the GGBFS and/or FA content improved the
Keywords:
toughness of RPC under all curing regimes considerably. Furthermore, SEM micrographs revealed dense
Reactive powder concrete
Fly ash
microstructure of RPC.
Ground granulated blast furnace slag 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Silica fume
Toughness

1. Introduction or eliminate passive reinforcement using with steel bers. And,

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is a new generation concrete
and it was developed through microstructure enhancement tech-
niques for cementitious materials. As compared to ordinary ce-
ment-based materials, the primary improvements of RPC include
the particle size homogeneity, porosity, and microstructures. The
mechanical properties that can be achieved include the compres-
sive strength of the range between 200 and 800 MPa, fracture en-
ergy of the range between 1200 and 40,000 J/m2, and ultimate
tensile strain at the order of 1% [1,2]. This is generally achieved
by micro-structural engineering approach, including elimination
of the coarse aggregates, reducing the water-to-cementitious
material ratio, lowering the CaO to SiO2 ratio by introducing the
silica components, and incorporation of steel micro-bers [3]. It
was reported that RPC has a remarkable exural strength and very
high ductility. Its ductility is about 250 times higher than that of
conventional concrete [1,2]. Low permeability, dense micro-struc-
ture and superior mechanical properties (very high compressive
strength, exural strength, fracture energy and toughness) dene
the RPC as an ultra-high performance concrete [4]. Nowadays,
RPC seems to be a promising material for special pre-stressed
and precast concrete members. This material can therefore be used
for industrial and nuclear waste storage facilities [14]. Although
production costs of RPC are generally high, some economical
advantages also exist in RPC applications. It is possible to reduce
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 232 4127044; fax: +90 232 4127253.
E-mail address: halit.yazici@deu.edu.tr (H. Yazc).
due to ultra-high mechanical performance of RPC, the thickness
of concrete elements can be reduced, which results in materials
and cost savings.
Chan and Chu [3] reported that incorporation of silica fume in
RPC matrix remarkably enhances the steel bermatrix bond char-
acteristics due to the interfacial-toughening effect upon ber slip.
Massidda et al. [5] studied the effects of autoclaving under satu-
rated vapor at 180 C on the physical and mechanical properties
of reactive-powder mortars reinforced with brass-coated steel -
bers. Autoclaving generally has benecial effects on the mechani-
cal properties both in terms of exural and compressive strength.
High pressure steam curing for 3 h of specimens pre-cured at
ambient temperature for 3 days, yielded exural strength of
30 MPa and compressive strength of 200 MPa. Shaheen and Shrive
[6] investigated freezethaw resistance of RPC. Test results showed
that RPC has excellent freezethaw resistance with no sign of dam-
age up to 600 cycles according to ASTM C 666 test procedure. Rou-
geau and Borys [7] showed that ultra-high performance concrete
can be produced with ultra-ne particles other than SF such as
y ash, limestone microller or metakaolin. Furthermore, Kejin
and Zhi [8] showed that the maximum heat of cement hydration
in binary/ternary cement (y ash and/or GGBFS) concrete de-
creased with supplementary cementitious material (SCM) replace-
ments. As a result, SCM concrete generally has a lower risk of
thermal cracking than Portland cement (PC) concrete.
Cement dosage of RPC is generally as high as 8001000 kg/m3
to achieve ultra-high strength under very low water/cement
ratios. A high amount of cement not only affects the production

0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2008.08.003
1224 H. Yazc et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231

costs, but also has negative effects on the heat of hydration and Table 2
may cause shrinkage problems. Mineral admixtures can be a fea- Mixture proportions of RPC

