Construction and Building Materials 26 (2012) 310316

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Construction and Building Materials

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Physico-chemical and mechanical characteristics of pozzolanic cement pastes and mortars hydrated at different curing temperatures
M.A. Abd-El.Aziz a, S. Abd.El.Aleem b, Mohamed Heikal c,
a

Faculty of Engineering, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt c Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha, Egypt
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
The effect of elevated curing temperature on the properties of cement mortars is vital for heat resistance. Addition of pozzolanas, such as slag, to type I cement is known to increase heat resistance. In this study, OPC was partially substituted by two types of slag (WCS and ACS) in the ratios of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt.%. The cement mortars were cured for 120 days at different curing temperature from 25 to 100 C. The results show that, elevated curing temperatures improves the early age strength in the all cement mortars. Also, the results indicated that, the pozzolanic cement mortars gives higher compressive strength than the plain cement mortars, especially at curing temperatures above 35 C. Therefore, slag pozzolanic cement mortars can be benecially used in the hot conditions. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 9 December 2010 Received in revised form 29 May 2011 Accepted 18 June 2011 Available online 19 July 2011 Keywords: Physico-chemical and mechanical characteristics Slag Pozzolanic cement and curing temperature

1. Introduction Ground granulated blast-furnace slag is a by-product of the manufacturing of iron in a blast-furnace where iron ore, limestone and coke are heated up to 1500 C. When these materials melt in the blast-furnace, two products are produced molten iron, and molten slag. The molten slag is lighter and oats on the top of the molten iron. The molten slag comprises mostly silicates and alumina from the original iron ore, combined with some oxides from the limestone. The process of granulating the slag involves cooling the molten slag through high-pressure water jets. This rapidly quenches the slag and forms granular particles generally no larger that 5 mm in diameter. The rapid cooling prevents the formation of larger crystals, and the resulting granular material comprises some 95% non-crystalline calcium-aluminosilicates [1]. The granulated slag is further processed by drying and then ground to a very ne powder, which is WCS (ground granulated-blast furnace slag). Different forms of slag product are produced depending on the method used to cool the molten slag. These products include air-cooled blast-furnace slag (ACS), expanded or foamed slag, palletized slag, and granulated blast furnace slag. The chemical composition of slag can vary over a wide range depending on the nature of the ore, the composition of the limestone ux coke consumption and the type of iron being made [2]. The granulated slag has been used as a pozzolanic admixture in Portland cement [3].

Corresponding auther. Tel./fax: +20 133222578.

E-mail address: ayaheikal@hotmail.com (M. Heikal). 0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.06.026

The major components of slag are SiO2, Al2O3, CaO and MgO which are common components in commercial silicate glasses. Cement containing water-cooled slag (WCS) has long been used in Egypt. Alternatively, many other unexploited slag by-products, such as air-cooled blast furnace slag and steel-making slag are available. The feasibility of utilizing these types of slags has been ignored, due to the judgment that air-cooled slag (ACS) is hydraulically unreactive. Consequently, little of these materials are used, or their use is limited to low valuable applications. Although, the reactivity of ACS is lower than WCS at room temperature, it is still can be exploited as a hydraulic material. Even, if these slags still cannot fulll the requirements of the standard specications for blended cements, their hydraulic activities can be exploited in building materials, such as autoclaved building materials or bricks [4]. The latter may be an economical alternative for developing countries, since little technology is required. There are little researches based on the utilization of ACS in cements. The electrical conductivity is a useful technique to study the change in the phase composition at different temperatures during the setting and hardening of calcium aluminate cement (CAC), the variations of electrical conductivity with the hydration time were measured at 20, 40 and 60 C, as well as reecting the role of ACS and WCS, preventing the conversion reaction occurring during the CAC hydration. Air-cooled slag (ACS) and water-cooled slag (WCS) restricted the conversion reactions by the preferential formation of C2ASH8 (stratlingite) compared to that of C3AH6 [57]. The compressive strength increases in the presence of slag WCS or ACS is due to the formation of stratlingite. Stratlingite is a stable crystalline phase in the temperature up to 70 C [5]. In this system,

