Kinetics of the water absorption in slag cement mortars

TL;DR

This study models the water absorption kinetics in slag cement mortars with varying slag content, curing conditions, and preheating temperatures, revealing how these factors influence capillary and diffusive water transport processes.

Contribution

A comprehensive mathematical model describing water absorption in slag cement mortars over all ages, integrating capillary and diffusive processes, and analyzing effects of curing and preheating.

Findings

Preheating temperature affects water absorption behavior.

Curing regime influences sorptivity and diffusion coefficients.

Model accurately describes absorption from early to long-term stages.

Abstract

We study the kinetics of absorption of water in portland cement mortars added with 60, 70 and 80% of granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS or Slag) cured in water and at open air and preheating at 50 and 100 C.A mathematical model is presented that allows describing the process not only in early ages where the capillary sorption is predominant but also for later and long times where the diffusive processes through the finer and gel pores are considered. The fitting of the model by computerized methods enables us to determine the parameters that characterize the process: i. e. the sorptivity coefficient (S) and diffusion coefficient (D). This allows the description of the process for all times and offers the possibility to know the contributions of both, the diffusive and capillary processes. The results show the influence of the curing regime and the preheating temperature on the behavior of GGBS mortars.