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POWDER CONCRETES
ABSTRACT: The durability of reactive powder concretes (RPC) has been defined by measuring porosity, air
permeability, water absorption, diffusion, and migration of chloride ions, accelerated carbonation, resistance to
reinforcement corrosion, resistivity, and resistance to mechanical abrasion. Results were compared with the
characteristics of a grade 30 MFa concrete with a low cement content and a grade 80 MPa very high performance
concrete. The RPC displays excellent granular compactness, and its low water content helps reduce porosity.
This results in an excellent resistance to the penetration of aggressive agents with respect to the reference
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concretes, and structures built with RPC are expected to significantly outlast those built with ordinary concrete.
INTRODUCTION MATERIALS
The resistance of concretes to aggressive agents is governed The two concretes to be used as references in this study are
by the nature and severity of the environment as well as by representative of concretes with low cement contents on the
the concrete mix design and constitution. Deterioration mech- one hand and very high strengths on the other. The mix design
anisms, typically concrete carbonation and chloride attack, are of the low cement content concrete (C30) that contains no
principally caused by insufficient concrete impermeability and admixtures yields a slump of 150 mm. The very high strength
exaggerated porosity. The decrease of the water/cementitious concrete (C80), with a high admixture content, contains 10%
ratio and addition of ultrafine particles contribute to improve silica fume. Its compressive strength is high, and its low po-
the life of the concrete (Gjorv 1983; Nepper-Christensen et al. rosity assures good durability. The two reference concretes
1994). were obtained using the same cement of high characteristical
High and very high strength concretes (60-120 MPa) have strength, which explains their good mechanical properties.
been used for structural elements for a long time (Vinches et The two reference concretes were mixed in a vertical-axis
al. 1993; Malier 1992). The mechanical properties are obtained laboratory mixer having a capacity of 70 L. Half-crushed sil-
by decreasing the water/cementitious ratio and often using su- icocalcareous sand and gravel were used. The gravel had a
perplasticizers and silica fume. This reduces the cement paste diameter between 4 and 14 mm. The characteristics of the
porosity and improves concrete durability. concretes are provided in Table I.
Recently, compressive strengths of 200-800 MPa were ob- Two RPC were tested. The relative mix design of each was
tained with reactive powder concretes (RPC) (Richard and identical. The sole difference between the specimens produced
Cheyrezy 1994). RPC is a family of concretes obtained by was in the casting technique. The first one was table-vibrated
using four major principles: in the laboratory (RPC2oo), whereas the second one was pres-
surized before and during setting (RPC2ooc) with a pressure
• Improvement of the material homogeneity by removing of 60 MPa. The mix design of the RPC200 and RPC200c
all coarse aggregates cement-based matrices are displayed in Table 2.
• Increase of the compactness by granular optimization and Some durability testing was conducted on material rein-
compaction forced by metallic fibers at 2% of specimen volume, or the
• Possible improvement of the microstructure by heat equivalent of 156 kg/m3 • The straight and cylindrical metallic
treatment fibers were 0.175 mm in diameter, 13 mm in length, and
• Achievement of material ductility by the addition of steel coated with a thin layer of brass. They were added to the mix
fibers at the end of the mixing process.
Experimental tests were performed on cylindrical specimens
The porosity of RPC is minimized by an optimized granular only. The C30 and C80 specimens measured 110 mm in di-
distribution with particles of different diameters ranging be- ameter and 220 mm in height, while the RPC specimens were
tween fractions of a micron and 500 IJ..m. The size of RPC 70 mm by 140 mm. All specimens were cured 28 days in
micropores can be decreased by several orders of magnitude water at 20°C prior to undergoing various durability tests.
by an appropriate heat treatment after setting. The total RPC
porosity is also modified by a pressurization of the sample EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES AND RESULTS
during setting, which removes air bubbles and expels excess
water from the cement paste. The following tests provided experimental comparisons of
Experimental results of tests on the resistance of RPC to the durability of C30, C80, and RPC concretes:
aggressive agents are reported here.