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ACS has a hydraulic activity nearly the same as that of WCS. At high temperatures, 40 and 60 C, it gives higher strength than that with WCS [5]. Concrete made of slag has many advantages, including improved durability, workability and economic benets [8]. The drawback in the use of slag concrete is that the strength development is considerably slower under standard curing temperature (20 C) than that of Portland cement concrete, although the ultimate strength is higher for the same waterbinder ratio [9]. Addition of ne, divided pozzolanic material, such as silica fume, red clay, homra, y ash, diatomaceous earth, and slag, to Portland cement is known to increase its heat resistance by combining with the lime liberated during the hydration of cement components. This pozzolanic reaction improves the microstructure of cement mortars due to, the formation of additional amounts of calcium silicate and calcium aluminosilicate hydrates. Great interests of research have been focused on the utilization of water cooled slag (WCS) and air cooled slag (ACS), as a cement replacement material, to improve the various hardened properties of concrete [10]. The use of ACS in concrete industry is minimal worldwide and hence it has low value applications. Hydration of slag is much more sensitive to temperature than Portland cement and there is evidence that at higher early age temperature, the strength development of slag concrete is signicantly enhanced [11]. This increased temperature sensitivity of the strength gain slag mortars is reected in their higher apparent activation energies [12]. Effect of curing temperature on blended and Portland cement cured at 10, 20, 40 and 60 C for up to 540 days [13,14]. The present investigation aims to study the physico-mechanical and chemical properties of pozzolanic cement pastes and mortars containing different percentages of the two types of slags (WCS and ACS) at different curing temperatures in the range of 25 100 C.
2. Experimental techniques The starting materials used in this work were Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), obtained from Beni-Swif Portland Cement Company and two types of blast-furnace slags (WCS and ACS) from Iron and Steel Company, Helwan, Egypt. The chemical analysis of starting materials was given in Table 1. The Blaine surface area of OPC was 3000 50 cm2/g. The two of slags were ground in a laboratory ball mill to the surface area 4000 50 cm2/g. The materials used were dried in an electric dryer at 110 C for 24 h to remove the moisture. The crystal structures of the two slags (WCS and ACS) were identied, by means of XRD approach. The diffraction patterns were shown in Fig. 1. XRD pattern of air-cooled slag reveals the presence of gehlenite (C2AS) and quartz. The quartz may be contaminated during the cooling process of molten slag, the water cooled slag shows a hump existing between 20 and 35 indicating the presence of amorphous glassy phases. The mix compositions were prepared as shown in Table 2. The ingredients of each mix were blended in a porcelain ball mill for 1 h using a mechanical roller mill to ensure complete homogeneity. The hydration was conducted on pastes using the required water of standard consistency according to ASTM specications [15]. The compressive and exural strengths were measured on cement mortars according to ASTM specications [16]. The mortars were prepared by mixing 1 part of cement and 2.75 parts of standard sand proportion by weighing with water content sufcient to obtain a ow of 110 5 with 25 drops of the owing table [17]. The compression and exural tests were performed using 50 mm cubes and 40 40 160 mm prisms respectively. Table 1 Chemical analysis of OPC, WCS and ACS. Oxides SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO SO3 Na2O + K2O L.O.I OPC 20.50 5.50 2.89 62.00 2.07 2.42 0.52 1.03 WCS 44.07 13.46 1.69 36.53 0.38 2.13 0.73 0.31 ACS 40.24 5.56 2.43 44.36 4.15 1.59 0.46 0.52

Fig. 1. XRD patterns of WCS and ACS.

Table 2 Mix compositions of the investigated pozzolanic mixes, mass%. Mix. No. M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 OPC 100 90 80 70 60 50 90 80 70 60 50 WCS 10 20 30 40 50 ACS 10 20 30 40 50

The specimens were cured in a humidity chamber at 23 1 C for 24 h, then demolded and transferred to water tanks curing at different temperature between 25 and 100 C. The hydration of cement pastes were stopped by pulverizing 10 g of representative sample in a beaker containing methanolacetone mixture (1:1), then mechanically stirred for 1 h. The mixture was ltered through a gooch crucible, G4 and washed several times with the stopping solution then with ether. The solid was dried at 70 C for 1-h complete evaporation of alcohol then collected in polyethylene bags; sealed and stored in desiccators for analysis [17]. The combined water content (Wn) considered as the percent of ignition loss of the dried samples (on the ignited weight basis). Approximately 2 g of the predried sample were gradually ignited up to 800 C for 1 h soaking time. The results of combined water were corrected form the water of free lime present in each sample [17]. The free water content (We, %) was calculated as: We, % = (WtWn), %. The total pore volume is calculated as 0.99 We%. The free lime content of cement paste can be thermally determined. 0.5 g of the hardened cement was placed in a porcelain crucible and introduced into a cold mufe furnace. The temperature was increased up to 390 then to 550 C at heating rate of 3 C/min. The loss of weight occurred between 390 and 550 C with soaking time of 15 min is equal to the weight of water of calcium hydroxide. Therefore, the free lime can be calculated [18]. Free slag content determined according to the methods reported in earlier publication [19]. One gram sample is treated with 5 g salicylic acid, 70 ml acetone and 30 ml methanol. After the mixture has been stirred (1 h, magnetic stirrer), the resulting solution is stored for 24 h in an airtight container. The solution is then ltered on a G4 glass lter and the lter residue is washed with 200 ml methanol. The residue obtained is dried at 45 C for 24 h, and then heated at 800 C for 20 min in an electrical furnace. These burning conditions are selected so that oxidation of slag constituents is largely avoided. The residue from the solution is weighed after the crucible has been cooled in desiccator. Corrections were made for neat slag and neat OPC and the loss of ignition of pozzolanic cement at 800 C [20].

