Effect of steam curing on water sorptivity of concrete

This paper carried out experiments to investigate the change of water absorption gradient of standard curing concretes and steam-cured concretes cured at 60 degrees C. The effect of steam curing on concretes water absorption was evaluated, and the corresponding mechanism was also discussed. Results indicate that the change of water absorption gradient of standard curing concretes is non-significant with the change of the specimen height; Steam curing has exacerbated the inhomogeneity between the top surface and interior surface of concretes. It is observed that noticeable gradient difference in aborption characteristics between top, the second (1cm below top surface) and the third (3cm below top surface) surfaces of samples. Top surface absorption capacity has been the highest, and the second surfaces are in rather good accordance with the third surface. Thus the effect depth of steam curing is near to the concrete open surface. The addition of silica fume to a concrete decrease the water sorptivity of steam curing and standard curing concretes, but for the improvement of the uniformity of concrete, the effect is not markedly obvious.