Effect of the entrained air void on strength and interfacial transition zone of air-entrained mortar

Abstract

In order to facilitate the development and application of air entraining agents (AEA) in the high performance concrete, entrained air void structure parameters (air void size range from 10 to 1 600 μm) of 28 d sifted mortar were measured by image analysis method. The relationship between the air void size distribution and strength of mortar was studied by methods of grey connection analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. The multiple linear regression equation was established with a correlation coefficient of 0.966. The weight of the affection of hierarchical porosity on the compressive strength ratio was also obtained. In addition, the effect of air voids on the paste-aggregate interfacial transition zone (ITZ) was analyzed by microhardness. The results show that the correlation between different pore size range and the compressive strength is negative. The effect of air void size distribution on 28 days compressive strength is different: under the condition of similar total porosity, with the increase of the porosity of the air void size, ranging from 10 to 200 μm, and the decrease of the porosity, ranging from 200 to 1 600 μm, the average air void diameter and mean free spacing are decreased; as well as the width of ITZ. On the contrary, the microhardness of the ITZ is increased while the compressive strength loss is decreased.