Effect of Freezing-Thawing Cycles on the Resistance of Self-Consolidating Concrete to Sulfate Attack

摘要

SCC has been used in various applications, such as pavements, marine structures, shallow foundations, etc. that can be concomitantly exposed to sulfate-rich environments and frost action. To evaluate the resistance of SCC mixtures to sulfate attack considering the effect of frost action, the present study introduces accelerated testing procedure combining the exposure to aggressive magnesium and mixed magnesium-sodium sulfate solutions with freezing-thawing cycles. After five months of exposure, the results showed that SCC mixtures incorporating high dosage of fillers (limestone and ultrafine kaolin) had inferior physico-mechanical properties relative to the other SCC mixtures. Thermal and microscopy analyses indicated that mutual effects of sulfate attack and freezing-thawing cycles caused severe distress in such cementitious systems.