Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392

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Cement and Concrete Composites

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Compressive strength, pore structure and chloride transport properties of T

alkali-activated slag/fly ash mortars
Xiang Hua, Caijun Shia,∗, Zhenguo Shib,∗∗, Liuyang Zhanga
a
Key Laboratory for Green & Advanced Civil Engineering Materials and Application Technology of Hunan Province, International Science and Technology Innovation
Centre for Green & Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Hunan Province, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, PR China
b
Laboratory for Concrete & Construction Chemistry, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The effects of silicate modulus, alkali dosage, fly ash content and steam curing on compressive strength, pore
Alkali-activated materials structure and chloride transport properties of alkali-activated slag/fly ash (AASF) mortars have been in-
Compressive strength vestigated. The results showed that steam curing exhibited little influences on compressive strength and chloride
Rapid chloride migration transport properties of AASF mortars. The compressive strengths of AASF mortars increased with the increase of
Rapid chloride permeability
silicate modulus, alkali dosage, and decreased with the increase of the fly ash content due to the changes of pore
Pore structure
structure within the range of 10–104 nm. The decrease of both chloride migration coefficient from the rapid
chloride migration (RCM) test and passed charge from the rapid chloride permeability (RCP) test of AASF
mortars were observed with the increase of silicate modulus and decrease of fly ash content due to the im-
provement of their pore structure in the aforementioned range. However, inconsistent results between RCM and
RCP tests were observed with the increase of alkali dosage. The immersion of the AASF mortars in water de-
creased their passed charge due to the ion leaching out from their pore solution. The increase of water-to-
specimen ratio increased the amount of leached substance and decreased the passed charge, but showed no effect
on their chloride migration coefficient. Thus, RCM test is more suitable for characterization of chloride transport
properties of alkali-activated materials than RCP test.

1. Introduction
Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) are produced by mixing alkali
activator(s) such as caustic alkali and alkaline salts with precursors
such as ground granulated blast furnace slag, fly ash and silica fume
[1]. Due to the variations of precursors and activators, the properties
and microstructure of alkali-activated materials can vary in a very wide
range [2–5]. On the other hand, properly designed alkali-activated
materials can demonstrate excellent mechanical properties and dur-
ability.
Several studies have reported that AAMs exhibited more compact
pore structure and thus higher chloride resistance than Portland ce-
ment-based materials [6–9]. It was observed that the pore structure and
chloride penetration resistance of AAMs could be enhanced with the
increase of alkali dosage and silicate modulus [10,11]. However, it was
also reported that the compressive strength and chloride penetration
resistance of AAMs could be reduced when the alkali dosage and silicate
modulus exceeded an optimal value [1,12]. Thus, the effects of material
parameters on the strength development, pore structure and the re-
sulting chloride transport properties of the AAMs still needs to be
clarified.
Testing methods for the assessment of the chloride transport prop-
erties of Portland cement-based materials can be classified into four
catalogues [13]: ponding test, diffusion cell, penetration depth and
conductivity. The rapid chloride permeability (RCP) test measures the
conductivity of concrete and requires very short measurement time. It
has been standardized in AASHTO T277 or ASTM C1202 [14,15].
However, this method has been criticized for decades as the electrical
conductivity of concrete is controlled by both the pore structure and the
composition of the pore solution. Shi et al. [16] estimated that change
of solution chemistry by replacing Portland cement with SCMs such as
silica fume could reduce the electrical conductivity of concrete by more
than 90%, which has little to do with the transport of chloride ions in
concrete. These phenomena became much more severe for AAMs, in
particular for different AAMs due to the high alkali concentration of the
pore solution and the various types of alkali activators and precursors

∗
Corresponding author.
∗∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: cshi@hnu.edu.cn (C. Shi), Zhenguo.Shi@empa.ch (Z. Shi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2019.103392
Received 25 February 2019; Received in revised form 1 July 2019; Accepted 8 August 2019
Available online 09 August 2019
0958-9465/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
X. Hu, et al. Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392

