Aggregate Reactivity and the Efficiency of Supplementary Cementing Materials

Abstract

The knowledge of dissolution processes of aggregates and supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) in alkaline solutions can help to describe the expansion of concretes caused by alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and the effects to avoid ASR by using SCMs in more details. Therefore, dissolution experiments in alkaline solutions under different pH values and different temperatures were performed using aggregates in the original grain size and SCMs in different ratios. The concentrations of soluble silica and additionally alumina were determined by ICP-OES. The investigations showed that up to now the “best” conditions to explain the damage behavior of concrete structures are a pH value of 13 (e.g. 0.1 M KOH solution) and a temperature of 80 °C. The evaluation bases on the parameter “excess silica” which is calculated from the dissolved silica and alumina of the aggregates and the SCMs. It was demonstrated that SCMs reduce and sometimes stop the dissolution of aggregates. The efficiency of the SCMs depends on their amount and chemical composition.