sible solution to overcome these problems in RPC. The main Material CTRL G10F10 G10F20 G10F30 F20 G40
objective of this research is to determine the effect of mineral Cement (kg/m ) 3
830 664 581 498 664 498
admixtures on the mechanical properties of the RPC. Furthermore, SF (kg/m3) 291 205 157 141 195 173
this research aimed to reduce consumption of cement and silica GGBFS (kg/m3) 83 83 83 332
fume in order to lower the material costs and to decrease the neg- FA (kg/m3) 83 166 249 166
13 mm Quartz (kg/m3) 489 521 534 530 516 541
ative impacts (heat of hydration, shrinkage and environmental 0.51 mm Quartz (kg/m3) 244 260 266 264 257 269
problems). Portland cement and silica fume was replaced with 00.4 mm Quartz (kg/m3) 244 260 266 264 257 269
GGBFS and/or FA at different proportions and mechanical perfor- Water (kg/m3) 151 151 151 151 151 151
mance determined after different curing regimes. Test results SP (L/ m3) 55 35 34 33 38 35
Water from SP 33 21 20 20 23 21
indicate that low cement RPC has satisfactory performance com-
Water/cement 0.18 0.23 0.26 0.30 0.23 0.30
pared to the conventional RPC the matrix phase of which consist Water/powder 0.13 0.15 0.15 0.16 0.15 0.15
of cement and silica fume. In other words, it seems that greening Water/powdera 0.16 0.17 0.17 0.18 0.17 0.17
the RPC is also possible using with high amount of mineral CaO (Mol) 9.40 8.38 7.82 7.27 8.29 7.55
admixtures. SiO2 (Mol) 7.22 6.43 6.00 6.06 6.36 6.29
Steel ber (kg/m3) 234 234 234 234 234 234
Flow table (mm) 115 115 113 113 114 117
2. Experimental Molar CaO/SiO2 1.30 1.30 1.30 1.20 1.30 1.20
a
Calculated with total water (water + water from SP).
The RPC considered here is prepared by the following ingredi-
ents: Ordinary Portland cement (CEM-I 42.5-R); quartz powder
(00.4 mm) and quartz sand (0.51.0 and 1.03.0 mm, with a spe-
cic gravity of 2.65), silica fume (SF), a polycarboxylate-based FA. Moreover CTRL shows Portland cement RPC that contain only
superplasticizer (SP) in conformity with ASTM C 494-81 type F cement and SF as a binder without FA or GGBFS. Replacement ra-
and brass-coated steel micro-bers (6 mm long with the diameter tios presented here were chosen according to results of previous
of 0.15 mm, the aspect ratio and tensile strength of the bers is 40 study [9].
and 2250 MPa, respectively). The physical, chemical and mechani- For each type of the proposed mixture proportions of RPC, dry
cal properties of cement, silica fume, y ash and slag are presented ingredients (i.e. cement, SF, FA and GGBFS, quartz powders, quartz
in Table 1. sand and silica fume) were rst mixed for about 3 min at low and
Table 2 summarizes the mixture designs of RPC produced in high speed in Hobart mixer. Water and superplasticizer were
this study. As can be seen from Table 2, abbreviations were used added and re-mixed for about 5 min at high speed. Subsequently,
for mixtures according to GGBFS and/or FA content. FA and bers were added and additional mixing was applied for about
GGBFS were denoted by F and G. FA or GGBFS ratios by cement 2 min. The specimens were kept in the moulds for 16 h at room
weight were also given in the abbreviations. For instance, temperature of about 20 C. After that RPC specimens were re-
G10F20 means cement was replaced with 10% GGBFS and 20% moved from the steel molds. One-third of the RPC specimens were
cured in water at 20 C. The other one-third of specimens were
autoclaved under 2.0 MPa pressure for 8 h (210 C). Temperature
and pressure reached to their maximum values in 2.5 h. Remain-
Table 1 ing specimens were exposed to steam curing at 100 C for 3 days.
Physical, chemical and mechanical properties of cement, silica fume, y ash and slag Heating rate of steam cure treatment was 11 C/h. This extended
Chemical composition (%) (3 days) high temperature (100 C) steam curing which is differ-
Cement Silica fume (SF) Fly ash (FA) Slag (GGBFS)
ent from conventional curing process were preferred due to the
high amount of reactive cementitious materials in RPC. Studies
SiO2 20.10 92.26 42.10 39.66
Al2O3 5.62 0.89 19.40 12.94
showed that high mechanical properties can be achieved under
Fe2O3 2.17 1.97 4.60 1.58 these conditions at early ages [13]. Cwirzen et al. [10] also indi-
CaO 62.92 0.49 27.00 34.20 cated that heat treatment densied the microstructure of the RPC
MgO 1.14 0.96 1.80 6.94 matrix. The specimens, which were subjected to heat treatment,
Na2O 0.30 0.42 0.20
were kept in laboratory conditions for cooling before testing in
K2O 0.85 1.31 1.10 1.44
SO3 2.92 0.33 2.40 0.72 this study.
Cl 0.001 0.09 Prismatic specimens (40  40  160 mm) were used to deter-
L.O.I. 3.84 1.30 1.20 mine the exural strength and toughness. Flexural specimens were
I.R. 0.63 tested at the loading rate of 0.1 mm/min up to mid-span deection
F.CaO (%) 0.52 4.30
of 2.5 mm under closed loop control test procedure. The specimens
Physical properties of cement were loaded from their mid span and the clear distance between
Specic gravity 3.13 simple supports was 130 mm. Toughness was regarded as the area
Initial setting time (min) 130 under the loaddeection curve up to 2.5 mm mid-span deection.
Final setting time (min) 210
The compressive strength test was performed following to the ex-
Volume expansion (mm) 1.00
ural tests. The two broken pieces left from exural test were sub-
Specic surface(m2/kg)
jected to compressive strength test. The loaded area under
Cement (Blaine) 380
SF (nitrogen Ab.) 20,000 compressive strength test is 40  40 mm and the height of the
FA (Blaine) 290 specimens is also 40 mm. The moduli of elasticity values were
GGBFS (Blaine) 396 determined on 100  200 mm cylinders. Each data presented here
Compressive strength of cement (MPa) are the average test results of three specimens. On the other hand,
2 days 29.9 exural loaddeection curves were drawn using with one speci-
7 days 43.2 men graph that represents closest to the average mechanical
28 days 51.9
performance.

