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Purdocement: application of alkali-activated slag cement in Belgium in the 1950s

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Abstract

Nowadays, alkali-activated cements attract worldwide attention because their production is associated with much lower CO2 emissions compared to that of Portland cement (PC). However, little information can be found on the strength and durability behavior of concrete made with alkali-activated cement. This is rather surprising since alkali-activated cement has already been used in the past. For example, Purdocement, an alkali-activated cement invented by Arthur Oscar Purdon, has been used in Belgium in the 1950s. This paper presents (1) a historical review of Purdocement, (2) an inventory of the buildings in which this cement type was used and (3) a durability assessment of the still existing buildings. A lot of structures could be located, but only one of them was found suitable for sampling. The use of alkali-activated slag binder in these buildings has been confirmed by chemical analyses (XRD, ICP-OES, NMR, SEM–EDX) and the strength and durability behavior in the long-term was evaluated. The results showed that concrete made with Purdocement is quite vulnerable to carbonation, but the residual mechanical strength (~50 N/mm2) is still high after ~60 years.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Steffen Schiecke (IAB Weimar/Germany) for the electron microscopy. Furthermore, we are grateful to Peter Browaeys (ASTRAZENECA) for the permission to extract concrete samples (Factory ‘Delle’) and to the committee members of ‘The Royal Building’, in particular Ralph Timberlake, to provide a lot of information. We would also like to thank Jos Cransveld (Eurofors, ASCEM), Prof. Egid Niel (PBI; ASCEM) en G. Raymond (PBI) who carried out early investigations and held the interview with Madame Purdon as well as kept the information long enough to make this work possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ASCEM B.V., Holleweg 19, 6191 RA, Beek, The Netherlands

    Anja Buchwald

  2. Magnel Laboratory for Concrete Research, Department of Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ghent University, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 904, 9052, Ghent, Belgium

    Maarten Vanooteghem, Elke Gruyaert & Nele De Belie

  3. Centre for Building Materials at TU München (cbm), Baumbachstrasse 7, 81245, Munich, Germany

    Harald Hilbig

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  1. Anja Buchwald
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  2. Maarten Vanooteghem
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  3. Elke Gruyaert
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  4. Harald Hilbig
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  5. Nele De Belie
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Correspondence to Nele De Belie.

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Buchwald, A., Vanooteghem, M., Gruyaert, E. et al. Purdocement: application of alkali-activated slag cement in Belgium in the 1950s. Mater Struct 48, 501–511 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0200-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0200-8

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