Investigation of Blended Cement Hydration in the Reactive Powder Concrete with Increasing Levels of Silica Fume Addition

Abstract

Hydration is a chemical reaction in which the major compounds in cement form chemical bonds with water molecules and become hydration products. By the process of hydration Portland cement mixed with sand, gravel and water produces the synthetic rock we call concrete. The Therefore, the concrete properties always accompanies with the hydration degree of cement. This paper presents some experimental test results on how silica fume affects the cement hydration in cement pastes of the Reactive Powder Concrete as increasing levels of silica fume addition with the content from 0% to 30% of cement mass. The hydration process of cement/silica fume paste was followed from the estimation of heat of hydration, rate of heat evolution, of binder pastes obtained by isothermal calorimetry (TAM-Air). In addition, the portlandite content, the hydration degree of pure cement, reaction degree of binder paste as well as reaction degree of silica fume were investigated. The quantitative assessment on these characteristics are due to the simulation of the hydration of Portland cement pastes containing silica fume.