Construction and Building Materials 109 (2016) 120–127

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Hydration process modeling of ITZ between new and old cement paste
Tan Li, Jianzhuang Xiao ⇑, Cimian Zhu
Department of Structural Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China

h i g h l i g h t s

An ITZ between new and old cement paste is modeled by a software of CEMHYD3D.

The second hydration effect of active ingredient in old cement paste is discussed.

Hydration process for ITZ between new cement and old paste is simulated and studied.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: An interfacial transition zone (ITZ) model between new and old cement paste in recycled aggregate con-
Received 5 June 2015 crete (RAC) is presented base on the software of CEMHYD3D. This model is obtained by replacing gravel
Received in revised form 18 December 2015 with hydrated cement paste in ITZ models between aggregate and cement paste. By varying the water–
Accepted 29 January 2016
cement ratio of new and old cement paste, series ITZs are numerically simulated. The effect of active
Available online 6 February 2016
ingredient in old cement paste to second hydration is discussed. By CEMHYD3D the microstructure
and compounds distribution of this ITZ are compared with those of conventional ITZ and cement paste.
Keywords:
Porosity and Calcium–Silicate–Hydrate (C–S–H) are also analyzed in this paper. Results indicate that the
Interfacial transition zone (ITZ)
Modeling
ITZ between new and old cement paste has a fast hydration rate, possesses a lower porosity than the ITZ
Micro-structure between gravel and cement paste. And this ITZ generates C–S–H embedded in old cement paste, thus
Hydration products could strengthen the bonding of ITZ.
Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction CEMHYD3D is a widely applied simulation tool in materials

Concrete has distinct structure characteristics at different
scales. Even dense cement paste, under high magnification micro-
scope, shows a complex physical characteristic. Since Lybuimove
[1] proposed of the concept of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) on
mesoscopic level, the microstructure and properties of ITZ are con-
sidered as an important factor affecting the mechanical property of
concrete. The ITZ is an important part link aggregate and cement
paste to an entirety and also the weakest part. Therefore the
microstructure and properties of ITZ should be concerned care-
fully. Otsuki [2] and Tam [3] proved that complicated ITZ exist
between recycled aggregate and new cement paste. Recently, there
are many investigations focused on ITZs in recycled aggregate con-
crete [4–6]. Bentur concluded that the structure and properties of
ITZ affect the concrete strength about 20% and 30%. Xiao et al. [7]
used nanoindentation, AFM and SEM techniques to study ITZs in
recycled aggregate concrete, and got the range and indentation
modulus of ITZs.
science of concrete. It is programmed by Bentz at the National Insti-
tute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In CEMHY3D by using cel-
lular automata technology, the hydration process can be converted
to series algorithmic rule. Pixel was used to simulate the dissolu-
tion, diffusion and reaction of cement particle. The following steps
were used to build a model to simulate the cement paste hydra-
tion. Firstly, the distribution data of compounds, such as C3S, C2S
and CA, were separated from cement paste by analyzing corre-
sponding SEM images and X-ray images. Then based on these data,
a 3D microstructure was built to simulate various physical and
chemical reactions in cement paste. Two-point correlation function
was introduced in modeling process to implicitly reflect the vol-
ume fraction and surface characteristics of compounds. Using
these data, a 3D cement paste model that matches the obtained
2D images was built. Nine kinds of main hydration reactions were
considered and concluded in CEMHYD3D, including following
equations [8,9].
C3 S þ 5:3H ! C1:7 SH4 þ 1:3CH ð1Þ