3. Results and discussion
Test results are presented in the following paragraphs.
3.1. Compressive strength of RPC
The compressive strength of mixtures after different curing con-
ditions (standard curing for 2 and 28 days, steam and autoclave
curing) is presented in Fig. 1. The compressive strength of all these
mixtures is over 200 MPa after 28-day standard curing. It is obvi-
ous that RPC containing GGBFS and/or FA also showed satisfactory
results. GGBFS and/or FA replacement reduced the compressive
strength slightly after 2-day standard water curing. When the
replacement level reached to the 40% compressive strength reduc-
tion is higher. This can be explained by the nature of pozzolanic
reaction. On the other hand, it is obvious that the early compres-
sive strength of RPC over 100 MPa and reached up to the
163 MPa even under 2-day standard curing. This behavior is quite
different from conventional concrete and can be attributed to the
very low water/binder ratio and high amount of binder of RPC
which cause the binder grains close to the each other and reduced
porosity. Note that detailed previous study [9] showed that FA
caused more compressive strength reduction than GGBFS espe-
cially over 20% replacement level. Furthermore, generally binary
combination (GGBFS + FA) showed better performance than only
FA replacement. This nding was not valid for GGBFS. In this case
GGBFS is much better than using binary replacement. In other
words, to avoid important mechanical loss with high amount of
FA, binary combinations were also designed in this study presented
in Table 2.
Steam and autoclaving improved the compressive strength of
RPC considerably. Moreover, autoclaved and steam cured samples
were only 2 and 4-day old on testing day. From the point of min-
eral admixtures, compressive strength of G10F10, F20 and G40 is
close to the strength of control mixture (Portland cement RPC)
after autoclave curing. Greater values also exist after steam curing.
This nding is also valid for control mixtures which have only
cement and SF as a binder. It is well known that steam curing at
6585 C for a few hours (for example 312 h) normally causes
ultimate strength reduction due to rapid reactions compared to
the standard curing in water at 20 C. Compressive strength
improvement in RPC can be explained by pozzolanic reactions at
300
280 273
260 255
Compressive Strength, MPa
240
220
202
200
180
163
160
140
120
100
CTRL
Fig. 1. The inuence of GGBFS and/or FA content and curing regime on compressive strength.
H. Yazc et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231 1225
elevated temperatures in which less reactive form of silica in SF,
FA and GGBFS shows pozzolanic reaction that is normally remains
unreacted inert ller under standard curing. Note that control mix-
ture also showed similar behavior. This can be attributed to the sig-
nicant amount of SF in the control mixture. According to the
replacement level, improvement in compressive strength is be-
tween 21% and 35% for autoclaving compared to the 28-day water
curing. This increment is 1426% after steam curing. Moreover,
steam/autoclave strength ratio is over 93%.
Normally the cement content of RPC is very high and the water/
binder ratio of it is very low, which causes rapid hydration reac-
tion, high heat of hydration and shrinkage. These problems may
be solved with mineral admixtures. The hydration mechanism of
mineral admixtures is different from that of cement. The mineral
admixtures reacts with water and then with calcium hydroxide
to form cement hydration product through pozzolanic reaction to
form extra CSH gel in the paste and slow down the strength
development at early age [1114]. All these properties of GGBFS
and/or FA may be advantage for RPC. Zhanga et al. [15] indicated
that mineral admixtures greatly reduced the hydration heat and
the exothermic rate and prolonged the arrival time of the highest
temperature, particularly when two or three types of mineral
admixtures were added at the same time (double adding and triple
adding) in high strength concrete.
The 28-day strength in standard curing can be achieved in
about 24 h with autoclave curing [16]. However, the bond strength
between the concrete and the reinforcement is usually much lower
(by about 50%), and the material tends to be more brittle than or-
dinary concrete [17]. Under the conditions of high temperature and
pressure, the chemistry of hydration is substantially altered. CSH
forms but is converted to a crystalline product a-calcium silicate
hydrate (a-C2S) which cause an increase in porosity and reduction
in strength. However, in the presence of silica, a-C2S converts to
tobermorite (C5S6H5) on continued heating thus high strength
can be obtained. On the other hand, prolonged autoclaving may
cause the formation of other crystalline calcium silicate hydrates
with a strength reduction. It is believed that the complete conver-
sion to tobermorite is not desirable and that there is an optimum
ratio of amorphous to crystalline material for maximum strength
[1821]. However, with a small addition of silica fume, the cement
strength increases and the pore structure is densied. In addition,
silica fume particles ll micro- and submicro-meter level pores in
In water (2 days) In water (28 days)
Steam curing Autoclave curing
270 268 265
261 259 261
252 250 249
234
212 210
207 206
200
149
141 143
131
116
G10F10 G10F20 G10F30 F20 G40
Mixtures
1226 H. Yazc et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231