used [17–19]. Table 2

Specimens usually require to be water saturated before chloride Factorial design of experiments with three factors and four levels.
permeability testing. Some ions in pore solution of the specimens can be Factor Level
leached out during the water saturation, which can reduce their effects
on the electrical conductivity of the specimens. Moreover, water-to- 1 2 3 4
specimen ratio can significantly affect the extent of leaching of pore
Silicate modulus 0 0.5 1 1.5
solution and thus RCP test results. This effect is expected to be more Fly ash replacement level, wt. % 0 20 40 60
significant for concrete made of AAMs, since higher extent of leaching Alkali dosage, wt. % 2 4 6 8
and thus higher effect of pore solution chemistry is expected due to its
higher pore alkalinity compared to concrete made of Portland cement-
based materials. However, no publications can be found about the ef- Table 3
fects of water saturation on leaching out of substances in pore solution Mixture proportion of AASF mortar.
and the accelerated chloride permeability test results. No. Water/ Cementing components, Silicate Alkali dosage
In order to clarify the effect of material parameters and pore solu- binder ratio wt. % modulus (Na2O wt. %)
tion chemistry on chloride transport properties, specimens prepared
Slag Fly ash
with different precursors and alkali activators with different alkali do-
sage and silicate modulus were investigated. The problems of using the 1 0.45 100 0 0 2
RCP test (such as ASTM C 1202 [14]) for AAMs was also further clar- 2 0.45 80 20 0 4
ified by investigating the leaching of the pore solution ions for speci- 3 0.45 60 40 0 6
4 0.45 40 60 0 8
mens saturated with different water-to-specimen ratios. The obtained
5 0.45 100 0 0.5 4
results from RCP testing methods were compared and discussed with 6 0.45 80 20 0.5 2
those obtained from rapid chloride migration (RCM) test following the 7 0.45 60 40 0.5 8
procedure described in NT Build 492 [15]. These results are expected to 8 0.45 40 60 0.5 6
provide some scientific bases on the use and selection of these two tests 9 0.45 100 0 1.0 6
10 0.45 80 20 1.0 8
for evaluation of the chloride resistance of AAMs.
11 0.45 60 40 1.0 2
12 0.45 40 60 1.0 4
13 0.45 100 0 1.5 8
2. Experimental 14 0.45 80 20 1.5 6
15 0.45 60 40 1.5 4
2.1. Materials and mixture proportions 16 0.45 40 60 1.5 2

In this study, Grade 95 ground granulated blast furnace slag powder
in compliance with GB/T18046-2008 and Grade II power plant fly ash
in compliance with GB/T1596-2005 were used as cementitious com-
ponents of the AAMs. Their chemical compositions are given in Table 1.
The density and Blaine specific surface area were 2900 kg/m3 and
446 m2/kg for slag, and 2350 kg/m3 and 270 m2/kg for fly ash. Liquid
sodium silicate with an original modulus (SiO2/Na2O) of 2.9, baume
degree 38 and solid content 38% was used, then was adjusted with
NaOH to different moduli for use as activator. NaOH pellets with 99.9%
purity were used to adjust the designed modulus of sodium silicate. The
required chemical agents were prepared with deionized water. Analy-
tical grade NaCl and NaOH were used to prepare catholyte and anolyte
solutions. Analytical AgNO3 was used for determination of chloride
penetration depth. The sand from Xiang River of Hunan, China was
used and sieved to a fineness modulus of 2.5 to prepare mortar speci-
mens.
Alkali-activated slag/fly ash (AASF) mortars with a water-to-binder
(w/b) ratio of 0.45 and binder-to-sand ratio of 0.4 were prepared. The
water contained in liquid sodium silicate activator was considered in
the total mixing water. Factorial design considering three factors and
four levels was applied for the design of mixture proportion for com-
pressive strength and chloride transportation measurement, as shown in
Table 2. Three factors include silicate modulus (Ms), fly ash replace-
ment level (FA%) and alkali activator dosage (Na2O%). The 16 batches
of mixture proportions were designed according to the factorial design
table L16(43) and are shown in Table 3. After the tests, the average
results of four groups with same level of each factor were reported. For
example, the average value of groups 1–4 was recorded as the result of
For pore structure measurement, samples with various silicate moduli, alkali
dosages or fly ash contents with combinations of two fixed factors of three
(Ms = 1.0, FA% = 20%, Na2O = 4%) were prepared. The AASF mortars with
100% slag (AAS), silicate modulus of 0 and different alkali dosages (2, 4, 6 and
8%) were prepared for studies on the effects of pore solution chemistry on the
chloride transportation test results.
specimen with silicate modulus 0, and average value of groups 1, 6, 11
and 16 was result of specimen with alkali dosage 2% .
According to the designed silicate modulus as shown in Tables 2 and
3, the NaOH pellets were mixed with liquid sodium silicate and cooled
down to the room temperature. Cementitious components and sand
were firstly dry mixed in mortar mixer, then the prepared sodium si-
licate solution was slowly added into the mixer. After the mixing, the
mortar was cast into 40 × 40 × 40 mm3 cubic mold and Φ100 mm
cylindrical mold with height of 100 mm. The fresh mortars with molds
were placed on a vibrating table for 10–15 s to ensure the compactness
of AASF mortar specimens according to GB/T18046-2016. After
casting, the specimens together with molds were cured in standard
curing room at the temperature of (20 ± 2) °C and relative hu-
midity > 95% for 24 h. After demolding, the mortars for standard
curing were placed in the standard curing room for 28 and 91 d. For
steam curing, a heating rate of 20 °C/h was applied until the tem-
perature reached 80 °C. Specimens were cured at this temperature for
20 h before cooling at a rate of 30 °C/h to the room temperature.
Afterwards, the mortars were cured in the standard curing room for
another 27 d before testing.