⇑ Corresponding author. C2 S þ 4:3H ! C1:75 SH4 þ 0:3CH ð2Þ

E-mail address: jzx@tongji.edu.cn (J. Xiao).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.01.053
0950-0618/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 109 (2016) 120–127
1:7CH þ S þ 2:3H ! C1:7 SH4
C3 A þ 6H ! C3 AH6
 2 þ 26H ! C6 ASH
C3 A þ CSH  32
3 H32 þ 4H ! 3C4 ASH
2C3 A þ C6 AS  12
 2 þ 30H ! C6 AS
C4 AF þ 3CSH 3 H32 þ CH þ FH3
3 H32 þ 12H ! 3C4 ASH
 12 þ 2CH þ 2FH3
2C4 AF þ C6 AS
C4 AF þ 10H ! C3 AH6 þ CH þ FH3
Bentz and his partners [10–16] have completed many experi-
mental validations to CEMHYD3D. Experimental validation results
showed that the simulation of cement hydration by CEMHY3D is
quite good. He and other investigators analyzed microscopic struc-
ture of conventional concrete by using CEMHYD3D. Bentz [15]
studied activation energies of high-volume fly ash ternary blends
by CEMHYD3D. Chen et al. [17] simulated the hydration of Port-
land cement pastes and derived alkali-binding capacity of the
hydration product C–S–H by using CEMHYD3D. Liu et al. [18] got
relative electrical resistivity of cement paste and C–S–H gel under
the assistant of CEMHYD3D. Igarashi et al. [19] analyzed the spatial
correlation functions of CEMHYD3D model with that of real struc-
ture, and pointed out that the two-point function for cement par-
ticles in the simulated structure is almost the same as the
function for the BSE image at long ages. Bernard et al. [20] simu-
lated the tritiated water diffusion in cement based materials by
CEMHYD3D. They found that the inner of C–S–H in cement paste
is less porous. Princigallo et al. [21] compared the results from sim-
ulation by CEMHYD3D with experimental results, and found that
the models were synchronous with experiments by matching the
computed hydration kinetics with that obtained by isothermal
calorimetry. Erdoğan [22] investigated the effect of intraparticle
clinker phase distribution on cement hydration by using CEM-
HYD3D. The simulations suggested that the effect of phase distri-
bution within particles has a more pronounced effect on the
degree of hydration and amount of heat evolved at early ages.
Above analyses were limited in the cement paste and ITZ of
conventional concrete. At present, CEMHYD3D has not been
applied in the simulation of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC)
which can be considered as a relatively new type and green con-
crete. In fact, CEMHYD3D cannot directly be used in the study of
ITZ between new and old cement paste. RAC has a complex struc-
ture as shown in Fig. 1, which demonstrates the microstructure of
recycled aggregate concrete and corresponding hydration models.
Because the scale of hydration model is small, in ITZ model the
gravel or hydrated old cement paste is only included several tens
of micrometers, so that the gravel or hydrated old cement paste
is lamellar (the surface of only a few microns) in model. Compared
Fig. 1. The mesostructure of RAC and corresponding hydration model.
121
ð3Þ with conventional concrete, the recycled aggregate concrete has a
new type of ITZ which exists between new and old cement paste.
ð4Þ In this paper, this ITZ model between new and old cement was
established, and its microstructure was analyzed and investigated
ð5Þ by using CEMHYD3D.
ð6Þ
2. Models building
ð7Þ
In this paper, CCRL cement 133 provided by the Cement and
Concrete Reference Laboratory (CCRL) was used to build the cement
ð8Þ
paste model and ITZ model. The image of CCRL cement 133 is dis-
played in Fig. 2, in which the black zones are epoxy, which does not
ð9Þ
react with cement particle and is used to replace water in cement
paste. This kind of cement is widely applied in concrete engineer-
ing without special requirements. The compounds content in
cement paste is illustrated in Fig. 3 and the gradation of cement
particle is described in Table 1. In CEMHYD3D, each particle occu-
pies a pixel. A particle of the radius r will have a diameter of 2r + 1.
Using the gradation in Fig. 3, the particles distribution in cement
paste with a water–cement ratio of 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 or 0.6 will be cal-
culated, respectively. Considering the percentage of each com-
pound, the compounds distribution will be obtained. Using these
information the microstructure was established.
Since the ITZ between gravel and cement paste exists in con-
ventional concrete and the ITZ between new and old cement paste
exists in recycled aggregate concrete, in this paper they are respec-
tively abbreviated as OITZ (old interfacial transition zone) and NITZ
(new interfacial transition zone). With the same way cement paste
is abbreviated as CP. CEMHYD3D can create a 3D model of cement
paste and a 3D model of OITZ with sizes of 100  100  100 lm3.
But it cannot be directly used to create the NITZ which is between
old cement paste and new cement paste. For creating the NITZ
model in recycled aggregate concrete, in this paper two models
were created and integrated to a new model. The ITZ thickness
caused by the change of water–cement ratio will not very signifi-
cant. Otsuki et al. [2] reported the ITZ thickness ranged 10–
50 lm and Xiao et al. [7] concluded the ITZ thickness ranged 40–
60 lm. Thus, in this paper 40 mm thickness was selected for all
ITZ models to study the properties of ITZ. The NITZ model has
old cement and new cement thus could reflect a real NITZ compo-
sition. The process to create a NITZ model is illustrated in Fig. 4.
The specific process includes the following steps:
(1) Create an old cement paste model.
(2) By hydration process simulation get the hydrated cement
matrix (A model).
(3) Create an ITZ model between gravel and new cement paste
(B model).
(4) Cut out a part of A model with equal thickness to gravel in B
model and replace this gravel (C model).
(5) By hydration process simulation get hydrated NITZ.
122 T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 109 (2016) 120–127