• Mercury porosimetry
'Prin. Engr., Bouygues-Challenger, Direction Scientifique Div. Constr., • Air permeability
I E. Freyssinet, 78061 St. Quentin en Yvelines Cedex, France. • Water absorption
2Dir. and Res. Prof., Instituto de Ciencias de la Construction Eduardo • Diffusion and migration of chloride ions
Torroja, CSIC, Serrano Galvache, 28033 Madrid, Spain. • Carbonation rate
'Res. Asst., Instituto de Ciencias de la Construction Eduardo Torroja,
CSIC, Serrano Galvache, 28033 Madrid, Spain. • Reinforcement corrosion rate
Note. Discussion open until July I, 1996. To extend the closing date • Resistivity
one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Manager of • Resistance to abrasion
Journals. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and
possible publication on January 16, 1995. This paper is part of the Jour- Mercury Poroslmetry
nal of Materials in Civil Engineering, Vol. 8, No. I, February, 1996.
©ASCE, ISSN 0899-1561/96/0001-0001-0006/$4.00 + $.50 per page. Resistance to the penetration of aggressive agents in ce-
Paper No. 9960. ment-based materials is primarily dictated by pore size, cu-
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING / FEBRUARY 1996 /1
Mercury manometer
Water manometer
Volumetric flowmeter
EI8Ctrovalve
COmpreaaor
Thermometer
Outlet cell
FIG. 2. Diagram of Apparatus Used to Measure Air-Permeability Coefficient
1.5
I ions in the specimen of RPC200 does not yield conclusive
findings on the penetration of ions during the testing period.
1.0
I
0.5
I
It C80
RPC200
'~ RPC200c
0.0
o 5 10 15 20
Time(b~
FIG. 4. Water Absorbed by RPC200 and RPC200c Compared
to C30 and C80
~
assuming three distinct functions: (1) The diffusion of aggres-
sive agents, mainly CO2 and the chloride ions; (2) the passage
2 of electrical current of an ionic nature; and (3) the passage of
o
RPCZOO
o 10
---- f---...-.-...
20 30 40
Penetration depth (mm)
---- ~
r---...
so
---I
60
surements. Two tests were carried out: the polarization resis-
tance test and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
The cylindrical specimens studied were cast with two 3-mm-
diameter steel rods embedded in the concrete. The concrete-
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FIG. 6. Concentration Profile of Chloride Ions In C30, cao, and reinforcement interface was isolated by an adhesive ribbon.
RPC200 Specimens for Use In Computation of Apparent Diffu- The length of steel in contact with the concrete was 30 mm.
sion Coefficients The first method involves application of a potentiodynamic
sweep from -10 to + 10 mV at the corrosion potential, Eeorr •
TABLE 4. Effective Diffusion Coefficient, 0 .... for C30, cao, The determination of the intensity, I, enables calculation of the
and RPC200c polarization resistance, Rp , without disturbing the corrosion re-
Diffusion
actions at the metal-electrode interface (Andrade et al. 1986).
coefficient
The corrosion intensity, I eom is calculated by Stem's (Stem and
(m 2/s) C30 cao RPC200C
Weisert 1959) equation: I eorr = BIRp , with the coefficient B
(1 ) (2) (3) (4) assumed to have a value of 26 mV for corroding steel and 52
mV for passivated steel. Monitoring of the corrosion intensity
D eff 1.1 x 10- 12 0.6 X 10- 12 0.02 X 10- 12
I eorr over time allows estimation of the loss of mass per unit
of time and surface. A reinforcement corrosion rate, Veorro can
The concentration varies between 0.01 and 0.03% of the con- thereby be defined in terms of micrometers per year. It has
crete mass, which places it below the sensitivity threshold limit commonly been recognized that no corrosion risk in concrete
for the experimental method used. The concentration profiles exists for values less than 1 ILmlyear.
measured on the three concretes C30, C80, and RPC200 are In addition to the test of polarization resistance, the electro-
depicted in Fig. 6. chemical impedance spectroscopy has confirmed, through a
The migration measure of diffusion in steady-state chloride dynamic method, the results obtained earlier. The measure-
flow through differences in potential (12 V) requires the in- ment principle is identical to the aforementioned, except that
sertion of a 5-mm-thick concrete disc between two electro- the potentiodynamic shift is applied by a variable frequency.
