Harmful Reactive Constituent in Aggregate

Student Name: Keangsinh Taing

ID: 17010100

Department: Civil Engineering

Course: CE 211 Construction Materials

Instructor’s Name: Kim ngun Bun

21st, April, 2019

 Content

1-Introduction...............................................................................................................................

2-Source of Alkali........................................................................................................................

3-Alkali-Silica Reactivity (ASR).................................................................................................

3.1-Mechanism of ASR....................................................................................................

3.2-Factor Affecting ASR................................................................................................

3.2.1-Reactive Form Silica in Aggregate.............................................................

3.2.2-High-Alkali-Content Pore Solution............................................................

3.2.3-Sufficient Moisture.....................................................................................

4-Alkali-Carbonate Reactivity (ACR).........................................................................................

4.1-Mechanism of ACR...................................................................................................

4.2-Factor Affecting ACR................................................................................................

4.2.1-Composition of Rock..................................................................................

4.2.2-Other Factors..............................................................................................

5-Effect of ASR and ACR...........................................................................................................

6-Conclusion................................................................................................................................
1-Introduction

Aggregate is a mineral particle which obtain through the process of breaking, crushing

and sieving the rock or waste material or by-product from an industrial process or mining

operation. Aggregate containing certain constituent that can curse chemical reaction with alkali

hydroxides in the pore solution of concrete. There are two forms of alkali aggregate reactivity

(AAR) which are alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and alkali-carbonate reaction (ACR). Usually,

ASR is more often concern than ACR due to the reason of most of aggregate has a common

mineral which is silica.

2-Sources of Alkali

While Portland cement is considered the main contributor of alkali, the source of alkali

also can be from any material such as:

 Aggregates

 Chemical admixtures

 External source (e.g., seawater and deicing salt)

 Wash water

 Supplementary cementing materials. (e.g., fly ash, slag, silica fume and natural

pozzolans)

3-Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR)

Alkali-silica reaction is the reaction in either concrete or mortar between the alkali

hydroxide (NaOH and KOH) in the pore solution with certain type of silica mineral present in

some aggregates.

3.1- Mechanism of ASR

Concrete is the product result from a mixture of water, cement, fine and coarse

aggregate. During the mixing process, the chemicals present in cement react with silica mineral

could form an alkali-silica reaction. This reaction form a gel substance that absorb water and
expands, causing the aggregate within the concrete to swell. As the aggregate swells, internal

stresses are developed in the concrete leading to cracking. The reaction can be indicated

through two-step process:

1. Alkali + reactive silica => alkali-silica gel

2. Alkali-silica gel + moisture => expansion

However alkali-silica gel is not important in influencing the destructive ASR. If gel is

low swelling will not be an issue. High swelling gel may cause pressure exceeding the tensile

strength of the concrete. Moreover, the rate of migration of pore fluid to the reaction site and

temperature also influence swelling pressure.

3.2-Factors Affecting ASR

There are three main condition that influence the existence of alkali-silica reaction:

3.2.1-Reactive Form of Silica in Aggregate:

Fine and coarse aggregate storing more than the following quantity of constituent are

considered potentially reactive:

 Opal – more than 0.5% by mass

 Chert or Chalcedony – more than 3.0% by mass

 Tridymite or Cristobalite – more than 0.1% by mass

 Optically strained or Microcrystalline quatz (*) – more than 0.5% by mass

 Natural volcanic glasses – more than 3.0% by mass

(*as found in granite, gneiss, graywackes, argilities, phyllites, siltstone, and some natural sands

and gravels)

3.2.2-High Alkali-Content Pore Solution

Alkali hydroxides in solution can react easily with reactive form of silica in aggregate.

Moreover the pore solution’s pH or alkalinity increase, the potential for the alkali-silica

reaction also increase. At higher concentration of alkali hydroxide, even the stable form of
silica cannot resist the attack. Therefore if the alkali concentration is high enough, the alkali

hydroxide are able to break the stronger silicon bonds in order to form the gel reaction product.

3.2.3-Sufficient Moisture

Moisture allows migration of alkali ions to reaction site, and the resulting gel absorbs

moisture, leading to expansion. Due to this reason ASR does not occur in concrete that are dry

in service. Furthermore, the expansive ASR can exist in concrete which have a relative

humidity above 80%. In order to reduce the movement of moisture and alkali in concrete, it

need to have any reduction in permeability by using low water-cement ratio, supplementary

cementitious material (SCMs).