675 h in reality, which is about 28 days and is set as the termina-

tion condition of hydration simulation to NITZ models. Ordinary
concrete strength grade is assumed as C30, in which the water–ce-
ment ratio is usually around 0.4, so 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 are selected
in this simulation to create cement paste and ITZ models. The dis-
tribution of particles in four cement paste models with different
water–cement ratios is shown in Fig. 5, in which the blue particles
are cement, the green particles are lime, the red particles are gyp-
sum and the black regions are pores among particles.

3. Results and analysis

3.1. The structure and composition after hydration

A serial of numbers was used to distinguish different models,

Fig. 2. Cement 133 issued by the CCRL. which includes the type of ITZ and the water–cement ratio. The
serial number of pure cement paste (new cement paste) has a form
of CP-X, in which X takes as 3–6, on behalf of the water–cement
ratio of 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6. For OITZ the form is OITZ-X, whereas
for NITZ the form is NITZ-X-X, in which the first and second X are
on behalf of new water–cement ratio and old water–cement ratio
which respectively relates to new cement paste and old cement
paste. The 3D hydrated models of cement paste, the ITZ between
gravel and cement paste (OITZ) and the ITZ between new and old
cement paste (NITZ) are shown in Fig. 6, which are drawn by
POV-Ray (Persistence of Vision Raytracer). The boundary of ITZ in
each ITZ model is marked with solid black line. The middle part
of the ITZ model is gravel or old cement paste. It can be seen from
Fig. 6 that in NITZ model it is difficult to distinguish the new
cement paste from old cement paste.
For observing the change of microstructure before and after
Fig. 3. Cement particles gradation. hydration, models are split in the middle perpendicular to flaky
aggregate. Obtained images are shown in Fig. 7. The boundary of
ITZ in each ITZ model is marked with solid black line. The middle
Table 1 part of the ITZ model is gravel or old cement paste. It can be figured
The area percentage of mineral in 2D image.
out from Fig. 7 that after hydration most of cement is involved in
C3S C2S C3A C4AF Gypsum Free lime Alkali sulfate Periclase the hydration, but there also exists un-hydrated cement. The gel-
62 12 7 7 6 2 2 2 like substance coming from hydration is uniformly distributed in
the model. The microstructure of cement paste model calculated
for 1500 loops is displayed in Fig. 7(a), in which the cement parti-
The number of the calculation loop is determined by trial. cles are distributed according to the real distribution. After hydra-
20,000 calculation loops are corresponding to 21 years in reality, tion the products from hydration form a dense structure as shown
which closes to most of old buildings’ service period. During this in Fig. 7(d). The OITZ model is shown in Fig. 7(b), in which the mid-
period, the hydration almost completed. Thus, the termination dle part is gravel. It can be seen from the figure that the porosity in
condition of hydration simulation to old cement paste model is ITZ will be larger than that in cement paste. The reason is that dis-
set as 20,000 calculation loops. 1500 calculation loops equals to solved compounds can diffuse on any direction when they exist in

3D model of cement paste 3D model of cement

before simulaon paste aer simulaon

parcle size distribuon

(PSD) and phase correlaon
3D model of NITZ before 3D model of NITZ aer
files
simulaon simulaon

3D model of OITZ before

simulaon

Fig. 4. The process to create a NITZ model.

 T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 109 (2016) 120–127 123

(a) w/c=0.3 (b) w/c=0.4 (c) w/c=0.5 (d) w/c=0.6

Fig. 5. The distribution of particles in cement paste models. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)

(a) CP model (b) OITZ model (c) NITZ model

Fig. 6. The phase distribution after hydration.

