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Effect of internal curing by using superabsorbent polymers (SAP) on autogenous shrinkage and other properties of a high-performance fine-grained concrete: results of a RILEM round-robin test

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Abstract

The article presents the results of a round-robin test performed by 13 international research groups (representing fifteen institutions) in the framework of the activities of the RILEM Technical Committee 225-SAP “Applications of Superabsorbent Polymers in Concrete Construction”. Two commercially available SAP materials were used for internal curing of a high-performance, fine-grained concrete in combination with the addition of extra water. The concrete had the same mix composition in all laboratories involved but was composed of local materials. All found a considerable decrease in autogenous shrinkage attributable to internal curing. Also, with regard to the shrinkage-mitigating effect of both particular SAP materials, the results were consistent. This demonstrates that internal curing using SAP is a robust approach, working independently of some variations in the concretes’ raw materials, production process, or measuring technique. Furthermore, the effects of internal curing on other properties of concrete in its fresh and hardened states were investigated. These are consistent as well and expand considerably the existing data basis on properties of concrete materials containing SAP.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank SNF Floerger (Andrézieux Cedex/France) for the generous supply of superabsorbent polymers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Construction Materials, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Viktor Mechtcherine, Michaela Gorges & Christof Schroefl

  2. Department of Construction Materials, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

    Alexander Assmann & Hans-Wolf Reinhardt

  3. Institute of Building Materials Research, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Wolfgang Brameshuber

  4. Concrete and Cement Testing Laboratory (LabTech), National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (LNEC), Lisbon, Portugal

    António Bettencourt Ribeiro & João Custódio

  5. Concrete Structures, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Canada

    Daniel Cusson

  6. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Brasilia, Brasília, Brazil

    Eugênia Fonseca da Silva

  7. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Oita National College of Technology, Oita, Japan

    Kazuo Ichimiya

  8. Institute of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

    Shin-ichi Igarashi

  9. Structural Engineering and Construction Management, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Konstantin Kovler & Semion Zhutovsky

  10. Eletrobras Furnas Hydroelectric Company, Goiânia, Brazil

    Anne Neiry de Mendonça Lopes

  11. Concrete and Construction Chemistry Laboratory, EMPA, Duebendorf, Switzerland

    Pietro Lura & Mateusz Wyrzykowski

  12. Civil Engineering Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Romildo Dias Toledo Filho

  13. Civil Engineering Materials, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Jason Weiss

  14. Materials and Environment, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Van Tuan Nguyen & Guang Ye

  15. School of Engineering and Built Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK

    Agnieszka Klemm

Authors
  1. Viktor Mechtcherine
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  2. Michaela Gorges
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  3. Christof Schroefl
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  4. Alexander Assmann
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  5. Wolfgang Brameshuber
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  6. António Bettencourt Ribeiro
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  7. Daniel Cusson
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  8. João Custódio
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  9. Eugênia Fonseca da Silva
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  10. Kazuo Ichimiya
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  11. Shin-ichi Igarashi
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  12. Agnieszka Klemm
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  13. Konstantin Kovler
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  14. Anne Neiry de Mendonça Lopes
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  15. Pietro Lura
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  16. Van Tuan Nguyen
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  17. Hans-Wolf Reinhardt
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  18. Romildo Dias Toledo Filho
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  19. Jason Weiss
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  20. Mateusz Wyrzykowski
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  21. Guang Ye
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  22. Semion Zhutovsky
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Viktor Mechtcherine.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 9, 10, 11 and 12 and Figs. 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20.

Table 9 Specifications of raw materials used by individual participants (participants’ numbers correspond to those in Table 1)
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Table 10 Testing methods and codes followed by individual participants (participants’ numbers correspond to those in Table 1)
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Table 11 Absolute average flexural strengths and their standard deviations measured on specimens made of the reference mixture and mixtures with SAP 1 and SAP 2, respectively, and cured in optional conditions (“lab climate” and “under water”); all measured values available for a particular concrete age were used
Full size table
Table 12 Absolute average compressive strengths and their standard deviations measured on specimens made of the reference mixture and mixtures with SAP 1 respectively SAP 2 and cured in optional conditions (“lab climate” and “under water”); all measured values available for a particular concrete age were used
Full size table
Fig. 16
figure 16

Particle size distributions of the aggregate used by individual participants; the curve for Participant 12 corresponds to the recommended particle size distribution

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Fig. 17
figure 17

Relative flexural strengths of concrete with SAP 1 measured on specimens cured in alternative conditions (“lab climate” and “under water”); strength values of SAP 1-mixtures related to the corresponding values of the reference mixture are given for each participant in % as columns, while the average relative values for all participants are marked with horizontal lines. The values over the lines give the mean values and the standard deviations

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Fig. 18
figure 18

Relative flexural strengths of concrete with SAP 2 measured on specimens cured in alternative conditions (“lab climate” and “under water”); strength values of SAP 2-mixtures related to the corresponding values of the reference mixture are given for each participant in % as columns, while the average relative values for all participants are marked with horizontal lines. The values over the lines give the mean values and the standard deviations

Full size image
Fig. 19
figure 19

Relative compressive strengths of concrete with SAP 1 measured on specimens cured in alternative conditions (“lab climate” and “under water”); strength values of SAP 1-mixtures related to the corresponding values of the reference mixture are given for each participant in % as columns, while the average relative values for all participants are marked with horizontal lines. The values over the lines give the mean values and the standard deviations

Full size image
Fig. 20
figure 20

Relative compressive strengths of concrete with SAP 2 measured on specimens cured in alternative conditions (“lab climate” and “under water”); strength values of SAP 2-mixtures related to the corresponding values of the reference mixture are given for each participant in % as columns, while the average relative values for all participants are marked with horizontal lines. The values over the lines give the mean values and the standard deviations

Full size image

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Mechtcherine, V., Gorges, M., Schroefl, C. et al. Effect of internal curing by using superabsorbent polymers (SAP) on autogenous shrinkage and other properties of a high-performance fine-grained concrete: results of a RILEM round-robin test. Mater Struct 47, 541–562 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0078-5

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