Increasing the strength of concretes made with blended cements.

Mixed cements are characterized by a lower early compressive strength compared with that of conventional Portland cement. Using a very simple three-dimensional geometric model, a "physical" approach to raising early strength is considered, which consists in reducing the water/binder ratio and increasing the packing density of particles in the cement paste using a highly effective water reducing additive. It is shown that the cement paste made from mixed cement can have the same or even higher strength than the paste of "pure" Portland cement.

Author: P.-C. Aitcin, W. Wilson, S. Mindess

Section: Science and production

Keywords: Portland cement, blended cement, filler, hydration, water- binder ratio, strength.