Effect of High Content Limestone Powder on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Cement-based Materials

Abstract

Compared with the control sample without limestone powder (LP), the mechanical properties of the sample with 30% LP can be significantly improved by using a small amount of water reducer to reduce the water-cement ratio, without significantly affecting the fluidity of the fresh mixture and increasing the economic cost. In addition, compared with the sole addition of limestone powder, dual addition of metakaolin and limestone powder can effectively improve the strengths. The reason of this phenomenon was investigated by means of XRD, TG-DTG, SEM, LF-NMR and isothermal calorimetry, etc. The reactive aluminum-rich phases in metakaolin react with limestone powder in the hydration process, and the formed calcium carboaluminate reduces the porosity and makes the hardened paste denser. The addition of ground granulated blast furnace slag can also improve the strength of the specimen added with limestone powder, whereas, the effect is inferior to that of metakaolin, for the ground granulated blast furnace slag contains less reactive aluminate phases, and accordingly, the amount of calcium carboaluminate generated is lower than that of metakaolin.

Keywords

limestone powder / aluminum-rich phase / mineral admixture / calcium carboaluminate

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