The role of calcium on the formation of alkali-silica reaction products
In a recently published study, thermodynamic data for synthesised ASR products (i.e., K-shlykovite, Na-shlykovite and ASR-P1) at 80 °C are determined.
The effect of the initial Ca/Si ratio, from 0 to 0.5, on the formation of ASR products at 80 °C is investigated for the samples prepared with an initially fixed K/Si or Na/Si ratio of 0.5. The results show that the amount of ASR products formed first increases and then decreases with increasing the initial Ca/Si ratio.
Conversion of ASR products to C-S-H
The reduced amount of ASR products at higher Ca/Si ratio is accompanied by formation of C-S-H, suggesting that a conversion of ASR products to C-S-H can occur at high Ca/Si ratio. The solid phases and aqueous chemistry predicted by thermodynamic modelling agrees very well with the experimental results.
The study is published in: Cement and Concrete Research Volume 126, December 2019, 105898.
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