Shrinkage Characteristics of Alkali-Activated High-Volume Fly-Ash Pastes Incorporating Silica Fume
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32, Issue 10
Abstract
The alkali-activation of high-volume fly ash (HVFA) produces a low-carbon sustainable cementitious binder with remarkable strength and chemical durability at room temperature. In this work, the influence of activator type (i.e., deionized water, NaOH, , solutions), silica fume incorporation, and curing duration on the phase assemblage and strength and shrinkage developments of HVFA is studied. The results show that -activated HVFA shows the highest strength achievement, followed by , NaOH, and water. Alkali incorporation in HVFA considerably increases the shrinkage magnitude and is mainly attributed to the detrimental effect of alkalis on the viscoelasticity and stiffness of cementitious solids. The HVFA activated by the NaOH solution shows the largest shrinkage, followed by and solutions, despite comparable moisture loss. The curing duration does not significantly affect the shrinkage development of alkali-activated HVFA without silica fume. However, with silica fume incorporation, extending curing duration considerably reduces the shrinkage of alkali-activated HVFA. The phase and molecular analysis suggest that silica fume noticeably retards the reaction of HVFA systems but tends to increase the level of silica polymerization in gel products, regardless of activator type.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The items include the raw datasets of XRD and FTIR spectra and TG/DTG curves.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51808475) and Guangdong Natural Science Fund (Grant No. 1146). Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32 • Issue 10 • October 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 25, 2019
Accepted: Mar 26, 2020
Published online: Jul 31, 2020
Published in print: Oct 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Dec 31, 2020
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