CaCl2-Accelerated Hydration of Tricalcium Silicate: A STXM Study Combined with 29Si MAS NMR

Abstract EN

The effect of calcium chloride (CaCl2) on tricalcium silicate (C3S) hydration was investigated by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) with Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectra and 29Si MAS NMR.

STXM is demonstrated to be a powerful tool for studying the chemical composition of a cement-based hydration system.

The Ca L3,2-edge NEXAFS spectra obtained by examining C3S hydration in the presence of CaCl2 showed that this accelerator does not change the coordination of calcium in the calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H), which is the primary hydration product.

O K-edge NEXAFS is also very useful in distinguishing the chemical components in hydrated C3S.

Based on the Ca L3,2-edge spectra and chemical component mapping, we concluded that CaCl2 prefers to coexist with unhydrated C3S instead of C-S-H.

In Si K-edge NEXAFS analysis, CaCl2 increases the degree of silicate polymerization of C-S-H in agreement with the 29Si CP/MAS NMR results, which show that the presence of CaCl2 in hydrated C3S considerably accelerates the formation of middle groups ( Q 2 ) and branch sites ( Q 3 ) in the silicate chains of C-S-H gel at 1-day hydration.