3. Results and discussion 3.1. Effect of mix composition The degree of hydration of the hardened cement pastes can be measured by the determination of free lime, combined water and combined slag contents with curing time. The free lime, chemically

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combined water, and combined slag contents of the hydrated OPC pastes made with either WCS or ACS at 25 C as a function of curing time and slag content are graphically represented in Figs. 24, respectively. It can be seen that, the free lime content increases with curing time for OPC pastes for all curing times (Fig. 2). This is mainly due to the continuous hydration of the main cement clinker phases (b-C2S and C3S) liberating free lime (Ca(OH)2), whereas, free lime contents of pozzolanic cement pastes containing different amounts of WCS or ACS, decreases with curing time, due to the pozzolanic reaction of slag with the librated lime produced from the hydration of Portland cement clinker phases (b-C2S and C3S) to produce additional amounts of calcium silicate (CSH) and calcium aluminate (CAH) hydrates, these hydrates precipitated in the available pore system. As the contents of WCS or ACS increase the free lime contents decrease at all curing ages up to 120 days. It was shown also, the values of free lime contents of OPCWCS pastes are lower than those of OPCACS at all ages of hydration. This is due to that hydraulic pozzolanic activity of WCS than ACS. Fig. 3 represents the chemically combined water contents as a function of curing time and mix composition at constant curing temperature (25 C). The results show that, the chemically

combined water content increases with curing time for all hydrated cement pastes due to the continuous hydration of cement clinker phases (b-C2S and C3S) as well as the pozzolanic reaction of different types of slags (OPC or WCS) with the liberated lime to form an additional amounts of calcium silicate and calcium aluminosilicate hydrates. At all ages of hydration, the chemically combined water contents of OPCWCS pastes were higher than those of OPCACS. This is may be due to the higher pozzolanic activity of WCS than that of ACS. At 3 days, the chemically combined water content increases with the increase of the slag replacement up to 30 mass%, then the chemically combined water content decreases up to 50 mass%. The replacement of 30% slag, shows the higher values of chemically combined water contents. At 40% and 50% slag replacement levels, the chemically combined water contents were lower valued when compared with the corresponding values of the other mix containing 30 mass% of slag. The decrease of the rate of the slag hydration at early ages is due to the sluggish rate of reaction [21]. The decrease in the chemically combined water contents is due to the lack of clinker content as well as the weakness of the interaction of different slag types at early ages [22]. On the other side, as the

14 12

3 Days 7 Days 14 Days

14 12

Free lime contents, %

10 8 6 4 2 0 0 20 40

90 Days 120 Days

Free lime contents, %

28 Days

10 8 6 4 2 0

60

20

40

60

WCS contents, %

ACS contents, %

Fig. 2. Free lime contents of pozzolanic cement pastes containing different amounts of WCS or ACS cured at 25 C.

Chemically combined water contents, %

20

Chemically combined water contents, %

20

18

18

16

16

14

3 Days 7 Days 14 Days 28 Days 90 Days 120 Days

14

12

12

10 0 20 40 60

10 0 20 40 60

WCS contents, %

ACS contents, %

Fig. 3. Chemically combined water of pozzolanic cement pastes containing WCS and ACS cured at 25 C.