paste and limit the particle size of hydrates that known as a space Flexural strength/compressive strength ratio is 14% for standard
lling effect [22]. cured Portland cement RPC. This ratio is between 15% and 19%
Preliminary test results [9] showed that GGBFS and/or FA can be according to mineral admixtures replacement level in the same
used as an alternative ne silica sources in this study. Due to this curing regime. However, the exural strength/compressive
nding SF content of the mixtures presented here was decreased strength ratio of Portland cement RPC is 9% and increased to the
with increasing mineral admixtures content. Test results also 1112% using with GGBFS and/or FA in the case of steam curing.
showed that decreasing the SF content also decreased the SP de- These ratios are 10% and 1213% for autoclaving, respectively.
mand considerably. In other words, using the GGBFS and/or FA as Flexural loaddeection curves of 2-day standard cured mix-
a silica source in the RPC has many benecial affects (economy, tures containing different amounts of GGBFS and/or FA are pre-
decreasing shrinkage, heat of hydration, etc.). It can be seen that sented in Fig. 3. To avoid the confusion, G10F10 and G10F20
from Table 2, SF content was reduced with the increasing GGBFS mixtures which generally showed similar behavior with other bin-
and/or FA replacement. SiO2 and CaO contents were calculated ary combination (G10F30) are not presented in Fig. 3. It can be seen
for each ingredient. SF content has been calculated to keep the mo- from Fig. 3 that generally GGBFS and/or FA replacement has posi-
lar CaO/SiO2 ratio constant (1.201.30). Molar ratio of 1.30 was tively affected the exural behavior of RPC. The maximum bending
chosen for less than 40% replacement level and 1.20 for 40% loads of F20, G10F30 mixtures are greater than Portland cement
replacement level according to the preliminary tests. For example, RPC (control). This behavior can be attributed to the improvement
SF content of control mixture is 291 kg/m3 and 141 kg/m3 for in matrix phase, which also improves the bond strength between
G10F30 mixture. As can be seen in Fig. 1, decreasing SF content matrix and the bers. The displacement at maximum load is be-
with increasing mineral admixture replacement generally did not tween 0.14 and 0.34 mm. After the peak load, gradual load decre-
cause mechanical properties loss. ment was observed in all series. It can be noted that residual
load at 2.5 mm displacement is over 2500 N.
3.2. Flexural properties of RPC Loaddeection curves of the 28-day standard cured specimens
are given in Fig. 4. It can be seen from Fig. 4 that RPC containing
Flexural strength of mixtures after different curing conditions GGBFS and/or FA showed higher performance than Portland ce-
is presented in Fig. 2. GGBFS and/or FA replacement generally pos- ment RPC under exural loading. High post-peak load carrying
itively affected the exural strength of RPC in all curing regimes. capacity shows well toughness and reinforcing effect of the steel
This behavior can be attributed to the improvement in bond bers. Sudden load decrements and increments were observed in
strength. Flexural strength improvement according to the GGBFS the descending branch of the RPC containing mineral admixtures.
and/or FA replacement in 28-day standard, steam and autoclave This behavior is probably related to the length of bers (6 mm),
curing are between 7% and 35%, 12% and 36%, and 9% and 18%, orientation of bers, gradual pulling out of the bers and ma-
respectively. On the other hand, although steam and high pressure trixber bond. This behavior is also reported in the literature
steam curing increased the compressive strength signicantly, for ultra-high performance ber reinforced composites [22]. How-
improvement in exural behavior is not in the same extent. This ever, sudden load drops were not observed in 2-day water curing.
is probably due to the weaker bond between the bers and matrix This is probably due to the lower bond strength between bers and
after these curing regimes [12]. Steam curing generally reduced matrix in this early age. Furthermore, residual load at 2.5 mm dis-
the exural strength compared to the 28-day standard curing. placement is 2000 N for control mixture and increased with min-
Flexural strength loss after steam curing is between 11% and eral admixture replacement up to 3500 N. Residual load also
33% according to mixture type. However, exural strength of increased with 28-day water curing compared to the 2-day water
steam cured G10F20 mixture is 3% greater than standard cured curing. The displacement at maximum load is between 0.26 and
ones. Mechanical properties of autoclaved specimens were gener- 0.45 mm.
ally very close to the 28-day standard cured series except G10F30 Fig. 5 shows loaddeection curves of steam cured RPC. It is
mixture. obvious that mineral admixture replacement positively affected

