• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.289-301
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• 2017

The synergistic interactions of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with ordinary portland cement (OPC) in multi-blended systems could enhance the mechanical and durability properties of concrete and increase the amount of cement that can be replaced. In this study, the characteristics of the hydration products as well as paste microstructure of blended cement containing 20% coal fly ash, 10% rice hull ash and 10% sugar mill lime sludge in quaternary blended system was investigated. Portlandite content, hydration products, compressive strength, pore size distribution and microstructural architecture of hydrated blended cement pastes were examined. The quaternary blended cement paste showed lower compressive strength, reduced amount of Portlandite phases, and higher porosity compared to plain hardened cement paste. The interaction of SCMs with OPC influenced the hydration products, resulting to the formation of ettringite and monocarboaluminate phases. The blended cement paste also showed extensive calcium silicate hydrates and calcium aluminate silicate hydrates but unrefined compared to plain cement paste. In overall, the expected synergistic reaction was significantly hindered due to the low quality of supplementary cementitious materials used. Hence, pre-treatments of SCMs must be considered to enhance their reactivity as good quality SCMs can become limited in the future.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.751-764
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• 2020

Real-time monitoring of stiffness and strength in cement based system has received significant attention in past few decades owing to the development of advanced techniques. Also, use of environment friendly supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) in cement, though gaining huge interest, severely affect the strength gain especially in early ages. Continuous monitoring of strength- and stiffness- gain using an efficient technique will systematically facilitate to choose the suitable time of removal of formwork for structures made with SCM incorporated concrete. This paper presents a technique for monitoring the strength and stiffness evolution in hydrating fly ash blended cement systems using electro-mechanical impedance (EMI) based technique. It is important to observe that the slower pozzolanic reactivity of fly ash blended cement systems could be effectively tracked using the evolution of equivalent local stiffness of the hydrating medium. Strength prediction models are proposed for estimating the strength and stiffness of the fly ash cement system, where curing age (in terms of hours/days) and the percentage replacement of cement by fly ash are the parameters. Evaluation of strength as obtained from EMI characteristics is validated with the results from destructive compression test and also compared with the same obtained from commonly used ultrasonic wave velocity (UPV). Statistical error indices indicate that the EMI technique is capable of predicting the strength of fly ash blended cement system more accurate than that from UPV. Further, the correlations between stiffness- and strength- gain over the time of hydration are also established. From the study, it is found that EMI based method can be effectively used for monitoring of strength gain in the fly ash incorporated cement system during hardening.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.31-32
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• 2011

Granulated slag from metal industries and fly ash from the combustion of coal are industrial by-products that have been widely used as mineral admixtures in normal and high strength concrete. Due to the reaction between calcium hydroxide and fly ash or slag, the hydration of concrete containing fly ash or slag is much more complex compared with that of Portland cement. In this paper, the production of calcium hydroxide in cement hydration and its consumption in the reaction of mineral admixtures is considered in order to develop a numerical model that simulates the hydration of concrete containing fly ash or slag. The heat evolution rates of fly ash- or slag-blended concrete is determined by the contribution of both cement hydration and the reaction of the mineral admixtures. Furthermore, the temperature distribution and temperature history in hardening blended concrete are evaluated based on the degree of hydration of the cement and the mineral admixtures. The proposed model is verified through experimental data on concrete with different water-to-cement ratios and mineral admixture substitution ratios.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.286-290
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• 2000

The hydration behavior of fly ash and slag on cement paste were investigated. Early stage of hydration reaction was delayed by mixing fly ash and/or slag with cement, but production of C-S-H hydrates by pozzolanic reaction densified the microstructure. The Ca/Si ratio of C-S-H hydrates in OPC and blended cement of fly ash 50%, slag 50%, fly ash+slag 50% were 2.24, 1.80, 1.82 and 1.97, respectively. The C-S-H gel with low Ca/Si ratio showed rather reticulate than needle-like structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2015.05a
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• pp.48-49
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• 2015

