Papers »

Early-age short-term creep characterization of cement pastes and mortars

The chemical hardening reaction between cement and water results in the evolution of macroscopic mechanical properties of cementitious materials at early ages. We here provide experimental insight into the evolution of short-term creep properties of cement pastes and mortars with different compositions in terms of (i) the initial water-to-cement mass ratio and (ii) the initial sand-to-cement mass ratio. In the framework of a comprehensive macroscopic testing campaign, we perform several hundred short-term creep tests during the period of time ranging from 18 hours after production up to 8 days after production. Evaluation of our measurement data is based on the power law-type creep function proposed by Tamtsia and Beaudoin [CemConRes, 2000]. Accompanying calorimetry testing allows for assigning the measured creep properties to hydration degrees, i.e. for linking macroscopic creep observations to microstructural properties of the tested materials.

Author(s):

Mohammad Irfan-ul-Hassan    
Vienna University of Technology
Austria

Bernhard Pichler    
Vienna University of Technology
Austria

Roland Reihsner    
Vienna University of Technology
Austria

Christian Hellmich    
Vienna University of Technology
Austria