In addition, there are few more factors that affect the existence of alkali-silica reactivity

such as concrete alkali content, external alkali, wetting and drying, and temperature.

4- Alkali-Carbonate Reactivity (ACR)

Alkali-carbonate reaction is the reaction in either concrete or mortar between alkali

hydroxide in the pore solution and certain carbonate rocks, such as calcite dolostone and

dolomitic limestone, exist in some aggregate. Alkali-carbonate reactivity is not very common

since alkali-reactive carbonate aggregate have a specific composition.

4.1-Mechanism of ACR

The mechanism of ACR is occurred by dedolomotization which is the reaction between

alkali from cement with the dolomite crystal that present in aggregate lead to result of brucite

and calcite. Brucite could be responsible for the expansion in volume after dedolomitization of

the aggregate, due to absorption of water. This mechanism is known as swelling of clay matrix

which were proposed by Swenson and Gillot and written as:

CaMg(CO3)2 + 2ROH --> CaCO3 + Na2CO3 + R2(OH)2

dolomite + alkali hydroxide --> calcite + brucite + alkali carbonate

(R represent an alkali element such as potassium, sodium, or lithium.)

 However, there is still debate among researchers whether the expansion is due to

dedolomitization reaction or the alkali-silica reaction due to the observation of alkali silica gel

in mortar and concrete containing alkali-carbonate reactive aggregate. And it indicates that the

reaction of cryptocrystalline quartz that contain in that aggregate, is responsible for the

expansion of the mortar and concrete, and the accompanying dedolomitization is harmless.

(Katayama)

4.2-Factor Affecting ACR

There are a number of influencing factor that increase expansion of concrete due to the

mechanism of ACR such as:

4.2.1-Characteristic of Rock

. The composition features of the rock that appear to maximize reactivity or expansion

are:

 Contain 5 to 25% clay or insoluble residue.

 Has calcite-dolomite’s ratio approximately 1:1.

 Has small size of the discrete floating rhombs.

 Increase in dolomite content up to point where interlocking of the dolomite rhombs

becomes a restrain factor

4.2.2-Other Factors

There are also involving with other factors that influence the expansion such as:

 Increasing coarse aggregate size

 Moisture availability

 Increased alkali content of concrete (or pH of solution)

 Increased proportion of reactive stone in the coarse aggregate

 Lower concrete strength

5-Effect of ASR and ACR

The harmful ASR and ACR expansion happened due to the reaction product that

happening during the mixing process of concrete. It can result in distinguish physical

appearance such as cracking, expansion, surface deposited, pop outs and color change.

 Cracking is a narrow space between two surface which has broken or been moved

apart.

 Expansion is a longitudinal cracks or map (random pattern) cracking that occur do to

some mechanism such as freeze-thaw, deicer or sulfate exposure.

 Surface deposited is a deposit of ASR gel or calcium carbonate that can be found along

crack in concrete. It leave deposit on the surface ranging in color from white to grey.

 Pop outs is the breaking away of a small fragment of concrete surface, usually 25-

50mm, due to internal pressure that leaves a shallow typically conical depression.

 Color Change is the discoloration surface along crack area and it may bleached,

pinkish or brownish in color extending several millimeters from the crack.

6-Conclusion

The harmful constituent in aggregate happen due to two difference types of alkali

aggregate reactivity (AAR) which are alkali-silica (ASR) reaction and alkali-carbonate reaction

(ACR). Based on common composition in aggregate, ASR is more concern than ACR. Due to

AAR reaction it lead the concrete or mortar to face the problem when it dry such as cracking,

expansion, pop outs, surface deposit and color change.

Reference

1. Farny, J.A., & Kerkhoff, B., (July, 31, 2007). Cocrete Technology: Diagnosis and

Control of Akali-Aggregate Reaction in Concrete. Retrieved from

http://www.cement.org/docs/default-source/fc_concrete_technology/is413-diagnosis-

and-control-of-alkali-aggregate-reactions-in-concrete.pdf

2. Thomas,M.D.A.,Fournier, B., Folliard, K.J (March 2013). Alkali-Aggregate

Reactivity (AAR) Fact Book. Retrieved from

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/concrete/asr/hif09001/hif09001.pdf

,page 1, 9-29, 197-202.