Abstract
High-performance cement-based materials, characterized by low water-to-cement (W/C) ratio and high cement content, are sensitive to early-age cracking because their autogenous shrinkage rate and magnitude are particularly high during this period. This article firstly presents experimental tools especially designed for the measurement of free and restrained autogenous shrinkage at early-age. Then, the results of a multi-parameter experimental study conducted on three different types of binder are analyzed. The physico-chemical deformations of cement pastes and mortars were measured from the very early-age up to several days in saturated and autogenous conditions to investigate the effects of binder, water-to-binder ratio, presence of aggregates and temperature on the driving-mechanisms leading to early-age autogenous cracking. Complementary tests such as hydration rate measurement and microscopic observations were also performed. Among the three binders used, the blast furnace slag cement shows higher chemical strain, for a given quantity of chemically-bound water, and higher early-age autogenous shrinkage. The presence of aggregates generates a local restraining effect of cement paste deformations, leading to the formation of microcracks in the surrounding cement paste. Ring test results reveal that the first through crack of cement pastes systematically appears for maximal internal stress values lower than the material tensile strength, estimated with three-point flexural tests. This phenomenon may be due to diffuse damage of the cementitious matrix, whose deformations are partially restrained.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acker P (1988) Comportement mécanique du béton : Apports de l’approche physicochimique. Research report no. 152, Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées
Torrenti JM (1996) Comportement mécanique du béton: Bilan de six années de recherche. Research report, Publication LCPC – Série ouvrages d’art – OA 23, 109, Paris, France
Bentur A (2000) Early age shrinkage and cracking in cementitious systems. In: Baroghel-Bouny V, Aïtcin PC (eds) Proceedings of the international RILEM symposium on shrinkage (Shrinkage 2000), Paris, France, pp 1–20
Garcia-Boivin S (2001) Retrait au jeune âge du béton : Développement d’une méthode expérimentale et contribution à l’analyse physique du retrait endogène. PhD Dissertation, ENPC, Paris, France
Mounanga P, Khelidj A, Loukili A, Baroghel-Bouny V (2004) Predicting Ca(OH)2 content and chemical shrinkage of hydrating cement pastes using analytical approach. Cem Concr Res 34(2):255–265. doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2003.07.006
Lura P, Jensen OM, van Breugel K (2003) Autogenous shrinkage in high-performance cement paste: an evaluation of basic mechanisms. Cem Concr Res 33(2):223–232. doi:10.1016/S0008-8846(02)00890-6
Bjøntegaard Ø, Hammer TA, Sellevold EJ (2004) On the measurement of free deformation of early age cement paste and concrete. Cem Concr Compos 26(5):427–435. doi:10.1016/S0958-9465(03)00065-9
Lura P, Jensen OM (2007) Measuring techniques for autogenous strain of cement paste. Mater Struct 40(4):431–440. doi:10.1617/s11527-006-9180-2
Laplante P, Boulay C (1994) Evolution du coefficient de dilatation thermique du béton en fonction de sa maturité aux tout premiers âges. Mater Struct 27(10):596–605. doi:10.1007/BF02473129
Jensen OM, Hansen PF (1995) A dilatometer for measuring autogenous deformation in hardening Portland cement paste. Mater Struct 28(181):406–409. doi:10.1007/BF02473076
Justnes H, Van Gemert A, Verboven F, Sellevold EJ (1996) Total and external chemical shrinkage of low W/C ratio cement pastes. Adv Cem Res 8(31):121–126
Bjøntegaard Ø (1999) Thermal dilation and autogenous deformation as driving forces to self-induced stresses in high performance concrete. PhD Dissertation, NTNU Division of Structural Engineering, Trodheim, Norway
Gagné R, Aouad I, Shen J, Poulin C (1999) Development of a new experimental technique for the study of the autogenous shrinkage of cement paste. Mater Struct 32(9):635–642. doi:10.1007/BF02481701
Bouasker M, Mounanga P, Khelidj A, Coué R (2008) Free autogenous strain of early-age cement paste: metrological development and critical analysis. Adv Cem Res 20(2):75–84. doi:10.1680/adcr.2008.20.2.75