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100

3 Days 7 Days

100

Combined slag contents, %

80

Combined slag contents, %

14 Days 28 Days 90 Days

80

60

120 Days

60

40

40

20

20

0 0 20 40 60

0 0 20 40 60

WCS contents, %

ACS contents, %

Fig. 4. Combined slag contents of pozzolanic cement pastes containing WCS and ACS cured at 25 C.

slag content increases the chemically combined water enhances at later ages up to 120 days. In addition, cement pastes containing 4050% slag give a higher amount of chemically combined water than the plain cement paste. These results indicate that the slag content plays an important role in the hydration of the cement paste at later ages. The chemically combined water contents of OPCWCS pastes are higher than those of OPCACS at all ages of
20

hydration as shown in Fig. 3. This is due to the higher hydraulic pozzolanic activity as well as the higher vitreous fraction of WCS than ACS. Fig. 4 shows the variations of combined slag contents of pozzolanic cement pastes containing WCS and ACS cured at 25 C as a function of slag content and curing time. The results indicate that, the combined slag content increases with curing time for all
90

(A)
10
OPC OPC + 30% WCS OPC + 30% ACS

combined slag contents, %

Free lime contents, %

60

(B)
OPC + 30% WCS OPC + 30% ACS

0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

30
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Curing Temperature, C

Curing Temperature, C

Chemically combined water contents, %

22

16

(D)
OPC OPC + 30% WCS OPC + 30% ACS

20

Total pore volume, %

14

18

12

16

(C)
OPC OPC+ 30% WCS OPC + 30% ACS

14

10

12 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

8
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Curing Temperature, C

Curing Temperature, C

Fig. 5. Free lime, combined slag contents, chemically combined water, and total pore volume of plain OPC and pozzolanic cement pastes containing 30 mass% of WCS or ACS and cured for 28 days as a function of curing temperature.

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hydrated pozzolanic cement pastes. This is mainly due to the pozzolanic reaction with the liberated lime leading to more consumption of free slag to produce CSH and CAH hydration products to increase the chemically combined water contents as given in Fig. 3. At early age (3 days), the combined slag content increases up to 30 mass%, then decreases up to 50 mass%. Whereas, the combined slag content shows a decrease in the slag contents increase from 10 to 50 mass% 7 days up to 90 days. The replacement of OPC with either WCS or ACS up to 30% with increases the values of the combined slag contents at 120 days compared with the corresponding OPCslag mixes containing 40 and 50 mass% slag. This is attributed to the reduction of the alkaline environment provided by the hydration of cement clinker phases leading to lower activation and lower consumption of slag [23]. At 120 days, it has shown that the combined slag content of pozzolanic cement pastes increases as the slag content increases from 10 to 30 mass% for WCS. On the other hand the combined slag content of pozzolanic cement pastes containing ACS decreases with the slag contents up to 50 mass%. The results also showed that, the combined free slag contents of OPCWCS mixes are higher than the corresponding amounts in OPCACS mixes. This is due to the difference between WCS and ACS in the crystalline structure and pozzolanic hydraulic activity. 3.2. Effect of curing temperature The effect of curing temperature on the physico-chemical and mechanical properties of OPCslag mixes was studied by determination of free lime, combined slag, chemically combined water, total pore volume, compressive strength and exural strength. The free lime contents of the hydrated plain OPC and pozzolanic cement pastes containing 30 mass% of WCS or ACS cured for

28 days as a function of curing temperature are shown in Fig. 5 A. It can be seen that, the free lime contents of OPC pastes increase with curing temperature. This may be due to the increased rate of hydration with temperature, particularly at early ages. Whereas the free lime content of pozzolanic cement pastes containing either WCS or ACS decreases with increase of curing temperatures. This is due to the enhancement of the pozzolanic reaction of slag as the curing temperatures increase. Also, the free lime contents of OPCWCS mixes are lower than the corresponding values of OPCACS mixes at all curing temperature. This is due to the higher reactivity of WCS than ACS at different curing temperatures. The values of combined slag of pozzolanic cement pastes cured for 28 days are graphically represented as a function of curing temperature in Fig. 5 B. The combined slag contents of all pozzolanic cement pastes increase with curing temperature. This is due to the increase of the reactivity of slag with the temperature, thus lead to increase the consumption of slag during pozzolanic reaction with the liberated lime from the hydration of OPC phases to produce additional hydration products, hence the free lime decrease as shown in Fig. 5 A. Also, the combined slag contents of OPCWCS mix are higher than the corresponding contents of cement mix containing ACS at all curing temperature. This is due to the difference in the pozzolanic hydraulic activity of WCS and ACS [23]. The variations of chemically combined water contents and total pore volumes of hardened OPC and pozzolanic cement pastes made with 0% and 30% of either WCS or ACS are plotted in relation to curing temperature in Fig. 5 C and D. The chemically combined water content increases and total pore volume decreases with curing temperature for all cement pastes; this is due to the progress of hydration to form more hydrates. The hydration products ll up