High-calcium fly ash (FH) is widely used as mineral admixtures in concrete industry. In this paper, a hydration model is proposed to describe the hydration of high-calcium fly ash blended-cement. This model takes into account the hydration reaction of cement, the chemical reaction of fly ash, and reaction of free CaO in fly ash. Using the proposed model, the development of compressive strength of FH blended concrete is predicted using the amount of calcium silicate hydrate (CSH). The agreement between simulation and experimental results proves that the new model is quite effective.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.75-88
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• 2008

This paper presents a mathematical model for strength and porosity of mortars made with ternary blends of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), ground rice husk ash (RHA) and classified fly ash (FA). The mortar mixtures were made with Portland cement Type I containing 0-40% FA and RHA. FA and RHA with 1-3% by weight retained on a sieve No. 325 were used. Compressive strength and porosity of the blended cement mortar at the age of 7, 28 and 90 days were determined. The use of ternary blended cements of RHA and FA produced mixes with good strength and low porosity of mortar. A mathematical analysis and two-parameter polynomial model were presented for the strength and porosity estimation with FA and RHA contents as parameters. The computer graphics of strength and porosity of the ternary blend were also constructed to aid the understanding and the proportioning of the blended system.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.51-54
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• 2010

Fly ash is used in concrete to improve the fresh and hardened properties of concrete, including workability, initial hydration temperature, ultimate strength and durability. A primary limitation on the use of large quantities of fly ash in blended cement concrete is its slow rate of strength gain. Prior studies investigated the effects of grinding fly ash and fly ash fineness on the performance of concrete containing fly ash. This study aims to discover the sources of those effects, to verify the compressive strength behavior of concrete made with raw and processed Class C fly ash, and to investigate the properties of fly ash particles at the microscopic level. Concrete cylinder test results indicate that grinding fly ash can significantly benefit the early age strength as well as the ultimate strength of concrete with ground fly ash. Therefore, it is demonstrated that grinding fly ash increases its reactivity. Scanning Electron Microscopy was then used to investigate the physical effects of the grinding process on the fly ash particles in order to identify the mechanism by which grinding leads to improved concrete properties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.125-126
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• 2021

Fly ash, has been widely used as one of the main supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in the world, to replace part of cement to significantly save energy and reduce greenhouse emission. Via mechanical activation, fly ash can replace more cement without impairing early age compressive strength. This study focuses on the strength-based evaluation of carbon dioxide emission for blended cement composite containing mechanically activated fly ash. Results indicate that under similar compressive strength, a prominent drop has been witnessed in embodied energy of binary cement and CO2 emission of the composite containing mechanically activated fly ash compared with those containing ordinary fly ash.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.183-192
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• 2021

Due to economic and environmental benefits, increasing the substitution ratio of ordinary cement by industry by-products like fly ash (FA) is one of the best approaches to reduce the impact of the concrete industry on the environment. However, as the substitution rate of FA increases, it will have an adverse impact on the performance of cement-based materials, so the actual substitution rate of FA is limited to around 10-30%. Therefore, in order to increase the early-age strength of high replacement (30-70%) low-calcium ultrafine FA blended cement paste, sodium sulfate and calcium sulfate dihydrate were used to improve the reactivity of FA. The results show that sodium sulfate has a significant enhancement effect on the strength of the composite pastes in the early and late ages, while calcium sulfate dihydrate has only a slight effect in the late ages. The addition of sodium sulfate in the cement-FA blended system can enhance the gain rate of non-evaporation water, and can decrease the Ca(OH)2 content. In addition, when the sulfate chemical activators are added, the ettringite content increases, and the surface of the FA is dissolved and hydrated.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1227-1232
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• 1998

In order to prohibit the delay of early stage hydration activator Na2SO4 was added to Fly Ash blended ce-ment and its effects were investigated. Various measurements such as Compressive strength Heat of hy-dration Pore size distribution Hydration products Microstructure were evaluated and the results show that specimens of Fly Ash(50wt%) with 5% Na2SO4 dramatically improved the compressive strength because pozzolanic reaction of Fly Ash and the formation of ettringite make th microstructure denser than OPC and flyash cement paste.