ASTM Concrete Standard addresses material compatibility.April 7, 2008 -
ASTM International Subcommittee C09.48 has completed C 1679, Practice for Measuring Hydration Kinetics of Hydraulic Cementitious Mixtures Using Isothermal Calorimetry. Made to define practices for investigating the interactions of materials used in the production of concrete, it is a practice for studying the reactivity or hydration kinetics of a binder system in any combination with other materials that can be done at different temperatures and mixing conditions.
Material Compatibility Issues Addressed in New ASTM Concrete Standard |
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Press release date: March 1, 2008
The realization that concrete production is the result of a combination of several materials that are individually standardized, but which may interact in ways not governed by those standards, led ASTM International Committee C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates to form Subcommittee C09.48 on Performance of Cementitious Materials and Admixture Combinations in 2004. The subcommittee has now completed its first standard, C 1679, Practice for Measuring Hydration Kinetics of Hydraulic Cementitious Mixtures Using Isothermal Calorimetry.
According to Paul J. Sandberg, principal scientist, W.R. Grace, and chair of the task group that developed C 1679, the first order of business for C09.48 was to define practices for investigating the interactions of materials used in the production of concrete. "While ultimately the subcommittee may focus on ways of changing our material standards to reflect the need for compatibility, the first step was to define practices for investigating such interactions. Incompatibility issues are becoming increasingly common in the concrete industry as concrete producers are faced with a wider variety of admixtures and increasing amounts of supplementary materials as a way to reduce cost and, more recently, to reduce the carbon dioxide footprint of concrete," says Sandberg. "Accordingly, methods to investigate how materials work together, not individually, are needed." Sandberg notes that isothermal calorimetry was the first method addressed by C09.48 because it provides a convenient way to track the hydration reactions affected by interactions of cements, supplementary materials and admixtures.
ASTM C 1679 is a practice for studying the reactivity or hydration kinetics of a binder system in any combination with other materials that can be done at different temperatures and mixing conditions. The standard will be useful in a variety of applications for producers of concrete, cement, admixtures and supplementary materials, as well as for testing laboratories and contractors, particularly in determining how products interact with other materials and selecting materials whose combination in a given concrete mix is the most suitable for its intended application.
ASTM International standards can be purchased from Customer Service (phone: 610/832-9585; service@astm.org) or at www.astm.org. For further technical information, contact Paul J. Sandberg, W.R. Grace, Cambridge, Mass. (phone: 617/498-4566; paul.j.sandberg@grace.com). Committee C09 meets June 22-25 at the June committee week in Denver, Colo. For membership or meeting information, contact W. Scott Orthey, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9730; sorthey@astm.org).
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