Compressive strength, kg/cm2

350

300 3 Days 250 7 Days 14 Days 200

OPC

28 Days 90 Days

150 20 350 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

120 Days

Curing Temperature, C Compressive strength, kg/cm2

350

Compressive strength, kg/cm2

300

300

250

250

200
OPC + 30% WCS

200
OPC + 30% ACS

150 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

150
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Curing Temperature, C

Curing Temperature, C

Fig. 6. Compressive strength of cement mortars at different curing different temperatures up to 120 days.

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36

Flexural strength, kg/cm2

32 28 24 20
OPC

3 Days 7 Days 14 Days 28 Days 90 Days 120 Days

16 20 36 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 36

Curing Temperature, C Flexural strength, kg/cm2 Flexural strength, kg/cm2

32 28 24 20
OPC + 30% WCS

32 28 24 20
OPC + 30% ACS

16 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

16 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Curing Temperature, C

Curing Temperature, C

Fig. 7. Flexural strength of cement pastes at different curing temperatures up to 120.

the open pores, thus increasing the bulk density and decreasing the total pore volume. Cement mixes containing slag show lower values of total pore volume and higher values of combined water in comparison with those of the plain mix at all curing temperatures. This is due to the thermal activation of slag, thus increasing the rate of pozzolanic reaction with the liberated Ca(OH)2, forming additional amounts of dense hydrates. Also, OPCWCS mix has lower values of total pore volume and higher values of combined water than OPCACS mix at all curing temperatures. This is due to the higher vitreous fraction of WCS in comparison with that of ACS. Therefore, WCS has higher pozzolanic reactivity than ACS. As the curing temperatures increase from 75 up to 100 C values of chemically combined water decreases. This is due to the transformation of the initially formed CSH with higher combined water content, to CSH, which has a lower combined water content. Fig. 6 shows the compressive strength development of OPC and pozzolanic cement mixes made with 0% and 30% slag (WCS or ACS) as a function of curing time and temperature. The values of compressive strength of cement mortars improved for all cement mixes cured at early ages of hydration up to 28 days with increase of temperature from 25 C up to 100 C. This is may be due to the acceleration of the hydration reactions [24]. This may be due to the increased rate of hydration with temperature, particularly at early ages. The degree of hydration is controlled by the density and thickness of the calcium silicate hydrate layer around the cement grains. This layer retards hydration and, when it attains a certain thickness, it prevents further hydration during the later ages. The elevated curing temperatures have a marked effect on the early age strength of cement mixes containing slag. This benecial effect may be due to the acceleration of both hydration and pozzolanic reactions. At later ages of hydration (90120 days), the elevated curing temperatures more than 45 C adversely affect the

compressive strength of only OPC mortars. In contrast, the elevated curing temperatures have benecially effect on the compressive strength of OPCslag mortars. This indicates that, the elevated temperature conditions are benecial from the strength development perspective for pozzolanic cements. The results also show that, the OPC mixes containing WCS has higher values of compressive strength than ACS containing mixes at the same curing time and temperature. Fig. 7 indicates the development of exural strength of OPC mortars containing 0% and 30% of either WCS or ACS as a function of curing time and temperature. The results show benecial effect of elevated curing temperature on the exural strength of cement mortars containing slag at all ages of curing. Highest exural strength of OPCslag mortars containing either WCS or ACS was obtained at curing temperature range 35100 C. In contrast, the elevated temperature improves the early age exural strength of OPC mortars. Whilst at later ages of hydration, OPC exural strength decreases, especially at 45 C and above. This is may be due to the formation of dense hydrated phases around the unreacted cement particles, preventing further hydration. Also, the cement mortars containing WCS has more exural strength compared to the corresponding strength of OPC mortars made with ACS. This is due to the difference between WCS and ACS in the crystal structure and consequently, in the pozzolanic activity.