50 In water (2 days) In water (28 days)

45 Steam curing Autoclave curing

40 38,7
Flexural Strength, MPa

35,5
33,9 34,6 34,5
35 33,8
32,8
31,8 31,2 31,8
30,7 30,2 30,7
29,5
30 28,6 28,6
26,3 26,1
23,4 24,2
25 23 23,3 22,7 22,3

20

15

10

0
CTRL G10F10 G10F20 G10F30 F20 G40
Mixtures

Fig. 2. The inuence of GGBFS and/or FA content and curing regime on exural strength.
 H. Yazc et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231 1227

10000

9000

G 10F30
8000

7000

6000
Load, N

5000 CTRL

G40
4000

F20
3000

2000

1000

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Displacement, mm

Fig. 3. The loaddisplacement relationship of 2-day water cured mixtures according to the GGBFS and/or FA content.

13000
G10F30
12000

11000
F20
10000

9000

8000
Load, N

7000
G40
6000

5000
CTRL
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Displacement, mm

Fig. 4. The loaddisplacement relationship of 28-day water cured mixtures according to the GGBFS and/or FA content.

the performance of RPC under bending. This behavior is clearer for
steam curing compared to the standard water curing. It seems that
negative effect of steam curing on exural performance of RPC can
be decreased using with GGBFS and/or FA. Furthermore, residual
load at 2.5 mm displacement is 2500 N for control mixture and in-
creased with mineral admixture replacement up to 3150 N. The
displacement at maximum load is between 0.12 and 0.44 mm.
The loaddeection curves of autoclaved RPC are presented in
Fig. 6. There is an important difference between Portland cement
RPC and RPC containing mineral admixtures under exural load
1228 H. Yazc et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231

11000

10000

9000

8000
F20
G10F30
7000
Load, N

6000

CTRL
5000

G40
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Displacement, mm

Fig. 5. The loaddisplacement relationship of steam cured mixtures according to the GGBFS and/or FA content.