chemical cells: one cathodic, containing a 0.5 M NaCI solu- The use of frequencies varying between 0.1 mHz and 100kHz
tion, and the other anodic, containing distilled water (Andrade with amplitudes of 8 mV provides information on the kinetics
1993). The chloride content of the two cells was observed over of corrosion reactions. Further details on the experimental pro-
time from the point when steady-state migration had been
reached. This procedure did allow for the determination of the TABLE 5. Results of Corrosion-Resistance Tests
effective diffusion coefficient, Deff, computed using the Nemst-
Plank equation. This computation did not take into consider- Corrosion
ation the chemical interactions between chloride ions and the Impedance test threshold C30 cao RPC200
material. Test results are summarized in Table 4. (1 ) (2) (3) (4) (5)
The diffusion coefficient of RPC200c pressurized before Eeon (in mY) >-200 -0.82 +0.28 +0.90
and during setting is much lower than the coefficient associ- R" (in kO·cm 2) >500 0.37 12 3,022
ated with low cement concrete. CHF (in pF/c1TI2) - 10,793 145 14
V eon (in Jl.m/yr) <I 1.2 0.25 <0.01
Carbonation Rate
-1m (mega-Ohm.cm-2)
The resistance of concrete to carbon dioxide was measured 80..---'-----=------:....-------------.
by a natural carbonation test and two accelerated carbonation CHF ClF
-eX~
tests. The curing conditions selected were: (1) Exposure to 60
ambient conditions [0.03% C02/50% relative humidity (RR)]
for 18 months; (2) accelerated test at 60% relative humidity Rohm Rp
40 10m
and 5% CO 2 for 42 days; and (3) accelerated test as described,
followed by 90 days at 100% CO2 , The carbonation of con-
30 Wmax
crete is monitored by a phenolphthalein color indicator. Al-
though the carbonation coefficient of the C30 concrete reached
50 mmlyro.\ after the accelerated treatment at 100% CO 2 , no 20
1k 100
carbonation could be detected on RPC200. Cp._.....;1_ _
10 Rp Wmax
Reinforcement Corrosion Rate 10k
0
The corrosion of metallic reinforcement in concrete results 0 10 20 30 40 60
from electrochemical reactions, with the interstitial water act- Re (mega-Ohm.cm-2)
ing as the electrolyte. The reinforcement can behave either as Rohm I' Rp
the cathode or the anode, and the steel deterioration results
from chemical reactions. Initially, the cement-based matrix en- FIG. 7. Nyquist Diagram for RPC200
diagrams are presented in Table 5. The Nyquist diagram of tivity to fall from 1.13 X 103 kO'cm to 137 kO·cm. The
the RPC200 concrete is illustrated in Fig. 7. The interpretation extremely high resistivity of RPC200's cement-based matrix
of these diagrams requires the introduction of a model describ- leads to an efficient protection of the metallic fibers and the
ing the ohmic resistance of the electrolyte, R o , the faradic im- steel embedded in the material.
pedance, Zf\ and two capacitances CHP and CLi" With this The sensitivity of RPC200's cement-based matrix to varia-
model, the time constants of the reactions under study can be tions in humidity is low. Reducing humidity in the cement-
interpreted. based matrix by heat treatment (six days at 50°C) increases
A very high ohmic resistance is observed in the case of the resistivity from 1.13 X 103 to 1.20 X 103 kO·cm.
RPC200, in comparison with that of C30 or C80. This feature
helps hinder the passage of electrical current of an ionic na- Resistance to Abrasion
ture, which further slows down all corrosion reactions. The
values of capacitance indicate that the dielectric properties of The resistance of RPC200 to mechanical abrasion was con-
RPC200 are much superior to those of C30 and C80. The firmed by the Compagnie Nationale du Rhone (CNR) test. The
calculation of the corrosion rate yields an extremely low value material immersed in water was subjected to a silica sand blast
that justifies disregarding any concern about the corrosive jet at a pressure of 250 kPa oriented at 45°. Following a spe-
activity. cific time interval, the volume of the specimen's imprint was
Visual inspection of the specimens and of the steel rein- measured. This volume was then compared with the one ob-
forcement at the end of testing did not indicate the presence tained on a reference specimen of glass in order to determine
of corrosion. the abrasion coefficient !.
V
Resistivity !=- (3)
Vo
The resistivity, p, of the tested concretes was measured with with V = volume of the imprint on the material; and Vo =
the help of two electrodes placed on the upper and lower faces volume of the imprint on the reference glass.
of a cylindrical specimen. Resistivity is obtained from Ohm's The test apparatus is illustrated in Fig. 8, and abrasion co-
law efficients for different concretes are presented in Table 7.
pump
grid
And