Mohr BJ, Hood KL (2010) Influence of bleed water reabsorption on cement paste autogenous deformation. Cem Concr Res 40(2):220–225. doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2009.10.014
Morabito P et al. (contribution of 13 authors) (2001) Round Robin testing programme: equipment, testing methods, test results. IPACS research report, TU Lulea, Sweden
ASTM Standard C1698 (2009) Standard test method for autogenous strain of cement paste and mortar. ASTM International, West Conshohocken. doi:10.1520/C1698-09
Taylor HFW (1990) Cement chemistry. Academic Press Limited, San Diego
Loukili A, Khelidj A, Richard P (1999) Hydration kinetics, change of relative humidity and autogenous shrinkage of ultra-high-strength concrete. Cem Concr Res 29(4):577–584. doi:10.1016/S0008-8846(99)00022-8
Spinner S, Tefft WE (1961) A method for determining mechanical resonance frequencies and for calculating elastic moduli from these frequencies. Proc ASTM 61:1221–1238
Scrivener KL (2004) Backscattered electron imaging of cementitious microstructures: understanding and quantification. Cem Concr Compos 26(8):935–945. doi:10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2004.02.029
Justnes H, Sellevold EJ, Reyniers B, Van Loo D, Van Gemert A, Verboven F, Van Gemert D (2000) Chemical shrinkage of cement pastes with plasticizing admixtures. Nord Concr Res 24:39–54
Justnes H, Sellevold EJ, Reyniers B, Van Loo D, Van Gemert A, Verboven F, Van Gemert D (1999) The influence of cement characteristics on chemical shrinkage. In: Tazawa EI (ed) Proceeding of international workshop on autogenous shrinkage of concrete Autoshrink ‘98, Hiroshima, Japan. E&FN Spon, London, pp 71–80
Bentz DP, Lura P, Roberts JW (2005) Mixture proportioning for internal curing. Concr Int 27(2):35–40
Lam L, Wong YL, Poon CS (2000) Degree of hydration and gel/space ratio of high volume fly ash/cement systems. Cem Concr Res 30(5):747–756. doi:10.1016/S0008-8846(00)00213-1
Copeland LE, Bragg RH (1955) Self desiccation in Portland cement pastes. Res Lab Portland Cem Assoc Bull 52:1–11
Justnes H, Van Loo D, Reyniers B, Skalle P, Sveen J, Sellevold EJ (1995) Chemical shrinkage of oil well cement slurries. Adv Cem Res 7(26):85–90
Holt E (2001) Early age autogenous shrinkage of concrete. PhD Dissertation, University of Washington, United States
Baroghel-Bouny V, Mounanga P, Khelidj A, Loukili A, Rafaï N (2006) Autogenous deformations of cement pastes—Part II: W/C effects, micro–macro correlations and threshold values. Cem Concr Res 36(1):123–136. doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2004.10.020
Schindler AK, Folliard KJ (2005) Heat of hydration models for cementitious materials. ACI Mater J 102(1):24–33
Ballim Y, Graham PC (2009) The effects of supplementary cementing materials in modifying the heat of hydration of concrete. Mater Struct 42(6):803–811. doi:10.1617/s11527-008-9425-3
Mounanga P, Khokhar MIA, El Hachem R, Loukili A (2010) Improvement of the early-age reactivity of fly ash and blast furnace slag cementitious systems using limestone filler. Mater Struct (in press). doi:10.1617/s11527-010-9637-1
Bonavetti VL, Rahhal VF, Irassar EF (2001) Studies on the carboaluminate formation in limestone filler-blended cements. Cem Concr Res 31(6):853–859. doi:10.1016/S0958-9465(01)00056-7
Regourd M (1980) Structure and behavior of slag Portland cement hydrates. In: Proceedings of the 7th international congress on the chemistry of cement (7th ICCC), vol 1 III–2. Editions Septima, Paris, France, pp 10–26
Richardson IG, Groves GW (1992) Microstructure and microanalysis of hardened pastes involving ground granulated blast-furnace slag. J Mater Sci 27(22):6204–6212. doi:10.1007/BF01133772
Escalante-Garcia JI, Sharp JH (2001) The microstructure and mechanical properties of blended cements hydrated at various temperatures. Cem Concr Res 31(5):695–702. doi:10.1016/S0008-8846(01)00471-9
Bouasker M, Mounanga P, Turcry P, Loukili A, Khelidj A (2008) Chemical shrinkage of cement pastes and mortars at very early age: effect of limestone filler and granular inclusions. Cem Concr Compos 30(1):13–22. doi:10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2007.06.004
Cyr M, Lawrence P, Ringot E (2006) Efficiency of mineral admixtures in mortars: quantification of the physical and chemical effects of fine admixtures in relation with compressive strength. Cem Concr Res 36(2):264–277. doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2005.07.001
