- Author
-
Bentz, D. P.
|
Lura, P.
|
Roberts, J. W.
- Title
- Mixture Proportioning for Internal Curing.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Technical University of Denmark DK-2800 Lyngby, Denmark
Northeast Solite Corporation Richmond, VA
- Journal
-
Concrete International,
Vol. 27,
No. 2,
35-40,
February 2005
- Keywords
-
concretes
|
chemical shrinkage
|
hydration
|
internal curing
|
aggregates
|
lightweight aggregate
|
mixture proportioning
|
equations
- Identifiers
- required internal curing water; chemical shrinkage; densities and molar volumes of cementitious materials at 25 deg C (77 deg F); calculated coefficients for chemical shrinkage due to cement hydradation; calculated chemical shrinkage for CCRL proficiency cement samples; aggregate absorption (desorption); 'protected paste' volume as a function of distance from the LWA surfaces
- Abstract
- The concept of internal concrete curing is steadily progressing from the laboratory to field practice. In terminology currently being considered by ACI Committee 308, Curing Concrete, "internal curing refers to the process by which the hydration of cement occurs because of the availability of additional internal water that is not part of the mixing water." The additional internal water is typically supplied by using relatively small amounts of saturated, lightweight, fine aggregates (LWA) or superabsorbent polymer (SAP) particles in the concrete. Benefits of internal curing include increased hydration and strength development, reduced autogenous shrinkage and cracking, reduced permeability, and increased durability. The impact of internal curing begins immediately with the initial hydration of the cement, with benefits that are observed at ages as early as 2 days. Internal curing is especially beneficial in low water cement ratio (w/c) concretes because of the chemical shrinkage that accompanies portland cement hydration and the low permeability of the calcium-silicate hydrates. Because the water that is chemically bound and adsorbed by the cement hydration products has a specific volume less than that of bulk water, a hydrating cement paste will imbibe water (about 0.07 g water/g cement) from an available source. While in higher w/c concretes, this water can be, and often is, supplied by external (surface) curing, in low w/c concretes, the permeability of the concrete quickly becomes too low to allow the effective transfer of water from the external surface to theconcrete interior. This is one justification for internalcuring. Additional water that can be distributed somewhat uniformly throughout the concrete will be more readilyable to reach unhydrated cement.