Early age and hardened performance of cement pastes combining mineral additions

To asses the influence of mineral additions (MA) at early age and on hardened performance of fluid cement based pastes, an experimental program was carried out. The design of the mixtures correspond to paste compositions used in self compacting concretes of moderated strength, as those employed for architectural applications. Two types of fillers (limestone and quartzite) have been used to substitute 50 % of cement in a reference paste, with and without a high range water reducing admixture. Then, three active MA (microsilica, nanosilica and metakaolin) were combined. A physical and mechanical characterization in the hardened state showed that the inclusion of MA to a cement-filler mixture can moderately improve the hardened performance of the pastes. Air and water cured samples were tested in order to evaluate the influence of curing conditions. At early ages (24 h), in situ temperature and ultrasonic pulse velocity were monitored on samples with limestone filler, combined with the three active MA, to study the reaction process and microstructure development, respectively. The reaction degree of the samples under study during the first 24 h was related to the microstructure development. Evaporation, drying shrinkage and cracking at early age were also monitored, considering an air flow of 3 m/s on the exposed sample surface. Some relations were described linking cracking risks at early ages with the chemical and physical phenomena involved at early age microstructure evolution.