Table 1
Chemical compositions of cementitious materials (wt.%).
SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO Na2Oeq SO3 Loss of Ignition Total

Slag 33.00 13.91 0.82 39.11 10.04 1.26 0.16 0.08 98.38
Fly Ash 54.29 31.18 5.53 1.34 1.08 1.73 0.29 3.95 99.39

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X. Hu, et al.
2.2. Testing methods
2.2.1. Compressive strength
Compressive strength were tested on cubic mortar specimens after
3, 7, 28 and 91 d of standard curing or 1 d of steam curing at 80 °C plus
27 d of standard curing. The compression load was applied using a
compressive strength testing machine with 300 kN capacity at the rate
of (2.4 ± 2) kN/s. The average results of three specimens of each
group were reported.
2.2.2. Pore structure
For pore structure measurement, 40 × 40 × 40 mm3 cubic AASF
mortar was crushed into pieces. Fragment samples with a size of about
3 mm were chosen from the center of cylinder mortars, then immersed
in ethanol for 24 h to stop further alkali-activation, and dried in an oven
at 60 °C until constant mass. The density of the samples was measured
with density analyzer before the pore structure measurement. Pore
structure of those dried mortar samples was measured using
Quantachrome PoreMaster 60 mercury intrusion porosimeter. The
pressure ranged from 20 psi to 60000 psi was applied with a contact
angle of 140° and a surface tension of 106.7 psi/μm.
2.2.3. Measurement of chloride ion transport in AASF mortars
In this study, both RCM and RCP tests were used to examine how
different parameters affect the transport properties of AASF mortar. As
the pore structure of alkali-activated materials is more compacted than
Portland cement-based materials, chloride ions and other aggressive
substances are more difficult to penetrate into specimens [20]. There-
fore, a thickness of 30 mm rather than 50 mm AASF mortar specimen
was employed for RCM and RCP tests to allow a fully water saturation
in short time Following the NT Build 492 and ASTM C 1202, the surface
dried specimens were placed in a vacuum container. The absolute
pressure in the vacuum container was reduced to around 30 mbr
(3 kPa) within a few minutes. The vacuum was maintained for 3 h,
followed by filling the container with designed amount of deionized
water. Additional vacuum was maintained for 1 h followed by
18 ± 2 h of immersion of the specimens in solution at atmospheric
pressure. The specimens were sliced from the center of 100 mm height
cylinders and tested after 28 and 91 d of curing. The reported results are
averages of two specimens.
2.2.3.1. RCM test. The chloride migration properties were evaluated
partially following the RCM test procedure described in NT Build 492
[15]. NaCl (10% by mass) and NaOH (0.3 mol L−1) solutions were used
as catholyte and anolyte solutions. A power supply was connected to
the solutions and a voltage of 60 V was applied for 72 h. After the test,
cylinder specimen with 30 mm height was split axially into 2 halves for
determination of chloride penetration depth by spraying 0.1 mol L−1
AgNO3 solution. The chloride migration coefficient DRCM were
calculated from the chloride penetration depth according to NT Build
492:
RTL xd − α xd
DRCM = × increasing the silicate modulus up to 1.5. With the increase of alkali
FE t
With
RTL 2c
α=2 erf −1 (1 − d )
FE c0
Where xd is the average chloride ion penetration depth (mm) measured
by spraying 0.1 mol/L silver nitrate solution, E is the applied voltage
(v), T is the average value of the initial and final temperatures (°C) in
the anolyte solution, L is the thickness (mm) of the specimen, t is the
test duration (h), R is the gas constant (J mol−1∙K−1) and F is the
Faraday constant (C mol−1), cd is the chloride concentration
(0.07 mol L−1) at which the color changes, c0 is chloride
concentration (mol L−1) in the upstream cell. The value of
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Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392
cd = 0.07 mol L−1 is for ordinary Portland cement concretes.