14000

12000
G10F30

10000

F20

8000
Load, N

G40
6000

CTRL
4000

2000

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

Displacement, mm

Fig. 6. The loaddisplacement relationship of autoclave cured mixtures according to the GGBFS and/or FA content.

after autoclave curing. In other words, GGBFS and/or FA improved
the exural performance of autoclaved RPC considerably. It is obvi-
ous that the negative effect of autoclaving on bond between matrix
of RPC and bers can be decreased using with mineral admixtures.
The displacement at maximum load is between 0.29 and 0.45 mm.
The magnitude of sudden load decrements and increments in
descending branch of RPC decreased after autoclave curing com-
pared to the other curing regimes. This can be explained by the
decreasing bond strength due to autoclaving which causes gradual
pulling out of the bers instead of pulling out of suddenly.
 H. Yazc et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231
Toughness of mixtures after different curing conditions is pre-
sented in Fig. 7. GGBFS and/or FA replacement generally positively
affected the toughness in all curing regimes. This behavior can be
attributed to the improvement in bond strength between matrix
phase and bers. Toughness values increased 1846% according
to mineral admixture replacement compared to the Portland ce-
ment RPC under standard curing. This ratio is between 2444%
for steam curing and 2339% for autoclaving. In other words, using
GGBFS and/or FA improved the toughness of RPC considerably. The
other factor which affects the toughness of RPC is curing regime.
The maximum toughness performance was observed from stan-
dard water curing for both Portland cement RPC and RPC contain-
ing mineral admixtures. While compressive strength of autoclaved
and steam cured specimens were considerably higher than stan-
dard cured ones, the highest toughness values were determined
after the 28-day standard curing. Steam curing reduced the tough-
ness compared to the 28-day standard curing. This decrement is
between 10% and 34% according to mixture type. On the other
hand, autoclaving slightly reduced the toughness compared to
the 28-day standard curing. In this case decrement ratio is between
4% and 18%. This behavior is probably due to the weaker bond be-
tween the bers and matrix after steam curing and autoclaving
[16]. It is obvious that steam curing cause much more bond
strength loss than autoclaving in RPC.
3.3. Inuence of the GGBFS and/or FA replacement on modulus of
elasticity of RPC
Moduli of elasticity of some selected autoclaved mixtures were
determined and are shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that modulus of
elasticity of RPC decreased slightly when the replacement level
reached to 30%. This can be attributed to the decreasing compressive
strength level. The maximum decrement (18%) was observed in 40%
GGBFS replacement compared to the control mixture. Decrement in
modulus of elasticity values was also reported for high strength con-
crete containing mineral admixtures by Nassif et al. [23].
3.4. Microstructure of RPC
Microstructure of the selected RPC mixtures has been investi-
gated by using JEOL JSM 6060 electron microscope (SEM). The
20000
19000
18000
17000
Toughnesss, N.mm
16000
15000
14000
13000
12000
11000
10000
9000
CTRL G10F10
Fig. 7. The inuence of GGBFS and/or FA content and curing regime on toughness of RPC.
1229
samples for SEM analysis were prepared by taking small pieces
from the prismatic specimens. Original microstructure and mor-
phology of the RPC were observed on fractured surfaces using with
secondary electron imaging. The general micro-structural features
of RPC were determined by using backscattered electron (BSE)
imaging. Samples were coated with gold. The SEM study was car-
ried out by using an accelerating voltage of 20 kV.
Limited micrographs are presented here to give only an opinion
about microstructure of RPC. Microstructure investigations re-
vealed the very dense microstructure of RPC in this study. Very
low water/binder ratio causes the cement grains closer to each
other. Fig. 9a shows BSE image of autoclaved Portland cement
RPC. The matrix phase predominantly consists of outer product.
There are a large number of small grains in these areas which have
been termed undesignated product or groundmass. There is consid-
erable inlling of the large capillary pores by this undifferentiated
product during hydration. Portland cement contains four main
phases: impure C3S (alite), impure C2S (belite), impure C3A (alumi-
nate) and impure Ca2(Al, Fe) (Ferrite solid solution, Fss). During
grinding, facture generally occurs through the phases rather than
between them, so that the resulting cement grains almost always
contain more than one phase [24]. Unhydrated cement grains also
exist (light grey areas in Fig. 9a). There are spherical pores in RPC
one of which is visible at the bottom of Fig. 9a. These pores formed
possibly due to the side effect of high amount of superplasticizer
have different diameter giving wide range between 10 and
300 lm. These pores generally were empty in standard or steam
cured samples however lled with tobermorite- or jennite-like
structures in autoclaved ones. Similar ndings are also valid RPC
containing mineral admixtures. To obtain the morphology, espe-
cially after autoclaving, secondary electron imaging was also used
in this study. Some other type of pores which are in groups and
has different shape observed in FA replacement. This is presented
in Fig. 9b. EDS analysis showed that pore groups like this is unre-
acted spherical FA grain which is cut in sample preparation process.
SEM microphotograph of autoclaved Portland cement RPC and
F20 mixture was presented in Fig. 10 which was taken in second-
ary mode. It can be seen from the Fig 10 that spherical pores have
been lled with needle-like tobermorite and jennite-like structures
after autoclaving in both control and F20 mixtures. Energy disper-
sive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis in Portland cement RPC showed
In water (2 days) In water (28 days)
Steam curing Autoclave curing
G10F20 G10F30 F20 G40
Mixtures
1230 H. Yazc et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231

