The use of high performance concrete in construction has been enhanced by the use of pozzolanic materials. However, the use of these materials has not been optimized. Such optimization may be achieved by a systematic increase in the amount and combination of pozzolanic material additions, with accompanying studies of their effects on the mechanical, durability and microstructural characteristics of blended concrete. This work evaluated various concrete durability issues by studying systematic increases of pozzolanic materials such as fly ash and blast furnace slag (BFS) in the range of 25, 50 and 70%, and silica fume at 10% of total cementitious materials, forming various binary and ternary concrete blends. The concrete specimens were cured for a period of seven days after demoulding in line with widely practiced commercial curing procedures. The research explored the role and effectiveness of various binary and ternary blends of pozzolanic materials on the mechanical, durability and microstructural characteristics of concrete. Durability was evaluated by two independent rapid chloride permeability tests measured as charge passed and chloride conductivity from the RCPT and UCT tests respectively. These two rapid tests were coupled with long-term ponding tests to evaluate chloride ingress and the extent of corrosion for a period of two years. Further durability tests such as carbonation, drying shrinkage and porosity of these blends were also undertaken. This study also utilized micro-analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy to follow the hydration mechanism in various binary and ternary blends. Statistical significance testing was used to analyse and confirm all experimental results and conclusions. It is well known that a level of caution is exercised in the construction industry in the use of ternary blends. This study aims to evaluate the durability aspects of ternary concrete blends, in addition to binary blends, for resistance to chloride, corrosion, carbonation attacks and provide recommendations relating to the limits of blending level, as well as exposure conditions for blended concretes, based on the results of this study. It is expected that this will fill a major knowledge gap observed in the concrete industry. A comparison of two rapid chloride permeability tests such as UCT and RCPT indicates that the UCT test is easy and practicable, and does not contradict results obtained in the standard RCPT. However, the statistical significance of results obtained for some blends was only able to be established by using the RCPT. This effect can be attributed to the larger size specimens compared to UCT. The recommended blend to acquire both early-age and long-term strength development in fly ash is the ternary blends comprising 10% silica fume and 25% fly ash cast using lower w/b ratio. In addition, the same blend exhibited lower carbonation depth, lower charge passed from RCPT, lower chloride ingress and higher corrosion resistance characteristics from long-term ponding test compared to other blends of fly ash. In BFS blends, an increase in compressive strength was observed only in the specimens of 25% BFS compared to other higher percentage blends, while the higher addition of 50 and 70% replacement showed no significant difference in compressive strength between them and their corresponding ternary blends with addition of silica fume. The results of this study indicate that control (OPC) specimens cast with increased w/b ratio of 0.48 showed higher chloride ingress compared to both binary blends of 70% fly ash and 70% BFS specimens. This indicates that (OPC) cast using higher w/b ratio is to be avoided in chloride environments. On the other hand, though, the ternary blends of 10% silica fume and up to 50% fly ash exhibited lower chloride ingress compared to their respective binary blends of fly ash. However, these ternary blends exhibited lower compressive strength, more negative corrosion potential and higher corrosion rate, compared to the respective binary blends of 25% fly ash and its ternary blends. Therefore, the recommended blend observed in the long-term ponding test is the ternary blend of 25% fly ash and 10% silica fume. The recommended level of corrosion resistance in slag specimens is achieved by the use of ternary blends comprising silica fume at 10% added to the blend that contains up to 70% slag. However, the recommended level of slag for a lower carbonation effect is the use of a ternary blend comprising 50% slag and 10% silica fume (3B5S1) which showed a carbonation depth of 10.8 mm and a compressive strength of 53.2 MPa after 365 days of exposure. The drying shrinkage of concrete increased with the increase in fly ash and the same trend was observed in BFS specimens. However, the results were not significantly different between their respective blends. The extent of carbonation in fly ash specimens was higher compared to BFS blends specimens. This can be attributed to the formation of dusty and weak surfaces on the outer surface in addition to the excessive leaching of sodium chloride solution from the long-term ponding test in the former specimens compared to later. The high volume pozzolanic materials, irrespective of fly ash or BFS and addition of silica fume (70% fly ash and 10% silica fume, and 70% BFS and 10% silica fume), showed higher cumulative pore volume indicating that these blends with seven days of curing were not beneficial. These high volume ternary blends required prolonged curing to release portlandite from the hydration of cement to continue the pozzolanic reaction. This study has shown that 7-days curing of the pozzolanic concrete is inadequate if pozzolanic activity is to be invoked. This is particularly the case when it is expected that the concrete is likely to be subjected to a harsher than usual environment characterised by a dry atmosphere.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Sc.). / Written for the Dept. of Bioresource Engineering. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/05/30). Includes bibliographical references.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/1947/10018. / "April 2009" Includes bibliographic references: P. 13.