However, previous study [21] showed the calculation results were
not significantly affected by the value of cd. Therefore,
cd = 0.07 mol L−1 was used in this study.
2.2.3.2. RCP test. The RCP test was conducted using modified ASTM C
1202 [14]. The specimen preparation and testing set-up were similar to
the description in Section 2.2.3.1. The applied voltage was 60 V. The
electrical current value passed through the sample was recorded every
30 min until 6 h. The total electrical charge passed through the
specimen was calculated according to the following equation:
Q = 900(I0+2 I30 +2 I60+ … …+2 I300 +2 I330+ I360)
Where, Q is total electric charge (C) passed through the sample, I0 is the
initial electrical current (A), It is the electric current (A) at time t.
2.2.3.3. Pore solution expression. The pore solution expression was
conducted after the bath curing to analyze the conductivity of pore
solution following the procedure described in Ref. [22]. The surface
dried specimens were crushed into small pieces and then added into the
stainless steel container used for pore solution expression. The pressure
applied for each test was increased up to 900 kN (510 MPa) at a rate of
1.5–2.5 MPa/s. The highest pressure was held for 1 min, then unloaded
rapidly. The loading cycle was repeated once. The expressed pore
solution was collected with a syringe with its pinhead covered by a
latex tube to prevent leaking. The collected pore solution was injected
into a plastic container and sealed immediately to avoid carbonation.
2.2.3.4. Measurement of leached substances after water saturation. The
effect of pore solution chemistry on the results from both NT Build 492
and ASTM C 1202 tests is also investigated to study the applicability of
these two tests on AAM. In standards relate to both of these two
methods, the water to specimen ratio was not specified for the water
saturation. In this study, specimens were saturated with water to
specimen ratios of 1, 5, 10 and 20 by volume before the chloride
transportation tests. After saturation, the chemical composition of the
water used for saturation was analyzed using ICP/TP. Based on the
measured concentration and volume of solution, the total leached
substances from those specimens were calculated.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Factors influencing the compressive strength of AASF mortars
3.1.1. Activator types and fly ash contents
The effects of silicate modulus, alkali dosages and fly ash contents
on compressive strengths of AASF mortars are shown in Fig. 1. The
results presented in these figures were obtained from the processed
experimental data using factorial design method as described in Section
2.1. AASF mortars activated by NaOH (i.e., Ms = 0) exhibit the lowest
compressive strength, and the compressive strengths are enhanced with
dosage from 2 to 8%, the compressive strengths of AASF mortars are
also gradually increased. However, the increase of fly ash content de-
creases the compressive strength of AASF mortars throughout the
curing age. Overall, the compressive strengths of AASF mortars are
gradually increased with the increase of curing age.
It has been reported that the introduction of silicate ion from so-
dium silicate would enhance the activation effects and compressive
strength of AASF mortar [4,10,23]. However, such effects seem to be
limited to silicate modulus below an optimum value as shown in pre-
vious studies [4,24], above the optimum value the compressive strength
of AAM remained either unchanged or decreased. Some studies re-
ported that the activation reaction degree and compressive strength
were the highest when the modulus was 1.5 [25,26]. However, Shi et al.
X. Hu, et al. Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392

Fig. 1. Effects of (a) silicate modulus, (b) alkali dosage and (c) fly ash content on compressive strengths of AASF mortars.

Fig. 2. Effects of steam curing on compressive strength of AASF mortar with different (a) silicate modulus, (b) alkali dosage and (c) fly ash content.

4
X. Hu, et al.
Fig. 3. Effect of silicate modulus, alkali dosage and fly ash content on the porosity and pore size distributions of AASF mortars.
[4] demonstrated that the optimum silicate modulus was affected by
the used alkali dosage, and shifted from lower (1.0) to higher (2.0)
values when the alkali dosage was increased from 4% to 8%. It is ex-
pected that the higher silicate modulus would result in the formation of
C-(A)-S-H with lower Ca/Si ratio and molar volume. The higher surface
areas of C-(A)-S-H phase with lower Ca/Si ratio was considered to
contribute to the increase of compressive strength [27]. Moreover, it
should be noted that when silicate modulus is too high, the alkalinity
within the specimens may be reduced, which may result in the decrease
of compressive strength [28].
The effect of alkali dosage has also been demonstrated in previous
studies [25,29], where the high compressive strength of AAM, espe-
cially alkali-activated slag, was attributed to the formation of more
C–S–H gel or C-A-S-H gel with increasing the concentration of alkali
activator. Generally, the increase of alkali dosage accelerates the acti-
vation of slag and fly ash [4,10,11]. However, the improvement of
compressive strength was not that significant with the increase of alkali
dosage when higher than 6%. Shi [1] suggested that there was an op-
timal alkali dosage for compressive strength of alkali-activated slag and
the dosage was affected by precursor and curing condition.
The slag/fly ash ratio is also an important factor that influencing the
mechanical properties of AAM [11]. Ismail et al. [30] demonstrated
that the compressive strength of alkali-activated slag mortars and
concretes gradually decreased with the increase of fly ash/slag ratio
after 28 and 91 d of curing. The decease of compressive may be caused
by formation of different type of reaction products. The main reaction
product formed in alkali-activated slag system was C-A-S-H gel with a
low Ca/Si ratio (0.8–1.1) [31,32], whereas amorphous aluminosilicate
gel was generally formed when fly ash was used [33,34]. Moreover, it is
generally accepted that the reactivity of fly ash in alkali condition is
lower than that of slag [35], which may also contribute to the lowering
of the compressive strength of AASF mortars with higher fly ash con-
tent.
3.1.2. Curing conditions
The effects of standard and steam curing on compressive strength of
AASF mortar with different silicate moduli, alkali dosages and fly ash
contents after 28 d are shown in Fig. 2. Overall, the compressive
strength of mortars under steam curing is relatively lower than those
under standard curing, which is independent of silicate modulus, alkali
dosage and fly ash content. However, earlier studies also reported
[36,37] that steam curing increased the early age compressive strength
of concrete, although it slowed down the strength development at later
ages. A possible explanation is that the high temperature under steam
curing accelerates the alkali activation rate and prevents the
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Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392
distribution of reaction products, which reduces the efficiency of filling
and distribution of reaction products in pores at later ages [38,39]. In
this study, AASF mortars were transferred to standard curing room after
steam curing. During this process, it is expected that alkali activation
would be slowed down, which explains the overall lowering of com-
pressive strength of the studied mortars with pre-cured under steam
curing condition. Moreover, the water vapor pressure generated by
steam curing may also result in formation of microcracks at the inter-
face between aggregate and paste [39], which would also reduce the
compressive strength. Overall, the steam curing may help to gain a fast
strength development at early ages, but does not show significant ef-
fects on later strength development and ultimate strength.
By comparing the results in Fig. 2 with those in Fig. 1, it is clear that
the effects of steam curing on compressive strength of AASF mortar is
not as notable as silicate modulus, fly ash content and alkali dosage.
Puertas et al. [11,40] also studied the effects of different factors, such as
ratio of fly ash/slag, activator composition and concentration, and
curing temperature, on compressive strength of AASF pastes. The ef-
fects of curing temperature on strength development were lower than
the effects of other parameters.
3.2. Pore structure
The effects of silicate modulus, alkali dosage and fly ash content on
the porosity and pore size distribution of AASF mortars after 28 d of
standard curing are shown in Fig. 3. The results show that the porosity
of AASF mortar is strongly affected by silicate modulus, alkali dosage
and fly ash content. With the increase of silicate modulus and alkali
dosage, the total porosity of AASF mortar is significantly decreased.
However, an increase of total porosity is observed for AASF mortar with
increasing the fly ash content. From the pore size distribution results
shown in the same figure, it is observed that the change of total porosity
is mainly attributed to the volume changes of pores ranged from 10 to
104 nm, whereas the volume changes of pores smaller than 10 nm and
larger than 104 nm are not significant.
Shi [41] reported that the C–S–H gel formed at the early ages and
polymerization of SiO44- from sodium silicate enhanced the alkali ac-
tivation reaction and improved the pore structure of AAM. Moreover,
the activation reaction can also be enhanced by high alkali dosage. The
improvement of pore structure of these mortars as a result of enhanced
alkali activation well explains the increase of compressive strength with
increasing silicate modulus and alkali dosage as shown in Fig. 1. Similar
relationship between compressive strength and total porosity can also
be established for the AASF mortars with different fly ash content,
where the decrease of compressive strength with increasing fly content
X. Hu, et al.
Fig. 4. Relationship between compressive strength and porosity of AASF
mortar.
was directly related to the increase of total porosity. The changes of
total porosity of these mortars are mainly attributed to the different
types of reaction products formed which have different structures. The
main reaction product formed in alkali-activated slag system is C-A-S-H
gel with dense structure, but high porosity N-A-S-H gel is obtained
when fly ash is used [35]. With the increase of fly ash content, the
formation of N-A-S-H gel increases and the content of C-A-S-H gel de-
creases. The microstructure and main reaction products are converted
from compact C-A-S-H gel to porous N-A-S-H gel, which results in the
decrease of compressive strength. It can be seen from Fig. 4 that the
compressive strength of AASF mortar increases with the decrease of
total porosity and volume percentage of pores larger than 10 nm.
However, the compressive strength is decreased as the volume of pores
smaller than 10 nm decreases. According to the results of data fitting,
the compressive strength of AASF mortar is mainly affected by total
porosity and porosity of capillary pore with size ranged from 10 to
104 nm, which agrees with the results obtained in previous study [41].
3.3. Chloride transport properties
3.3.1. Chloride migration coefficient by RCM method
The effects of alkali modulus, alkali dosage and fly ash contents on
the chloride migration coefficients of AASF mortars after 28 and 91 d of
standard curing are shown in Fig. 5. The results were obtained from the
processed data using factorial design method as described in Section 2.1
for mortars pre-saturated with water to specimen ratio of 20. The re-
sults show that the chloride migration coefficient of AASF mortar is
gradually decreased with the increase of silicate modulus from 0 to 1.5
and alkali dosage from 2% to 8%, whereas it is increased with the in-
crease of fly ash content. Overall, the chloride migration coefficient
decreases from 28 to 91 d as a result of continuing of alkali activation.
Improvement of chloride resistance of AAMs by increasing silicate
modulus has also been reported in previous studies [20,21]. It is mainly
attributed to formation of more reaction products with increase of si-
licate modulus and thus refinement of pore structure [28]. This re-
lationship can also be obtained by comparing the total porosity in Fig. 3
and chloride penetration coefficients in Fig. 5. Furthermore, the re-
duction in chloride penetration coefficients seems to be more related to
the reduction of porosity with pore size in the range of 10–104 nm
shown in Fig. 3, since the changes of gel pore less than 10 nm and pore
larger than 104 nm are not significant. Shi [41] also investigated the
effects of pore size distributions on properties of AAM. It was reported
that the shrinkage and creep were mainly affected by the gel pore in
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Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392
specimens with size smaller than 10 nm, whereas the strength and
permeability were mainly controlled by the capillary pores in the range
of 10–104 nm, which is consistent with observation from the present
study.
3.3.2. Passed charge by RCP method
The effects of silicate modulus, alkali dosage and fly ash content on
electrical charge passed through the AASF mortars after 6 h of RCP test
are shown in Fig. 6. Overall, the passed charge of AASF mortars de-
creases as the curing age increases from 28 to 91 d due to the im-
provement of pore structure by continued alkali activation. For the
mortars activated by NaOH (Ms = 0), the passed charge is higher than
that of the sodium silicate-activated mortars. However, when sodium
silicate is used as activator, the passed charge increases slightly with the
increase of silicate modulus. Similarly, the electric charge passed
through the mortars decreases firstly as alkali dosage increases from 2
to 4%, then increases when it increases to 8%. These observations are
not fully consistent with the effects of silicate modulus and alkali do-
sage on chloride migration coefficients. For AASF mortars containing
fly ash, the passed charge is generally increased with the increase of fly
ash content in the mortars, which is in agreement with chloride mi-
gration coefficient.
In contrast to the RCM test, the results obtained from RCP test are
not only affected by pore structure but also affected by chemical
composition of pore solution, since RCP test is virtually a measurement
of electrical conductivity of specimens, which explains the inconsistent
results from the two methods. In this study, the pore solution of spe-
cimens with 100% slag and sodium silicate with a modulus of 1.0 and
different alkali dosages was extracted by pore solution expression after
28 d of standard curing and the electrical conductivity of the expressed
pore solution was measured. The electrical conductivity of the pore
solution is shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the conductivity of pore
solution significantly increases with the increase of alkali dosage. For
the NaOH-activated slag/fly ash mortars, it has been reported that both
the porosity of the mortars and the conductivity of pore solution were
higher than that of AAM mortar activated by liquid sodium silicate
[42]. This explains the higher passed charge of AASF mortar with
Ms = 0 than that of other mortars. Shi et al. [4] reported that the hy-
droxyl ion concentration of the extracted pore solution from sodium
silicate-activated slag mortar increased with the increase of silicate
modulus and alkali dosage. Moreover, it has also been reported that the
increase of silicate modulus and alkali dosage both changed the pore
solution chemistry of AAM [4,19]. Douglas [19] reported that with the
increase of silicate modulus, the ratio of Na2SiO3/slag within system
increased and resulted in the increase of passed charge. These ob-
servations explained the higher passed charge in AASF mortars at
higher silicate modulus and higher alkali dosage, although the total
porosity is decreased. However, at lower alkali dosage (2%), the higher
passed charge than that of specimen with 4% alkali dosage may come
from effects of porosity although the conductivity of pore solution was
slightly lower. For mortars with increased amount of fly ash, mainly the
pore structure of AASF mortars is changed. Thus, the effects of fly ash
on chloride migration coefficient and passed charge have the same
trend. In conclusion, the effects of silicate modulus and alkali dosage on
passed charge of AASF mortars can be explained by the improvement of
pore structure and increase of electrical conductivity of pore solution.
On one hand, the improvement of pore structure at higher silicate
modulus and alkali dosage decreased the electric passed charge. On the
other hand, higher silicate modulus and alkali dosage will also result in
higher concentration of pore solution, which increases the electrical
conductivity of pore solution and passed charge.
3.3.3. Effects of steam curing on chloride transportation
The effects of steam curing on chloride migration coefficient and
passed charge of AASF mortars with different silicate moduli, alkali
dosages and fly ash contents are shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the
X. Hu, et al. Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392

Fig. 5. Effect of (a) silicate modulus, (b) alkali dosage and (c) fly ash content on chloride migration coefficient of AASF mortar.

Fig. 6. Effect of (a) silicate modulus, (b) alkali dosage and (c) fly ash content on the passed charge (6h) of AASF mortars.

chloride migration coefficient and passed charge of AASF mortar in- charge after steam curing is more notable than that of chloride mi-
creases when steam curing is applied. Compared to standard cured gration coefficient. As the results of passed charge are also affected by
mortars, the pore structure of steam cured samples are mostly coarser at pore solution concentration, it can be expected that the ionic con-
later ages [39]. Moreover, it can also be seen that the increase of passed centration of pore solution in AASF mortars increases when steam

7
X. Hu, et al. Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392

Table 4
Leached substances (g/100g mortar) in the water after water saturation.
Water to specimen ratio by Na2O % Leached substances (%) Total
volume
NaOH KOH Ca(OH)2 Others

1:1 2 0.038 0.004 0.003 0.001 0.046

4 0.042 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.051
6 0.043 0.003 0.003 0.001 0.051
8 0.048 0.003 0.004 0.001 0.056
5:1 2 0.043 0.006 0.007 0.002 0.058
4 0.043 0.005 0.007 0.001 0.056
6 0.046 0.005 0.008 0.002 0.061
8 0.050 0.004 0.007 0.002 0.064
10:1 2 0.065 0.007 0.011 0.003 0.086
4 0.067 0.006 0.012 0.002 0.086
6 0.068 0.005 0.011 0.003 0.088
8 0.069 0.005 0.012 0.002 0.088
20:1 2 0.095 0.004 0.015 0.005 0.119
4 0.099 0.006 0.017 0.004 0.126
6 0.100 0.004 0.019 0.006 0.129
8 0.103 0.005 0.020 0.007 0.13

Fig. 7. Electrical conductivity of pore solution of samples with different alkali
contents (100% slag, Ms = 1.0, 28 d standard curing).
curing was applied.
3.4. Applicability of the RCM and RCP test methods
In addition to the influence of pore structure, RCP test results are
also affected by the ion concentration, since this method measures the
electrical conductivity which is related to the composition and con-
centration of pore solution [6,30]. Compared to Portland cement-based
materials, the pore solution chemistry of AAM is more complicated as a
result of the much higher alkali concentration and different types of
alkali activators and precursors. Thus the effects of pore solution
chemistry on passed charge of AAM are expected to be more significant
than that of Portland cement-based materials. To further justify the
applicability of the RCP and RCM tests for AAM materials, the effects of
pore solution chemistry on results of RCM and RCP tests are also
investigated in this study. The specimens were saturated before chloride
transportation tests with different water to specimen ratios by volume
to investigate the leaching of pore solution substance on chloride
transport. The main elements leached into the water during water sa-
turation are Na, K and Ca. Based on the measured concentration of
these elements, the leached amount of the corresponding compounds
(i.e., NaOH, KOH and Ca(OH)2) is calculated as summarized in
Table 3Table 4. The results show that among all of the leached sub-
stances, the represented three compounds dominate more than 95% of
total content. The mass of leached substances from pore solution to
water during the water saturation are also presented in Fig. 9. The re-
sults show that with the increase of alkali dosage and water to specimen
ratio by volume, the contents of leached substances gradually increase
during the water saturation process.
The relationship between passed charge and leached substances of
the specimens with different water-to-specimen ratios during water
saturation is shown in Fig. 10. The results show that the passed charge
obtained from RCP test decreases linearly with the increase of leached

Fig. 8. Effects of steam curing on chloride migration coefficient and passed charge of AASF mortar with different (a) silicate modulus, (b) alkali dosage and (c) fly ash
content.

8
X. Hu, et al.
Fig. 9. Percentage of leached substances of AAS mortar.
Fig. 10. Relationship between passed charge and leached substance of AAS
mortars.
Fig. 11. Effects of water-to-specimen ratio on chloride migration coefficients
and passed charges of AAS mortars.
substance during the water saturation process.
Fig. 11 shows the chloride migration coefficient and passed charge
of the mortars, which are water saturated with different water to
9
Cement and Concrete Composites 104 (2019) 103392
specimen volume ratios. In this figure, the error bars were excluded as
the coefficient of variation for all the testing samples was less than 10%.
The results show that the measured chloride migration coefficient is
almost constant regardless of different water to specimen ratios. How-
ever, the passed charge decreases with the increase of water to spe-
cimen ratios. The results indicate that RCP test results are more influ-
enced by pore solution chemistry than the RCM test results. As the
alkali dosage increases, the migration coefficient decreases due to the
improvement of pore structure. However, the passed charge increases
with alkali dosage due to the increase of pore solution concentration
and conductivity. As discussed above, the results of passed charge test
are closely related to pore solution chemistry and the former increases
with the increase of pore solution concentration and conductivity.
Therefore, the passed charge during RCP test may be decreased with the
increased leached substance mass from higher water to specimen ratio
during water saturation. When higher silicate modulus and alkali do-
sage are applied, the improved pore structure and increased con-
ductivity of pore solution can impact different effects on passed charge.
The results in Fig. 6 indicate that the passed charge of AAS mortar
decreases firstly, then increases with the increase of silicate modulus
and alkali dosage. Actually, both the pore structure and pore solution
chemistry can affect the results of RCM and RCP tests. For RCM test, the
chloride concentration within the materials is more crucial than ionic
strength of other ions. However, the passed charge is more related to all
ions in the pore solution. Comparing these two methods, chloride mi-
gration coefficient is better than passed charge to be used to char-
acterize the chloride penetration resistance of materials, especially the
materials with high ionic strength or conductivity of pore solution, such
as AAM. Otherwise, it will be more reasonable to increase the water to
specimen ratio during water saturation process when applying the RCP
test in materials with high ionic strength pore solution. After elim-
inating the effects of pore solution chemistry, RCP test may be more
practical for chloride penetration resistance measurement considering
the simple testing process and fewer requirements on permeability of
testing sample.
4. Conclusions
In this study, the effects of different factors on compressive strength,
pore structure and chloride transportation properties of AASF mortars,
relationship between pore structure, pore solution chemistry and results
of RCM and RCP tests are investigated. Based on the results and ana-
lyses, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1) The compressive strength of AASF mortar is enhanced with the in-
crease of silicate modulus, alkali dosage and decreases with increase
of fly ash content. The steam curing slightly decreases the me-
chanical strength of AASF mortar. The developments of compressive
strength can be well explained by the change of total porosity and
volume percentage of capillary pores.
2) The chloride migration coefficient of AASF mortar decreases with
the decrease of total porosity and volume of pores with the size
10–104 nm. However, different relationships between porosity and
passed charge of AASF mortars are obtained with the variation of
alkali dosages and silicate moduli. The passed charge of AASF
mortar is also affected by pore solution chemistry.
3) The immersion of the specimens in water during water saturation
before RCM and RCP tests decreases their passed charge but shows
no effect on their chloride migration coefficient. The larger the
water-to-specimen ratio, the lower the passed charge. It confirmed
that RCM test results are mainly affected by pore structure of AASF
mortar whereas RCP test results are also significantly affected by
pore solution chemistry.
X. Hu, et al.
Acknowledgements
The financial support of the National Science Foundation of China
(Project No. 51638008) is gratefully acknowledged.
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