About microcracking due to leaching in cementitious composites: X-ray microtomography description and numerical approach

Journal Article · Mon Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Cement and Concrete Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2009.09.021· OSTI ID:21344745

Rougelot, Thomas ^[1]; Burlion, Nicolas ^[1]; Bernard, Dominique ^[2]; Skoczylas, Frederic ^[3]

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1. Laboratoire de Mecanique de Lille, UMR CNRS 8107, Universite Lille1, Polytech'Lille, Cite Scientifique, 59650 Villeneuve d'Ascq (France)
2. Institut de Chimie de la Matiere Condensee de Bordeaux, ICMCB-CNRS-Universite de Bordeaux, UPR CNRS 9048, 87 Av. du Dr A. Schweitzer, 33608 Pessac (France)
3. Laboratoire de Mecanique de Lille, UMR CNRS 8107, Ecole Centrale de Lille, Cite Scientifique, 59650 Villeneuve d'Ascq (France)

Chemical shock of cement based materials leads to significant degradation of their physical properties. A typical scenario is a calcium leaching due to water (water with very low pH compared with that of pore fluid). The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the evolution of microstructure induced by leaching of a cementitious composite using synchrotron X-ray micro tomography, mainly from an experimental point of view. In this particular case, it was possible to identify cracking induced by leaching. After a description of the degradation mechanism and the X-ray synchrotron microtomographic analysis, numerical simulations are performed in order to show that cracking is induced by an initial pre-stressing of the composite, coupled with decalcification shrinkage and dramatic decrease in tensile strength during leaching. X-ray microtomography analysis allowed to make evidence of an induced microcracking in cementitious material submitted to leaching.

• OSTI ID: 21344745
• Journal Information: Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 40, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.cemconres.2009.09.021; PII: S0008-8846(09)00274-9; Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0008-8846
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CALCIUM
CEMENTS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
FLUIDS
LEACHING
MICROSTRUCTURE
PH VALUE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SHRINKAGE
TENSILE PROPERTIES
TOMOGRAPHY
WATER
X RADIATION
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
BUILDING MATERIALS
DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES
DISSOLUTION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MATERIALS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
METALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIATIONS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SIMULATION