Fu_1997_Cement-and-Concrete-Research.pdf

Pergamon Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 27, No. 6, pp. 839-844, 1997 8 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0008-8846/97 $17.00 + .OO PI1 SOOOB-8846(97)00071-9 REVERSIBLE DECREASE OF THE FLEXURAL DYNAMIC MODULUS OF CEMENT PASTES UPON HEATING Xuli Fu and D.D.L. Chung Composite Materials Research Laboratory State University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, NY 14260-4400 (Communicated by D.M. Roy) (Received February 25, 1997; in final form April 4, 1997) ABSTRACT The flexural storage modulus was found to decrease gradually and reversibly with increasing temperature from 30 to 15O’C for cement pastes. Among the admixtures used (latex, methylcellulose and silica fume), silica fume (15% by weight of cement) gave the highest flexural storage modulus at all temperatures (30-l SO”C), but also the greatest fractional decrease in modulus upon heating. Methylcellulose (0.4% by weight of cement) gave higher modulus than latex (20-30% by weight of cement). The modulus increased with increasing latex/cement ratio. Cement paste without admixture gave the lowest modulus. 0 I997 Elsevier Science Ltd Introduction Due to the high temperatures encountered by concrete structures in hot regions, in addition to the heat associated with a fire, the effect of heating on the properties of concrete is of interest. The degradation upon heating can be in the form of weight loss (due to spalling and moisture loss) (l-4), porosity increase (2) and decreases in strength and modulus (2- 11). The fractional loss in weight is larger when silica time is present (1,2). The temperature for the onset of mechanical weakening is decreased when a polymer (latex or methylcellulose) is present (12). Measurement of a property as a function of temperature for a given specimen is preferred to the measurement of different specimens for different temperatures, in order to obtain accurate determination of the temperature dependence. This is because dif