No description available.

Concrete used in pavements has to be durable to withstand the load and wear imposed by vehicles moving across it and the effects of drying shrinkage and thermal changes. Failure of the pavement by either excessive cracking or degradation of the surface results in poor riding quality and low skid resistance. The inclusion of Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA), otherwise known as fly ash, generally improves the quality of pavement concrete and thus extends its useful life. The PFA used for the thesis was from the Lethabo power station's second electrostatic precipitator field (Lethabo Field 2 PFA). This Field 2 PFA has a very close resemblance to the expected classified commercial Lethabo PFA of the future. PFA is characterised by its fineness. The Field 2 PFA had 7.7 percent retained on the 45 micron sieve. This was considerably finer than the current commercial Matla PFA with about 12 percent retained. It was thus expected that the higher quality Lethabo Field 2 PFA could be used to produce higher quality concrete. The other mix materials were those commonly used in the Western Cape. The aggregates used were Cape Flats Dune sand and Malmesbury shale (hornfels). The dune sand typically has very little fines content, causing severe bleeding problems in normal concrete mixes. The crushed coarse aggregate was 13 mm and flaky in shape. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was obtained from the De Hoek cement factory. The investigation was carried out in two parts. First was the development of a wide range of mixes, varying 28 day design strength (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 MPa), percentage of PFA as part cement replacement (OPC only, 15% PFA, 30% PFA, 50% PFA and 70% PFA) and the coarse aggregate content to give under-, average- and over-sanded mixes. Over this wide range of mixes, the fresh properties and development of the compressive strength were observed. Secondly, properties affecting pavement quality concrete were observed on a similar range of mixes. These properties were flexural strength, surface wear resistance by wire brush, sand blasting and ball race abrasion and the drying shrinkage.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Various types of anionic, non-ionic, cationic and zwitterionic additives are used in the coatings industry for the production of paints and colourants. These additives are added to enhance properties such as stabilization of pigment dispersions, wetting of pigments and improvement of open time and freeze/thaw stability. Very often the exact chemistry of these commercial additives is unknown and this is a limitation for new product developments. The identification and characterization of these multi-component polymeric materials continues to be a challenging task. This research presents the use of various advanced analytical techniques to identify and characterize commercial additives that are used in a multi-component colourant formulation. The focus of the present study is on additives that are based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). The molar mass distribution of PEG-based additives was determined with liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) using solvent gradient elution and at critical conditions of adsorption (LCCC) of PEG. Using the combination of LC-MS, proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR), pyrolysis gas chromatography (py-GC-MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance mode (FTIR-ATR), different additives were identified in terms of the number and type of polymer end groups. The efficiency of the extraction and identification protocol was demonstrated for a blend of additives in a colourant formulation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Verskeie tipes anioniese, nie-ioniese, kationiese en zwitterioniese bymiddels word gebruik in die bedekking nywerheid vir die vervaardiging van verwe en kleurmiddels. Hierdie bymiddels word bygevoeg om sekere eienskappe, soos die stabilisering van pigment dispersie, benatting van pigmente en die verbetering van ope tyd en vries/dooi stabiliteit