In-situ XRD study of the temperature-dependent early hydration of calcium aluminate cement in a mix with calcite

Abstract

In the present work the hydration of white CAC, inert alumina-filler and CaCO3 was investigated at different temperatures with in-situ XRD. Experiments were performed at 10 °C, 23 °C, 40 °C and 60 °C. Overcoming or mitigating the phenomena of calcium aluminate hydrate conversion by adding reactive additives to calcium aluminate cement is often described in literature. When a sufficient amount of calcite is added, carbonate-AFm (monocarbonate and hemicarbonate) is expected to be the dominant hydrate phase. Calcite however, acts as an inert filler and barely influences the calcium aluminate hydration products at 10 °C. With rising temperature monocarbonate contents increase as well as the reaction rate of cement phases. At 60 °C minor amounts of C3AH6 precipitate during the early hydration. Special attention is given to the role of CAH10 and C2AHx during hydration. While CAH10 is dominant at 10 °C, C2AHx precipitates in a temperature range between 23 and 60 °C as a precursor phase for carbonate-AFm phases. These are not found at 10 °C, which is probably due to the lack of the precursor phase (C2AHx). The hydration of the mix at 10 °C with an initial addition of C2AHx shows that carbonate-AFm-phases can be precipitated in addition to CAH10 during the first 96 h.