Lura P, van Breugel K, Maruyama I (2001) Effect of curing temperature and type of cement on early-age shrinkage of high-performance concrete. Cem Concr Res 31(12):1867–1872. doi:10.1016/S0008-8846(01)00601-9
Jiang Z, Sun Z, Wang P (2005) Autogenous relative humidity change and autogenous shrinkage of high performance cement pastes. Cem Concr Res 35(8):1539–1545. doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2004.06.028
Lee KM, Lee HK, Lee SH, Kim GY (2006) Autogenous shrinkage of concrete containing granulated blast-furnace slag. Cem Concr Res 36(7):1279–1285. doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2006.01.005
Hanehara S, Hirao H, Uchikawa H (1999) Relationship between autogenous shrinkage and the microstructure and humidity changes at inner part of hardened cement pastes at early ages. In: Tazawa EI (ed) Proceeding of international workshop on autogenous shrinkage of concrete Autoshrink ‘98, Hiroshima, Japan. E&FN Spon, London, pp 89–100
Radocea A (1998) Autogenous volume change of concrete at very early age. Mag Concr Res 50(2):107–113
Bisschop J, van Mier JGM (2002) Effect of aggregates on drying shrinkage microcracking in cement-based composites. Mater Struct 35(8):453–461. doi:10.1007/BF02483132
Lura P, Jensen OM, Weiss J (2009) Cracking in cement paste induced by autogenous shrinkage. Mater Struct 42(8):1089–1099. doi:10.1617/s11527-008-9445-z
Grassl P, Wong HS, Buenfeld NR (2010) Influence of aggregate size and volume fraction on shrinkage induced micro-cracking of concrete and mortar. Cem Concr Res 40(1):85–93. doi:10.1016/j.cemconres.2009.09.012
Belaribi N, Pons G, Perrin B (1997) Delayed behaviour of concrete: influence of additions and aggregate characteristics in relation to moisture variations. Cem Concr Res 27(9):1429–1438. doi:10.1016/S0008-8846(97)00125-7
Bisschop J, van Mier JGM (2002) How to study drying shrinkage microcracking in cement-based materials using optical and scanning electron microscopy. Cem Con Res 32(2):279–287. doi:10.1016/S0008-8846(01)00671-8
Elsharief A, Menashi D, Jan O (2003) Influence of aggregate size, water cement ratio and age on the microstructure of the interfacial transition zone. Cem Concr Res 33(11):1837–1849. doi:10.1016/S0008-8846(03)00205-9
Hossain AB (2003) Assessing residual stress development and stress relaxation in restrained concrete ring specimens. PhD Dissertation, University of Purdue, United States
Turcry P, Loukili A, Haidar K, Pijaudier-Cabot G, Belarbi A (2006) Cracking tendency of self-compacting concrete subjected to restrained shrinkage: experimental study and modelling. J Mater Civ Eng 18(1):46–54. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0899-1561(2006)18:1(46))
Altoubat SA, Lange DA (2001) Creep, shrinkage and cracking of restrained concrete at early-age. ACI Mater J 98(4):323–331
Van Breugel K, Lokhorst SJ (2001) Stress-based crack criterion as a basis for the prevention of through cracks in concrete structures at early-ages. In: Kovler K, Bentur A (eds) Proceedings of the international RILEM conference on early-age cracking in cementitious systems (EAC’01), Haïfa, Israël, pp 145–158
Ma X, Cao L, Hooton RD, Lam H, Niu C (2007) Time-dependent early-age behaviors of concrete under restrained condition. J Wuhan Univ Technol Mater 22(2):350–353. doi:10.1007/s11595-005-2350-1
Weiss WJ, Ferguson S (2001) Restrained shrinkage testing: the impact of specimen geometry on quality control testing for material performance assessment. In: Ulm FJ, Bažant ZP, Wittman FH (eds) Proceedings of the international conference on creep, shrinkage and durability mechanics of concrete and other quasi-brittle materials (Concreep 6), Cambridge, MA, United States. Elsevier, pp 645–651
Pijaudier-Cabot G, Mazars J (2001) Damage models for concrete. In: Lemaitre J (ed) Handbook of materials behavior—Chapter 6, vol 2. Academic Press, pp 542–548
Chariton T, Kim B, Weiss WJ (2002) Using passive acoustic energy to quantify cracking in volumetrically restrained cementitous systems. In: Smyth A (ed) Proceedings of the 15th ASCE engineering mechanics conference (EM2002), New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mounanga, P., Bouasker, M., Pertue, A. et al. Early-age autogenous cracking of cementitious matrices: physico-chemical analysis and micro/macro investigations. Mater Struct 44, 749–772 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-010-9663-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-010-9663-z