(a) CP before hydration (b) OITZ before hydration (c) NITZ before hydration

(d) CP after hydration (e) OITZ after hydration (f) NITZ after hydration
Fig. 7. Microstructure contrast before and after hydration. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)

pure cement paste. But if a movement path was blocked by an
interface, the possible reaction of them will decrease and there will
no sufficient reaction products generated to fill pores. After hydra-
tion the microstructure is shown in Fig. 7(e). NITZ before hydration
is shown in Fig. 7(c). NITZ model after hydration is shown in Fig. 7
(f). It shows a dense structure and an unobvious transition
between new and old cement. At the same time, it can be seen
from the hydrated NITZ model that in the new and old cement
paste the hydration products are embedded in each other. The
newly generated C–S–H connects with old C–S–H in old cement
124 T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 109 (2016) 120–127
paste. Those C–S–H stretching to old cement paste increase the
engagement between new and old cement paste. The highest con-
tent of compound in the model is tricalcium silicate, followed by
calcium silicate hydrate, dicalcium silicate and calcium hydroxide.
3.2. The compounds distribution after hydration
The compounds distribution around OITZ and NITZ are shown
in Fig. 8, which are obtained after 28 days hydration. The boundary
of ITZ in each model is marked with solid black line. In Fig. 8 the
regions of gravel, old cement paste and new cement paste are dis-
tinguished by different background colors. OCP and NCP respec-
tively are abbreviations of old cement paste and new cement
paste. The water–cement ratio for new and old cement paste in
Fig. 8 is 0.4. In Fig. 8 the OITZ and NITZ has a hydration degree of
49.23% and 72.56%, respectively. The hydration degree of new
cement paste after 28 days hydration is 66.05%. Zhang et al. [23]
analyzed concretes with different water–cement ratios, and pro-
posed a relationship between the hydration degree and the hydra-
tion time. The data of them showed that the hydration degree of
concrete after 28 days is within 55–80% and the concrete with a
higher water–cement ratio has a higher hydration degree. The
hydration degree of simulations is within this range, except that
of OITZ. Because the old paste in NITZ can provide additional active
ingredient such as dissolved Ca(OH)2, which provides a better
hydration environment, more number of C–S–H can be generated,
which means a higher hydration degree. Thus the hydration degree
of NITZ is higher than that of OITZ.
After hydration the porosity of OITZ and NITZ is 4.3% and 8.0%,
respectively. NITZ has a larger porosity than OITZ. But in OITZ
model the gravel is pore-free, which is not reflected in the porosity
calculation. Therefore the real density of OITZ is lower than that
reflected by porosity. Benouis et al. [24] measured the porosities
of concrete by ultrasounds, found the porosities are varying
between 7% and 16%. Leemann et al. [25] used mercury intrusion
method (MIP) to get the relationship between porosity and the dis-
tance away from gravel in ITZ. The data of them showed that the
average porosity in ITZ is between 5% and 6%. Because the pores
of concrete is affected by many factors including mixing method,
etc. and the results of simulation were obtained in an ideal state,
the porosities of simulation should be located at the lower limit
of the experimental data.
It can be seen from Fig. 8 that, near the boundary of gravel and
cement paste, the compound content decreases rapidly. In NITZ the
reduction of pore volume is relatively smaller. In NITZ model the
variation of C–S–H shows an opposite trend. The reason for this
(a) OITZ
Fig. 8. Compounds distribution around ITZ. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
phenomenon is that, compared with gravel, old cement paste has
hydration activity, thus it can accelerate the hydration of cement
particles. The old cement paste has rough boundary, in which
many compounds are generated including new cement paste and
old cement paste. Because newly generated C–S–H extend to old
cement paste and more cement particles complete hydration, there
are more C–S–H in NITZ. The C–S–H content has a peak on 1 lm
away from boundary of new and old cement paste. By contrast,
the C–S–H content has a peak at 5 lm away from boundary of
gravel and cement paste. This indicates that the cement of old
cement paste on the boundary is involved in the hydration.
3.3. The porosity analysis after hydration
Powers [26] consider the strength of cement paste (concrete)
has a functional relationship with the volume ratio of gel and pore.
If known the cement paste hydration degree (a) and the water–ce-
ment ratio (w/c), the ratio of gel and pore can be obtained by:
gel volumeðinclude gel poreÞ 0:68a
X¼ ¼ ð10Þ
gel volume þ pore volume 0:32a þ w=c
It can be seen from the formula, when the hydration degree and
the ratio of gel and pore are 1.0, a minimum water–cement ratio
can be calculated. So Mindess et al. [27] noted for high strength
concrete that a lot of cement particles remained in the cement
paste is required. Power and Brownyard in their investigations
from 1947 to 1948, which did not consider the factors of age, orig-
inal water–cement ratio and cement type, found that the compres-
sive strength r0c of Portland cement is proportional to the ratio of
gel and pore. Their relationship is given as follows:
r0c ¼ 235X 3 MPa ð11Þ
It is obvious that the pore has a great influence on the mechan-
ical properties of concrete. The porosities after 28 days hydration
are shown in Fig. 9. It shows the impact of the new water–cement
ratio on the porosities of new cement paste, old ITZ and new ITZ. It
can be seen from the figure, with the increase of water–cement
ratio of new cement, the porosities of new cement paste increase.
The porosity curve change of old ITZ is an accelerated increase pro-
cess, while the porosity curve change of new ITZ is a decelerated
reduce process. The minimum porosity of old ITZ is about 4%,
which is higher than that of new ITZ. The porosity curves of old
ITZ and new ITZ have a point of intersection, it is meaning that
some combinations of new and old water–cement ratio exist,
which combination let the porosities of new ITZ no lower than that
of old ITZ. The trend lines of old and new ITZ are separately drawn
(b) NITZ
 T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 109 (2016) 120–127 125

