Restrained Shrinkage of Alkali-Activated Materials
Marco Sirotti (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Stéphanie Staquet (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Brice Delsaute (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, CRIC-OCCN)
Zhenming Li (Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen)
Guang Ye (TU Delft - Materials and Environment)
Özlem Cizer (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
The formation of micro-cracks due to restrained shrinkage is a significant concern for the durability and in-service implementation of alkali-activated materials (AAM). These cracks develop as a result of partial or total restrained deformations which occur when the material's properties are still evolving, and the deformation rate is high. This makes AAM especially susceptible to cracking during this critical early stage, leading to potential long-term durability issues. Therefore, it is particularly crucial to understand their restrained shrinkage behavior and early-age cracking risk. This chapter discusses two approaches for assessing the cracking sensitivity of AAM with a particular focus on the empirical method. It reviews the existing testing devices for evaluating restrained shrinkage and cracking in AAM, and compares and discusses key findings from the literature.