The influence of calcium sulfate content on the hydration of belite-calcium sulfoaluminate cements with different clinker phase compositions

The influence of different amounts of gypsum on the hydration of a belite-rich and a ye'elimite-rich belite-calcium sulfoaluminate clinker (BCSA) was investigated. The hydration kinetics, phase assemblages and compressive strength development of cements prepared using ye’elimite/ calcium sulfate molar ratios of 1, 1.5 and 2 were studied. Besides ettringite and monosulfate, aluminium hydroxide, strätlingite, C−S−H, iron-containing siliceous hydrogarnet and hydrotalcite were present as hydration products. Increasing the amount of gypsum increased the ratio of ettringite to monosulfate formed in the cement paste, lowered the amount of pore solution, delayed the dissolution of belite and ferrite, decreased the formation of strätlingite and, in the case of the ye’elimite-rich BCSA, led to an increase in compressive strength. Increased amounts of belite in the clinker led to the formation of higher quantities of C–S–H, at the expense of strätlingite and a lower compressive strength, as belite has a lower degree of reaction than ye’elimite and due to the formation of more C–S–H and strätlingite compared to the more space-filling ettringite. The thermodynamic model established for BCSA cement hydration agrees well with the experimental data. Compressive strength directly correlated with bound water from thermogravimetric analyses and inversely correlated with the porosity calculated from thermodynamic modelling.

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