Abstract
The influences of liquid-binder ratio and mixing sequence on the performance of superabsorbent polymer (SAP)-containing alkali-activated slag (AAS) mortar are investigated in this study. It is found that the SAP absorbs much less liquid in upper supernatant of AAS than in water. Mixing SAP with liquid first induces a larger absorption capacity of the SAP than mixing it with solid first. Increasing the liquid-binder ratio improves the flowability but reduces the strength of AAS mortar with SAP. Nonetheless, the strength of internally cured mixtures is higher than that of the reference even with an extra liquid-binder ratio of 0.09. The reason behind lies in the refinement of capillary and gel porosity by internal curing, despite the presence of large voids originated from SAP. The autogenous shrinkage of AAS paste is reduced significantly by the incorporation of SAP but the further mitigating effect of increased liquid-binder ratio is limited.
Highlights
In recent years, the growth of construction industries leads to a vigorous development of concrete manufacturing [1]
It can be seen that superabsorbent polymer (SAP) has a far higher absorption capacity in water, 160.7 g/g, compared with the absorption capacity of SAP in the supernatant of activated slag (AAS) paste, 30.8 g/g
The reason why the absorption capacity of SAP in the supernatant of AAS is only about 19.2% of that in tap water lies in the ions contained in the supernatant
Summary
The growth of construction industries leads to a vigorous development of concrete manufacturing [1]. Due to the low cost and stable performance, ordinary Portland cement (OPC) has become an indispensable construction material [2]. The high consumptions of cement bring a severely negative impact on the environment [3,4]. To release the pressure of environmental pollution, alkali-activated materials (AAMs) have gradually attracted more attention in the favor of low CO2 emission compared with OPC. AAMs could present superior mechanical properties, desirable workability and satisfactory durability [5,6,7,8]. The practical application of AAMs is still limited, one reason for which lies in their large shrinkage that may induce micro or macro cracking [9,10,11,12]
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