Development of a Novel Type of Liquid Accelerator Based on Aluminum Sulfate and Its Accelerating Mechanism for Cement Hydration
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 1
Abstract
A novel chlorine- and fluorine-free liquid accelerator was developed in this study. The proportion of each component of the accelerator was determined using an orthogonal test method. Various additives’ impact on the cement setting time and concrete compressive strength was analyzed. The mechanism of the accelerator on cement hydration was examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) experiments. The results showed that the optimal ratios for the raw materials were 45% aluminum sulfate, 15% sodium metaaluminate, 5% magnesium sulfate, 3% citric acid, 7% triethanolamine (TEA), and 1% polyacrylamide to make the liquid accelerator. At a concentration of 5% accelerator, the initial setting time of cement was 210 s and the final setting time was 380 s. The compressive strength of the concrete test block was 11.4 MPa after 1 day and it increased to 28.32 MPa after 28 days. This represents a 141.6% increase in compressive strength after 28 days. The addition of the accelerator consumes and promotes the formation of ettringite (AFt) and gypsum (Gyp), thus promoting cement hydration, reducing initial setting time, and densifying cement’s internal structure. The accelerator not only has low production cost and excellent quick-setting effect, but also can improve the strength of concrete, making it suitable for a wide range of applications.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12172085, and 11672066), and the project of China Railway No. 8 Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (HX20190719).
Author contributions: Dashuai Zhang: methodology, formal analysis, investigation, and writing-original draft. Xingli Zhang: make suggestions, and change the format. Haotian Tang: resources. Yuntian Bai: supervision. Zhi Jia: perform the experiments. Jing Guo: validation. Honghua Zhao: conceptualization, and project administration.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 1 • January 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Feb 1, 2023
Accepted: Jun 22, 2023
Published online: Oct 27, 2023
Published in print: Jan 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Mar 27, 2024
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