Internal curing by superabsorbent polymers in alkali-activated slag

Journal article (2020)

Authors

Z. Li Materials and Environment - CEG
Mateusz Wyrzykowski Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa)
H. Dong Materials and Environment - CEG
José Granja University of Minho
Miguel Azenha University of Minho
Pietro Lura ETH Zürich, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa)
G. (Guang) Ye Materials and Environment - CEG , Universiteit Gent
Research Group
Materials and Environment (CEG) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2020 Z. Li, Mateusz Wyrzykowski, H. Dong, José Granja, Miguel Azenha, Pietro Lura, G. Ye
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2020.106123
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Published Date

2020

Language

English

Faculty

Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Department

Materials- Mechanics- Management & Design

Research Group

Materials and Environment

Abstract

In this study, internal curing by superabsorbent polymers (SAP) is utilized to mitigate self-desiccation and autogenous shrinkage of alkali-activated slag (AAS) pastes. Absorption and desorption kinetics of SAP incorporated in AAS pastes were studied with X-ray tomography. Internal curing delayed the peak of the rate of heat liberation but increased the total reaction degree of AAS pastes. Internal curing by SAP mitigated effectively the drop of internal relative humidity and the self-desiccation-induced autogenous shrinkage of AAS pastes. The cracking tendency of AAS pastes undergoing shrinkage in restrained conditions was also significantly reduced with SAP. Nonetheless, adding SAP, regardless of their content, cannot eliminate the autogenous shrinkage of AAS pastes, suggesting the existence of other autogenous shrinkage mechanism(s) besides self-desiccation.