Fig. 9. The impact of NCP w/c to porosity.

Fig. 11. The porosity of NITZ results.

in Fig. 9 by dotted line. The upper trend line is related to new ITZ
curve. The trend lines show that the porosity of recycled concrete
with a higher new water–cement ratio is larger than conventional
concrete with same water–cement ratio.
The impact of the old cement ratio on new ITZ are shown in
Fig. 10. It can be seen from Fig. 10 that the change range of the
curve is small, it has a relatively larger increase only when the
old water–cement ratio is higher. The points of the curve at every
old water–cement ratio is much dispersed, which indicate that the
water–cement ratio of old cement paste has more influence on
porosity than that of new cement paste. The average value of
porosities is at the middle of variation, which indicates that at dif-
ferent water–cement ratios of old cement paste the data distribu-
tion is relatively uniform.
The simulation results of sixteen new ITZ models are show in
Fig. 11. It can be seen from Fig. 11 that with the increase of
water–cement ratio of new water–cement paste, the porosity is
monotonous increasing. By contrast, the water–cement ratio of
old cement paste has relatively unobvious impact on porosity.
When the water–cement ratio of old cement paste is less than
0.5, the change of it has little effect on the porosity. When the
water–cement ratio of old cement paste is greater than 0.5, the
effect is more apparent. With the increase of water–cement ratio
Fig. 12. The porosity of fitting NITZ results. (For interpretation of the references to
of new cement paste the trend is gradually weakened. color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
In order to study the water–cement ratio impact of new and old
cement paste on porosity in new ITZ, the fitting data, which come
from simulation results, are used to draw density maps shown in
Fig. 12. The dark blue zones have lower porosity, pale yellow zones
have higher porosity and the junction between them have a median
porosity. It can be seen from the figure that most of zones have
higher porosity. The contour line of 0.4, which is the approximate
minimum porosity of old ITZ known from Fig. 9, represented by
the black line as drawn in Fig. 12. According to the weakest ring the-
ory [28], if the bonding of new ITZ is better than old ITZ, the new ITZ
will not determine the strength of recycled concrete, which means

Fig. 13. The change of porosity.

