A Study On Self-curing For High-performance Concrete

The efficiency of curing seriously affects the mechanical properties of high-performance concrete. As high-performance concrete could be made using a high cement content and a low water/cement ratio, and by the addition of highly reactive pozzolans, which resulting in the hydration proceeds quickly, the hydrated cement paste is very dense, and water from the outside cannot reach the interior of the concrete to achieve complete hydration, the traditional methods of curing may fail in high-performance concrete.This research was to achieve the purpose of self-curing for high-performance concrete, by the methods of incorporation of super-absorbent polymer in the concrete, which supported continuous wet curing. This article has described the detailed theoretical background of self-curing technology and operational processes, an improved absorption test for assessment of the adequacy of curing for concrete has been presented in this article, and high- performance concrete at different environmental conditions have been tested by the means of evaporation of water from fresh concrete, the absorptivity of the paste, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetry, internal relative humidity, water-permeability and freezing-thawing of concrete. Compared with the concrete without super-absorbent polymer, the results show that the concrete with self-curing can markedly control the various shrinkage deformation, increase the degree of cement hydration, improve the micro-structure, and significantly enhance durability. The study shows that the self-curing technology can be successfully applied to the high-performance concrete while being relatively insensitive to external curing.