Mechanical properties of cement pastes: microstructure, variability and probabilis...
| Grant number: | 16/05278-5 |
| Support type: | Regular Research Grants |
| Duration: | September 01, 2016 - February 28, 2019 |
| Field of knowledge: | Engineering - Civil Engineering |
| Principal Investigator: | Vanderley Moacyr John |
| Grantee: | Vanderley Moacyr John |
| Home Institution: | Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
| Assoc. researchers: | Bruno Luís Damineli ; Liz de Mello Zanchetta ; Marco Quattrone ; Maria Alba Cincotto |
Abstract
Currently, the order is to save the non-renewable natural resources, promoting the reduction of environmental impacts, having as goal the eco-efficiency which links economy and ecology and leads to sustainable development. One of the most discussed and studied environmental impacts is the greenhouse effect: the atmosphere transparency has been seriously affected by the huge emission of polluting gases such as CO2 which significant portion is due from calcination of limestone, the main raw material for cement production. In 2014, the cement industry has responded by issuing 2,060 MtCO2, about 5.7% of global CO2 emissions.One of the strategies to reduce CO2 emissions from cement plant is to increase the efficiency of binders' use in the cementitious materials: produce more concretes and mortars with less binder to avoid increasing the cement production to meet the growing demand. The key to optimize the binder content at the dosage of these materials is in the packing control, the dispersion of particles' control and the use of inert fines. These changes in dosages of cementitious materials, including the different water/cement ratios, should generate different microstructures that may still disclosing big surprises in deepening the knowledge of these new materials.The aim of this work consists in the expansion of knowledge of these novel microstructures, since, so far, there are no available data in the literature about them. For this will be drawn up different cementitious materials with smaller amounts of binder and will be analyzed their microstructures in different scales, to provide information about macro, micro and nano-sized features. The different porosities, cracks and particle distributions and packing will be reviewed to provide basis for the prediction of durability and performance of these new materials. Will be used multiple laboratory techniques, most linked to microscopy, in order to obtain qualitative and quantitative information of these new microstructures, and design it for specific purposes in the medium term. (AU)