that the recycled concrete could have similar performance as con-

Fig. 10. The impact of OCP w/c to porosity.
ventional concrete. It can be seen from the figure that if the
water–cement ratio of new cement paste is lower than 0.4 and that
of the old cement paste is lower than 0.5, then the porosity of new
ITZ will not be larger than that of old ITZ. It is meaning that when
the water–cement ratios of new and old cement paste are
respectively less than 0.4 and 0.5, a good bonding will be formed
in new ITZ.
126 T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 109 (2016) 120–127
Fig. 14. The change of C–S–H generation rate.
The relationship between porosity and calculation loop, which
comes from four models, is drawn in Fig. 13. Generally, it can be
seen from Fig. 13 that the OITZ has higher porosity than NITZ
and the difference among NITZs is small in a whole hydration pro-
cess. This indicate that in new ITZs the hydration reaction is
intense and the hydration is earlier completed than that of old ITZ.
3.4. The C–S–H content after hydration
C–S–H is the main hydration product, so it is necessary to
record the increase of C–S–H in each hydration loop. The percent-
age of newly generated C–S–H in each hour is shown in Fig. 14. It
can be seen from Fig. 14 that the additional C–S–H in the beginning
(a) OITZ-4
(c) NITZ-4-3
Fig. 15. The C–S–H distribution in ITZ at different calculation loops. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version
of this article.)
of hydration has a rapid growth stage, and then the C–S–H forma-
tion rate declines rapidly. It can be concluded from Fig. 14 that an
obvious difference of C–S–H generation rate exists between OITZ
and NITZ. OITZ curve has two peaks, which appears respectively
at 6 min and 18 h. But NITZ curve only has one peak and appears
at 1 h. For conventional concrete, it is found by Jennings et al.
[29] that in the early hydration within 15 min, a layer of hydration
products will be covered on the surface of cement. This prevents
the dissolution of C3S, because it is difficult for Si4+ ion to get
through the protective film, but it is easy for Ca2+ ion to do that.
The inconsistent dissolution of Ca2+ and OH leads to the dissolu-
tion of C3S blocked. When Ca2+ and OH archive saturation and
form Ca(OH)2 crystal, the C3S dissolution rate rises. This process
is called induction period and the next process is called accelera-
tion period. The permeability difference caused by the dissolved
Ca2+ ion leads to the damage of protective film. This phenomenon
is not obvious in NITZ, seen from Fig. 14. Because NITZ has much
dissolved Ca(OH)2, at the beginning of hydration a large number
of C–S–H can be generated. Fonseca et al. [30] and Gayarre et al.
[31] analyzed the strength of recycled aggregate concrete with dif-
ferent recycled aggregate replacement rates. The data show that in
the standard curing environment, the increase rate of 7-day com-
pressive strength of recycled concrete is higher than that of con-
ventional concrete. This is consistent with the trend shown in
Fig. 14. The reason is that the old cement paste contains a variety
of substances required for second hydration, which include cement
particles and some active ingredient. Contrasted with old ITZ, the
new ITZs achieve the final porosities earlier.
(b) NITZ-3-4
(d) NITZ-4-4
 T. Li et al. / Construction and Building Materials 109 (2016) 120–127
The C–S–H distribution in ITZ is shown in Fig. 15, in which the
C–S–H generated at different times marked with different colors.
The blue color indicates earlier C–S–H and the red color indicates
later C–S–H. Because most C–S–H are generated at the beginning
of hydration, in order to distinguish the generation time a non-
uniform color bar is used. It can be seen from Fig. 15 that C–S–H
are generated in the boundary of new and old cement paste and
extended to old cement paste. In Fig. 15(d) this characteristic is
much clearer. This confirms that the active ingredients in old
cement paste have advantage in strengthening the bonding in
NITZ.
4. Conclusions
In this paper a part of hydrated cement was taken out and
replaced the gravel in the ITZ model between gravel and cement
paste (OITZ) to establish the ITZ model between new and old
cement paste (NITZ). Then software of CEMHYD3D was used to
simulate the hydration process of NITZ and its hydration products
and microstructure were compared with that of OITZ and cement
paste. The following conclusions are obtained by the intensive
analysis:
(1) A hydration model of recycled aggregate concrete is estab-
lished in this paper, which is an ITZ model formed by new
and old cement paste. The hydration results of this model
show that it can reveal the microscopic characteristic of ITZs
in recycled aggregate concrete.
(2) NITZ has a higher hydration degree than OITZ. Compared
with OITZ, NITZ has more compounds of hydration capabil-
ity. In NITZ these compounds of hydration capability will
affect the hydration of new cement paste.
(3) Under a lower water–cement ratio, new and old cement can
generate a NITZ with good bonding. When the water ratios
of new and old cement paste are respectively less than 0.4
and 0.5, a good bonding will be formed in new ITZ.
(4) The induction period is not obvious in NITZ and the acceler-
ation period starts at the beginning of hydration. Because
NITZ does not have protective film covered on the surface
of cement, and dissolved Ca(OH)2 crystallization and C–S–
H could be a condensation nucleus. Based on these at the
beginning of hydration a large number of C–S–H can be gen-
erated quickly.
(5) It is observed that the Calcium–Silicate–Hydrate (C–S–H)
generated in NITZ extend to the pores of old cement paste.
This C–S–H connecting with the C–S–H generated in old
cement paste could strengthen the bonding in NITZ.
(6) In OITZ, the Calcium–Silicate–Hydrate (CSH) has a rapid
growth stage, which is very short, and then the generation
rate declines rapidly. In NITZ hydration there has no rapid
growth stage, and begin with a relatively high generation
rate of C–S–H. This proves that in NITZ some active materials
take part in hydration and accelerate the hydration rate.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
from the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(51325802, 51438007).
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