A Study on Conversion Fraction and Carbonation of Pozzolan Blended Concrete through 29Si MAS NMR Analysis

Abstract

The object of this paper is to investigate the carbonation resistance of concretes containing different pozzolanic materials. Three concrete mixtures that included fly ash, silica fume, and nanosilica were prepared, and the mixtures were designed to have similar mechanical properties to exclude the effect of mechanical properties on the carbonation. These pozzolanic materials in concretes have different silicate contents and grain size distributions. Rapid carbonation tests were conducted to investigate the durability of pozzolan blended concretes for carbonation, and the carbonation depth was measured at one, two, four, and eight weeks after 28-day water curing. 29Si NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) experiments were performed, and the conversion fractions for each pozzolan blended concrete were extracted. The degree of carbonation was also assessed based on the Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) results.