MECHANISM OF SULPHATE RESISTANCE

PRESENTER : ABBAS ELTAHIR ELSAKHI LABORATORY SUPERVISOR / CHEMIST QATAR NATIONAL CEMENT COMPANY

Cement concrete is the most widely used building material due to its satisfying performance in strength requirements. But when dealing with durability aspects of concrete, the chemical attack which results in,
Deterioration of concrete.

Volume change.

Cracking of concrete.

Modes of Concrete Deterioration

acidic type

expansion type

onionpeeling type

Mechanism of Sulphate Attack

Calcium hydroxide & alumina bearing phase of hydrated cement

vulnerable to attack by Sulphate ions, Ettringite & Gypsum are primary products of the chemical reaction between a Sulphate bearing solutions and cement hydration products. Failure by expansion of concrete in presence of Sulphate is due to the formation of Ettringite.
The attack of Sulphate on concrete is due to two principal actions, the

reaction of either Sodium or Magnesium Sulphate with calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2, to form Gypsum, [Eq. (1) & (2)], and the reaction of formed Gypsum with Calcium Aluminate hydrated to form Ettringite [Eq. (3)].

1. Na2SO4 + Ca(OH)2 + 2H2O

2. MgSO4 + Ca(OH)2 + 2H2O

CaSO4.2H2O + 2NaOH

CaSO4.2H2O + Mg(OH)2

3. 3CaO.Al2O3.12H2O + 3[CaSO4.2H2O] + 13H2O 3CaO.Al2O3.3CaSO4.31 H2O 4. MgSO4 + C-S-H CaSO4.2H2O + M-S-H

 Factors Affecting Sulphate Resistance

Parameters related to material properties such as: cement type and its content in the mix, mineral admixture type, degree of hydration and curing conditions. Parameters related to hydrated concrete properties such as: pore structure, permeability, diffusivity and mechanical properties. Parameters related to exposure conditions such as: types of ions associated with Sulphate, concentration of Sulphate, time of exposure, and temperature of exposure.

Temperature of Exposure

Type of Cement

Curing Conditions

Effect of Some Parameters on Sulphate Attack

Presence of chloride with Sulphate

Sulphate Concentration

Types of Sulphate

Type of Cement:
Sulphate attack depend on the availability of Calcium hydroxide

Ca(OH)2 & C3A. Cement that has low C3A has good Sulphate resistance. Also high content of cement in the concrete increase its Sulphate resistance.
Blending of mineral admixture such as: ground granulated blast furnace

slag (G G B F S), fly ash (F.A), Silica fume (S.F) ..Etc, in cement increase the resistance to Sulphate attack.
The superior performance of blended cement over plain cement

concrete is attributed to the Pozzolanic reaction that consumes the Calcium hydroxide and to the dilution of Calcium Aluminate hydrates phase. Due to reduction in the quantity of plain cement in the total binder.

Curing Conditions:
Curing conditions of the concrete influence the hydration process.

For full hydration and strength development, longer and moist curing is required. It is observed that there is a beneficial effect of short initial air curing as apposed to continuous moist curing, on long-term Sulphate resistance of plain and blended concrete. The reasons for such behavior could be:
Initial dry curing reduces Ca(OH)2 concentration in the surface

zone.

Initial dry curing do little carbonation in surface zone and reduce

the availability of Ca(OH)2 for Sulphate attack.

 Types of Sulphate:
Deterioration rate of concrete under Sulphate attack also depends on

the types of Sulphate. Results of Sodium and Magnesium Sulphate solution attack on mortar and concrete of plain cement type - I and type - V, Fly ash, Silica-fume and ground granulated blast furnace slag blended cement are shown on table 1
Cement type OPC SRC OPC +20% F.A OPC +10% S.F OPC +70% GGBFS Strength reduction in % In Na2SO4 In MgSO4 39 34 22 9 18 62 53 65 72 75 Expansion in % In Na2SO4 0.104 0.113 0.111 0.082 0.099 0.046 0.031 0.056 0.096 0.067

Sulphate Concentration
Deterioration of concrete by Sulphate attack depends on concentration

of Sulphate in exposure solution. Higher concentration of Sulphate leads to quick deterioration. Mortar cubes of plain and blended cement were exposed to SO4-- solution of varying concentrations (1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 & 4.0%), for up to 24 months. Degree of deterioration was evaluated by strength reduction. It was found that the rate of deterioration increased with increase in SO4-- concentration for both plain and blended cement. The sample prepared with Fly Ash showed less deterioration compared to others, for all concentration and all times of exposure , the highest strength reduction was in type I.

Presence of chloride with Sulphate At high concentration of chloride, the protective alkaline layer on steel reinforcement of concrete is broken, and in the presence of Oxygen & humidity, steel reinforcement gets corroded. The presence of chloride in Sulphate solution affects the deterioration of concrete under Sulphate attack. Study was made to see this effect on plain and blended cement mortar by exposing the mortar to 2.10% SO4-- solution & mixture of 2.10% SO4-- solution plus 15.70% Chloride solution for 365 days, the results showed that the deterioration was relatively more in pure Sulphate solution. Increase in Sulphate resistance of cement in presence of chloride attributed to;
Transformation of Aluminate hydrate phase into Chloro-Aluminate phase,

there by reducing the quantity of Ettringite formed.

The rate of diffusion of chloride ions being much higher than that of

Sulphate ions, allow he chloride to react with C3S to form Calcium Chloro Aluminate hydrated as a result, quantity of C3S available for Sulphate ions to react with and form Ettringite is reduced

 Temperature of Exposure As a fact that increasing the temperature of the

Sulphate solution, accelerated the Sulphate attack in all types of mortars

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