Investigations on alkali-silica reaction products using Raman spectroscopy

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/mc.2022.15621

Keywords:

Alkali-silica reaction (ASR), Alkali-silica reaction gel (ASR gel), Raman spectroscopy, 29Si NMR spectroscopy, Concrete

Abstract


The alkali-silica reaction (ASR) remains a major challenge regarding the durability of concrete structures. The reaction mechanism is not sufficiently understood owing to the difficulty in characterizing the structure of the alkali-silica reaction gel (ASR gel) in concrete. Synthetic ASR gels with different compositions, i.e. Na/Si and Ca/Si molar ratios, were synthesized and analysed by Raman spectroscopy and, for comparison, 29Si NMR spectroscopy. The results show that higher Na/Si ratios increase the number of non-bridging oxygens in the gel structure, thus leading to a decrease in the degree of cross-linking. With increasing calcium content of the sodium-calcium silica gel, the structure tends towards that of C-S-H phases. Raman spectroscopy is a promising method to characterise synthetic ASR gels and provide new information on the effect of alkalis on the gel structure.

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References

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Published

2022-04-29

How to Cite

Krüger, M. ., Thome, V. ., Hilbig, H. ., Kaliwoda, M. ., & Heinz, D. . (2022). Investigations on alkali-silica reaction products using Raman spectroscopy. Materiales De Construcción, 72(346), e281. https://doi.org/10.3989/mc.2022.15621

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Section

Research Articles