60
57
56

55
53

50
Modulus of elasticity, GPa

50 49

46

45

40

35

30
Control F20 G10F10 G10F20 G10F30 G40
Mixtures

Fig. 8. The effect of GGBFS and/or FA content on the moduli of elasticity of the mixtures (autoclave curing).

Fig. 9. SEM images of (a) autoclaved control mixture (pores in the matrix) (b) steam cured F10G20 mixture (pores in the matrix).

Fig. 10. SEM images of autoclaved (a) control mixture (spherical pores lled with jennite-like structures) (b) F20 mixture needle-like tobermorite.

that Ca/Si, S/Ca and Al/Ca ratios of this type of jennite are 1.85, that Ca/Si, S/Ca and Al/Ca ratios of this type of tobermorite are
0.003 and 0.036, respectively. EDS analysis in FA mixture showed 1.02, 0.03 and 0.05, respectively.
 H. Yazc et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 12231231
4. Conclusions
Test results showed that RPC containing high volume mineral
admixtures have satisfactory mechanical performance. Although
the cement and silica fume contents of these mixtures importantly
lower than conventional RPC, compressive strength exceeded
200 MPa after standard water curing. Autoclave and steam curing
seems very effective ways to increase the compressive strength
of RPC. This can be attributed to the improvement of hydration
process under these curing regimes. In this case compressive
strength is over 234 MPa after steam curing and greater than
250 MPa after autoclaving. Furthermore, these mixtures have also
important environmental benets. Decreasing cement content re-
duces heat of hydration and shrinkage which are normally impor-
tant problems for conventional RPC.
On the other hand, steam and autoclave curing caused some
reduction in exural strength compared to the 28-day standard
curing. This is probably due to the decreasing bond strength be-
tween matrix and bers. This behavior is much more important
in steam curing than autoclaving. GGBFS and/or FA replacement
decreased this negative effect in both steam and autoclaving.
GGBFS and/or FA improved the exural performance of RPC under
all curing regimes. Toughness values increased importantly using
with these mineral powders.
Test results showed that GGBFS and/or FA can also be used as a
ne silica source for RPC. In other words, SF can also be reduced by
increasing GGBFS and/or FA content. This gives also important
advantages (economy, reduced heat of hydration, shrinkage and
superplasticizer demand) like cement replacement.
Mineral admixtures decreased the modulus of elasticity of RPC
especially over 30% replacement levels. Although some spherical
entrained air pores exist, SEM investigations revealed the dense
microstructure of RPC. Tobermorite- and jennite-like structures
were observed in autoclaved specimens.
Acknowledgements
This study is a part of the project supported by the Scientic
_
and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TBITAK, Project
_ [22] Maeder U, Gamboa IL, Chaigmon J, Lombard JP. Ceracem. A new high
No.: 104I085). The authors gratefully acknowledge to TBITAK.
In addition, the authors thank to Mr. Mehmet Yerlikaya from BEK-
SA-DRAMIX, Mr. Okan Duyar from BASF-YKS and Mr. Hakan
_
Senvardarli from KARIMSA for materials support.
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