Effect of types of curing environments on the self-healing capacity of mortars incorporating crystalline admixture

Abstract

The presence of microcracks can lead to a reduction in the durability of concrete structures. In recent years, crystalline admixture has been used to repair microcracks in concrete. In this study, the effect of different amounts of crystalline admixture on the performance of mortar was firstly determined. In order to reveal the purpose of this study, a mortar with 4% crystalline admixture has been healed under three types curing environments (standard curing, water immersion, and saturated calcium hydroxide solution). The self-healing effect of the specimens was characterized macroscopically by water absorption tests and visualized crack images after repair. The type of crack filler was determined by microscopic analysis experiments XRD and SEM-EDX. The experimental results show that, firstly, the self-healing effect of mortar with crystalline admixture is limited by standard curing environments. Secondly, water immersion environment plays a weak role in promoting crack healing of mortars without crystalline admixture, and the addition of crystalline admixture leads to self-healing of the mortar due to a large amount of production of hydrated calcium silicate. Finally, the saturated calcium hydroxide solution has a beneficial effect on the self-healing of cracks in mortars without crystalline admixture due to the precipitation of calcium hydroxide from the healing solution. After the addition of crystalline admixture to the mortar, calcium ions and water promote the generation of calcium silicate hydrate, and the precipitation of calcium hydroxide acts together to fill the crack, resulting in the crack being completely healed.