4. Conclusions From the above ndings it can be concluded that: Effect of mix composition: The results show that free lime content of OPC increases, whereas, free lime contents of pozzolanic ce-

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M.A. Abd-El.Aziz et al. / Construction and Building Materials 26 (2012) 310316 [7] Heikal M, Radwan MM, Morsy MS. Inuence of curing temperature on the physico-mechanical, characteristics of calcium aluminate cement with aircooled slag or water-cooled slag. J Ceram-Silikty 2004;48(4):18596. [8] Report of ACI Committee 233. Slag cement in concrete and mortar, ACI 233R03. Farmington Hills (MI): American Concrete Institute; 2003. [9] Escalante Garcia JI, Sharp JH. The micro-structure and mechanical properties of blended cements hydrated at various temperatures. Cem Concr Res 2001;31:695702. [10] Jianyong L, Pei T. Effect of slag and silica fume on mechanical properties of high strength concrete. Cem Concr Res 1997;27(6):8337. [11] Roy DM, Idorn GM. Hydration, Structure and properties of blast-furnace slag cements, mortars and concrete. ACI J 1982;79(6):44457. [12] Barnett SJ, Soutsos MN, Millard SG, Bungey JH. Strength development of mortars containing ground granulated blast furnace slag: effect of curing temperature and determination of apparent activation energies. Cem Concr Res 2006;36:43440. [13] Gmez-Zamorano LY, Escalante-Garcia JI. Effect of curing temperature on the nonevaporable water in Portland cement blended with geothermal silica waste. Cem Concr Compos 2010;32:60310. [14] Gmez-Zamorano LY, Escalante-Garcia JI, Mendoza-Surez G. Geothermal silica as an alternative replacement material of Portland cement. J Mater Sci 2004;39:40215. [15] American Society for Testing and Materials American Society for Testing and Materials. ASTM Standards, standard test method for normal consistency of hydraulic cement, vol. 195. American Society for Testing and Materials, C; 2008. p. 18783. [16] American Society for Testing and Materials. ASTM Standards, Standard Test Method for Compressive Strength of Hydraulic Cement Mortars, ASTM Designation, vol. 10992. Philadelphia: American Society for Testing and Materials; 1992. p. 62. [17] Abd-El.Aziz MA, Heikal M. Hydration characteristics and durability of cements containing y ash and limestone subjected to Carons Lake water. Adv Cem Res 2009;21(3):919. [18] El-Didamony H, Mohamed Heikal, Al-Masry S. Effect of delaying addition time of superplasticizer on rheological properties and hydration characteristics of blended cement pastes. Appl Polym Sci, submitted for publication. [19] Heikal M, Morsy MS, El-Shimy E, Abo-El-Enein SA. Hydrothermal reactivity of granulated slag and sand using a lime-rich industrial waste as an activator. Lindustria Italiana del Cemento (iiC) 2004(78):61425. [20] Stark J, Ludwing HM, Mller A. Determination of the degree of hydration of slag cements. ZKG 1991;90(11):55760. [21] Hewlett. Leas chemistry of cement and concrete. New York: John Wiley Sons, Inc.; 1998. [22] Abd El-Aziz M, Abd El-Aleem S, Heikal M, El-Didamony H. Hydration and durability of sulphateresisting and slag cement blends in Carons lake water. Cem Concr Res 2005;35(8):1592600. [23] Escalante JI, Gomez LY, Johal KK, Mendoza G, Mancha H, Mendez J. Reactivity of blast furnace slag in Portland cement blends hydrated under different conditions. Cem Concr Res 2001;31:14039. [24] Neville AM. Properties of concrete. 2nd ed. London: Pitman Publishing; 1973.

ment pastes decreases with curing time, due to the pozzolanic reaction of slag with the librated lime produced from the hydration of Portland cement clinker phases (b-C2S and C3S) to produce additional amounts of CSH and CAH hydrates. The results show that the chemically combined water content increases with the slag content up to 30 mass%, then it decreases up to 50 mass%. The combined slag content increases with curing time for all hydrated pozzolanic cement pastes. At 3 days, the combined slag content increases up to 30 mass%, then decreases up to 50 mass%. Whereas, the combined slag content shows a decrease in the slag contents increase from 10 to 50 mass% at 7 days up to 90 days. Effect of curing temperatures: As the curing temperature increases, the free lime contents and total pore volume of pozzolanic cement pastes decrease, whereas, the combined slag contents and chemically combined water contents increase with curing temperature, this is due to the progress of hydration to form more hydrates. The hydration products ll up the open pores, hence the compressive strength increases. The results show also that highest values of compressive and exural strength of pozzolanic cement mortars containing either WCS or ACS were obtained at 35100 C. The elevated temperatures improve the early age compressive and exural strength of pozzolanic cement mortars. Whilst at later ages of hydration, OPC compressive and exural strength decreases, especially at 45 up to 100 C. References
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