Role of Siliceous Raw Materials on the Structure of Nano-CSH and Their Effect on the Properties of Cement
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 12
Abstract
Synthetic nano-calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) is widely known for its ability to act as crystal nuclei in ordinary portland cement. Material performance is largely influenced by its microstructure. Here, nano-CSH was prepared by different siliceous raw materials ( or ). It was found that nano-CSH can be obtained from or in the presence of and NaOH solution and were labeled as CSH-0 and CSH-5, respectively. The average particle size of CSH-0 and CSH-5 was about 80 nm, and the polymerization degrees of silicon and oxygen atoms in CSH-0 and CSH-5 were different. CSH-0 and CSH-5 can increase the rate of hydration and significantly enhance the early strength of portland cement. Further, CSH-0 and CSH-5 can provide nucleation sites for CSH hydration product; however, CSH-0 and CSH-5 can also react with the calcium ions in the cement paste and produce calcium silicate hydrate with a high Ca/Si ratio. Compared with CSH-5, CSH-0 with a lower Ca/Si ratio can consume more calcium ions in the cement paste. CSH-0 promoted cement hydration better, decreased the volume fractions of macropores, and increased compressive strength more significantly due to the synergistic effect of the nanocrystal nucleus and reactivity with calcium ions in solution.
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Data Availability Statement
The published article contains all of the data, models, and code developed or used during the study.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Science and Technology Project of Henan Province (232102320188), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52208243), the Fund for the Innovative Research Team of Henan Polytechnic University in 2023 (T2023-5), and the Henan Outstanding Foreign Scientists’ Workroom (GZS2021003) for financial support.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 12 • December 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 24, 2022
Accepted: Apr 26, 2023
Published online: Sep 23, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Feb 23, 2024
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