te versterk. Dikwels is die presiese chemie van hierdie kommersiële bymiddels onbekend en het dit ʼn beperking vir nuwe produk ontwikkeling tot gevolg. Die identifisering en karakterisering van hierdie meer-komponent polimeriese materiaal duur voort om ʼn uitdagings te wees. Hierdie navorsingstudie stel voor die gebruik van verskeie tegnieke om kommersiële bymiddels te identifiseer en karakteriseer wat in meer-komponent kleurmiddel formulasies gebruik word. Die fokus is geplaas op bymiddels wat gebaseer is op poli(etileen glikol) (PEG). The molêre massa verdeling van PEG-gebaseerde bymiddels was bepaal met vloeistofchromatografie gekoppel tot massaspektrometrie (VC-MS) met die gebruik van oplosmiddel gradient eluasie en by kritiese toestande van adsorpsie (VCKT) van PEG. Deur die kombinasie van VC-MS, proton kern magnetiese resonansie spektroskopie (1H KMR), pirolisegaschromatografie (pir-GC-MS) en Fourier-transformasie infrarooi spektroskopie in verswakking totale refleksie modus (FTIR-VTR), is verskillende bymiddels geïdentifiseer in terme van die hoeveelheid en tipe polimeer eindgroep teenwoordig. Die doeltreffendheid van die ekstrahering en identifisering protokol is gedemonstreer vir ʼn mengel van bymiddels in ʼn kleurmiddel formulering.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: An unsaturated, linear, aliphatic polyamide was synthesized from 1,6-hexanediamine and fumaric acid by means of a phosphorylation polycondensation reaction, and successfully crosslinked with a vinyl monomer during an inverse suspension polymerization reaction. The two vinyl monomers that were used were 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and 4-vinyl pyridine. The linear polyamide was characterized by means of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electrospray mass spectrometry (ESMS), while the crosslinked product was characterized by light scattering and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as cryo-SEM. The average particle diameters of the crosslinked product were found to be in the range of 100 to 300 nm. One of the synthesized crosslinked products was used in coating formulations on starchcoated paper. The paper samples were evaluated and compared on the basis of printing quality, colour density and colour uniformity of a printed image, as well as the wet-rub resistance of the coating. A formulation containing 0,1% of the HEMA crosslinked polyamide product was found to give the best performance of the printed image in terms of printing quality, colour density and colour uniformity. Wet-rub resistance was found to improve with increasing concentration of the crosslinked polyamide product. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: 'n Onversadigde, lineêre, alifatiese poli-amied is berei vanaf die monomere 1,6- heksaandiamien en fumaarsuur deur middel van 'n fosforilasie-polikondensasie reaksie, waarna die produk suksesvol gekruisbind is tydens 'n inverse-suspensie polimerisasiereaksie. Twee vinielmonomere, naamlik 2-hidroksi-etiel-metakrilaat (HEMA) en 4- viniel-piridien, is gebruik. Die lineêre poli-amied is deur middel van kern magnetiese resonansie (KMR) en elektronsproei-massaspektrornetrie (ESMS) gekarakteriseer, en die kruisgebinde produk deur middel van ligverstrooing, skandeer-elektronrnikroskopie (SEM), en lae-temperatuur SEM. Daar is bevind dat die gemiddelde partikeldeursneë van die kruisgebinde produk tussen 100 en 300 nm was. Een van die bereide, kruisgebinde produkte (wat met HEMA kruisgebind is) is gebruik in bedekkingsformules op stysel-bedekte papier. Die papiermonsters is ge-evalueer en vergelyk ten opsigte van drukkwaliteit en die diepte en egaligheid van die kleur van 'n gedrukte beeld, asook die natskuurweerstand van die deklaag. Daar is bevind dat 'n formulering wat 0.1% van die kruisgebinde poli-amied produk bevat die beste vertoning lewer in terme van drukkwaliteit, kleur diepte en egaligheid van kleur. Daar is verder bevind dat die natskuurweerstand van die deklaag verbeter het wanneer die konsentrasie van die kruisgebinde poli-amied produk in die formulering verhoog is.

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries