Construction and Building Materials 365 (2023) 130128

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

An approach to improve compressive strength of cement paste at low

temperature by carbonation curing
Lei Jiang a, Qian Wu b, Zhen Huo a, b, *, Zheyu Zhu c, Fengshun Wu b, Bao Lu b, *
a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454000, Henan, China
b
Key Laboratory for Advanced Technology in Environmental Protection of Jiangsu Province, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng 224051, Jiangsu, China
c
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 4800 Cao’an Road, Shanghai 201804, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Portland cement showed a lower hydration rate and compressive strength development under lower temperature
CO2 curing environment. In this paper, a novel approach to improve compressive strength of cement paste at low temper­
Low temperature ature by carbonation curing was put forwarded. The compressive strength of cement pastes under water-curing
Compressive strength
and CO2-cuirng at low temperature (5 ◦ C) are both investigated. X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier transform
Microstructure
Calcium carbonate
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to analyze the phase
changes in carbonated cement pastes. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spec­
troscopy (EDX) was adopted to examine the changes of morphologies and Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter (MIP)
was used to analyze the pore structure of carbonated cement pastes. The results showed that the 1 d and 28
d compressive strength of carbonated samples was 18.2 % and 54.1 % higher than the values in hydrated samples
at the corresponding ages. The 3 d compressive strength of carbonated sample was similar to the hydrated
samples cured at 28 d. Calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H), ettringite and portlandite (Ca(OH)2) were formed in
hydrated sample, while calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and silica gel were generated in carbonated sample. The Ca
(OH)2 was increased from 7.9 % (1 d) to 11.3 % (28 d) in hydrated samples, while the CaCO3 was increased from
20.9 % at 1 d to 37.7 % at 28 d in carbonated samples. The total porosity was reduced from 19.7 % in hydrated
sample to 17.1 % in carbonated sample at 28 d. Furthermore, carbonation curing reduced the most probable pore
diameters in comparison to hydrated samples. The needle-like ettringite was observed in hydrated sample, while
typical prismatic calcite crystal was generated in carbonated samples. This paper confirmed that CO2 curing at
low temperature could be an effective and promising way to obtain rapid compressive strength improvement.

1. Introduction concrete, which concretely can be classified as three levels: inrecover­

Portland cement and concrete has been the most widely used and
ubiquitous building materials due to the rapid development in infra­
structure engineering. However, the environmental conditions play a
significant role in the hydration and mechanical properties of concrete
[1,2]. Generally, 5 ◦ C is the threshold for low temperature in most na­
tional standards around the world [3–5]. Several studies have been re­
ported that a reduction in the curing temperature (from 20 ◦ C to values
below), causes a decrease in the early age hydration and mechanical
strength, which results in a slow improvement for longer curing periods
[6–9]. Low curing temperature condition usually refers to the curing
temperature is lower than 20℃ in the standard curing environment.
Generally, low temperature has great effect on the performance of
able influences (＜0 ◦ C), recoverable influences (0–10 ◦ C) and insig­
nificant influences (10–20 ◦ C) [10]. The basic hydration principle of
Portland cement does not change significantly at low temperature.
Nevertheless, there is a possibility that the slow developing process of
hydrates in the condition of low temperature leads to different perfor­
mance in contrast to those developing in room temperature environment
[10]. For the early strength of concretes, heating and use of chemical
admixtures are the two main methods to maintain and increase it [11].
Inorganic additives as traditional accelerator, for example chloride- and
sulfate-based salt, have been proved having efficient early strength
enhancement. There are some traditional methods like chlorinated
compositions (specifically such as CaCl2) have been use to accelerate
cement hydration process [11]. In addition, several admixtures like

* Corresponding author at: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo 454000, Henan, China (Z. Huo).
E-mail address: lubao@ycit.cn (B. Lu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.130128
Received 27 October 2022; Received in revised form 14 December 2022; Accepted 17 December 2022
Available online 22 December 2022
0950-0618/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
L. Jiang et al.
Table 1
Chemical and mineral composition of cement (wt. %).
SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO
21.91 5.30 3.67 64.5
Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of Portland cement.
sodium nitrite, potassium carbonate, and sodium sulfate can facilitate
the hydration of cement, although they have different chemistry
mechanisms [13,14]. However, the presence of extra alkali or sulfate in
accelerator may cause durability problems, especially the steel corro­
sion. The artificial heating is expensive and using the chemical admix­
tures resulted in corrosion [12,14,15].
In recent decades, there have been growing research trend in CO2-
cured cement-based materials for their beneficial aspects of the promise
in CO2 sequestration, which would be of great significance on the CO2
emissions reduction. It is well known that cementitious materials pol­
ished up quickly on early strength and exhibited better durability
properties subjected to accelerated carbonation due to the reaction be­
tween calcium silicates and CO2 [16–20]. Moreover, several studies also
have found that the early carbonation curing could accelerate early
strength while maintaining subsequent hydration process of cement
pastes [21–23]. The formed calcium carbonate could react with alumi­
nate to form calcium aluminate monocarboante, while the highly
polymerization silica gel could react with portlandite to generate
C–S–H [23,24]. The re-hydration procedure applied after carbonation
curing could increase early strength with maintain later strength.
CO2 curing has made it possible that storing CO2 in cement-based
materials and using carbonate binders with low CO2 footprint would
have a profound impact on the evolution of the sustainable concrete
industry [25–27]. Many studies have focused on the influence factors,
including CO2 pressure, CO2 concentration, relative humidity, pre-
condition treatment, on the performance of CO2-cured cement-based
materials [28–30]. On the other hand, the carbonation behavior is
also relative with temperature change, which involving diffusion rate of
CO2 and the solubility of free Ca2+ in cement [25]. The influence of
room temperatures or high temperatures on the mechanical properties
and microstructure of carbonated cement samples were comprehensive
investigated [21,22,31]. However, the changed performance and
microstructure of CO2-cured cement samples at low temperature is still
limited. Especially, the comparisons on the compressive strength and
microstructure of carbonated and hydrated cement samples at low
temperatures are not clear. Moreover, low temperatures resulted in a
decrease in the early age hydration and mechanical strength. While it is
not clear whether carbonation curing could be an approach to accelerate
Construction and Building Materials 365 (2023) 130128
MgO SO3 f-CaO C3S C2S C3A C4AF
1.51 2.03 0.88 59.0 16.2 6.8 11.7
early strength at low temperatures. Therefore, this paper aims to
investigate the early compressive strength through carbonation curing
at low temperature in comparison to water curing. Furthermore, the
microstructure of carbonated and hydrated samples at low temperature
are also investigated. The results could represent a promising approach
to improve compressive strength at low temperatures through carbon­
ation curing.
2. Experimental program
2.1. Raw materials
In this study, Portland cement (P-I 42.5) conforming to GB 175–2007
was used whose specific surface area is about 336 m2/kg. Its chemical
composition and main mineral composition are determined by X-ray
fluorescence (XRF) and quantitative X-ray diffraction (QXRD), respec­
tively. The particle size distribution of cement is shown in Table 1 and
Fig. 1, respectively. The China ISO standard sand from Xiamen ISO
standard sand Co., ltd is used in this paper.
2.2. Specimen preparation and curing process
The cement mortar and paste samples were prepared to preform
compressive strength and microstructure analysis, respectively. The
mortar samples with water to cement ratio of 0.4 and sand to cement
mass ratio of 3.0 were mixed in a rotary mixer for 180 s and casted into
40 × 40 × 40 mm3 steel molds. While the paste samples with the same
water to binder ratio were prepared into 20 × 20 × 20 mm3 steel molds.
It was to note that the molding process was finished at 5 ◦ C with relative
humidity of 95 %. Afterwards all the specimens were placed into a
chamber set at the given temperature of 5 ◦ C with the relative humidity
of 95 % and were demolded after 24 h. Then, particle pastes were shifted
to the CO2 chamber in which the temperature was 5 ◦ C, and the relative
humidity and CO2 concentration were kept at 60 ± 5 % and 20 ± 2 %,
respectively. On the other hand, the other specimens were cured in a
chamber with the temperature of 5 ◦ C and relative humidity of 95 % as
the control group.
2.3. Test methods
2.3.1. Compressive strength
The compressive strength testing was carried out in accordance with
EN 196–1-2005. Each batch comprised three specimens.
2.3.2. Phases analysis
A thin layer sample was cut off from the outer surface (0.2 mm) of the
cement paste and they were soaked in acetone solution to stop hydration
process. Then these samples were ground into a powder which the
fineness was small with particle size less than 45 μm and were dried in a
vacuum oven at 50 ◦ C for 72 h. The collected cement paste powders were
used for XRD, FTIR and TG analysis.
X ’PERT3 powder X-ray diffractometer from P Analytics was used for
XRD test. The 2θ scanning was performed between 5◦ and 65◦ with a
scanning rate of 0.02◦ per step.
Approximately 1 mg of the powdered samples, as same with XRD
samples, was mixed with 100 mg of IR-grade KBr for 5 min. The mixture
was pressed into a thin disc which was the specimen, to be tested.
Through a Thermo-Scientific IS10 FTIR workstation, each specimen was
scanned for 32 times at the resolution of 2 cm− 1.
TG was performed using Netzsch STA 409 PC. Approximately 15 mg
2
L. Jiang et al. Construction and Building Materials 365 (2023) 130128

Fig. 2. The compressive strength development of hydrated and carbonated

Fig. 3. XRD patterns of hydrated and carbonated pastes at 5 ◦ C.
mortar at 5 ◦ C.

compressive strength, but also promote a higher later strength devel­

of the powdered sample was heated from 30 ◦ C to 950 ◦ C by 10 ◦ C /min
opment. Moreover, the 3d compressive strength of carbonated sample
at a flow rate of 20 ml/min nitrogen.
was similar to the hydrated samples cured at 28d. The result suggested
The test specimens were taken from the hardened cement paste
CO2 curing can result in a rapid and higher compressive strength
which was freshly broken. The specimens were processed into specified
development of mortar samples compared to hydrated samples at low
segments size for about 3.5–5.0 mm after compressive strength test. To
curing temperatures. Furthermore, the result may also indicate that the
prevent further hydration, specimens were treated in the same manner
formed calcium carbonate products may play more positive effect on the
as mentioned in the previous section. MIP test was conducted to acquire
compressive strength development in comparison to the hydrated sam­
porosity and pore size distribution of the samples in the range of that the
ples. Therefore, CO2 curing is a technique can not only promote the
low pressure is 0.28 MPa and high pressure is 413.70 MPa [19,18].
strength increase in the early stage but also keep high strength at low
A Quanta FEG-200 ESEM was used to analyze changes in
temperature in the late stage compared to low-temperature cured
morphology of mortar samples at different ages and the additional
cement mortars.
equipped energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used in
chemical compositions analysis.
3.2. XRD analysis
3. Results and discussion
The XRD patterns of hydrated and carbonated cement pastes cured at
3.1. Compressive strength 5 ◦ C under 1, 3 and 28 d are given in Fig. 3. It was clear that main hy­
dration products, including portlandite (2θ of 18.1◦ , 28.7◦ and 34.1◦ )
The compressive strength development of cement mortar samples and ettringite (2θ of 9.1◦ ), were formed in all hydration process of water
under two different curing regimes is given in Fig. 2. The compressive cured samples. It should be noted that no obvious hydration product of
strength of mortars was enhanced with the growth of the duration time C–S–H was shown in water cured samples due to its amorphous
whether it was water-cured or CO2-cured regime. For the hydrated characteristic as reported in previous literature [33]. On the other hand,
samples, 1d compressive strength was 12.3 MPa, and it increased to
25.1 MPa and 45.9 MPa at 3d and 28d. The increased compressive
strength development was attributed to the prolonged hydration dura­
tions, which generated more hydration products, such as Ca(OH)2 and
C–S–H, resulting in a denser microstructure and higher compressive
strength [32]. It should be noted that low curing temperature reduced
the hydration process, which led to a lower compressive strength vari­
ation compared to the samples cured at room temperature (20 ◦ C) as
reported in previous studies. As expected, an increased compressive
strength with increasing carbonation durations was observed in
carbonated mortar samples. Different from hydrated samples, the
improved strength of compression on carbonated samples was attributed
to the formed calcium carbonate and silica gel, which significantly
improved the pore structure of mortar samples [18,23].
Considering the two curing regimes, it clearly reveled that the
samples cured in CO2 atmosphere exhibited a higher compressive
strength than that of control samples at all durations. The 1 d and 28
d compressive strength of carbonated samples was 18.2 % and 54.1 %
higher than the values in control samples at the corresponding ages,
indicating carbonation treatment could not only accelerate early
Fig. 4. FTIR spectra of hydrated and carbonated pastes at 5 ◦ C.

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L. Jiang et al. Construction and Building Materials 365 (2023) 130128

Table 2
Typical wavenumbers of FTIR absorption for different chemicals.
Functional Wavenumbers (cm− 1)
groups

Symmetric In-plane Stretching Out of plane

C–O stretch (ν1) in bending (ν2) vibration (ν3) bending (ν4)
CaCO3 in CaCO3 in CaCO3 in CaCO3

1080 872 1420 714

Si-O stretching vibrations stretching vibrations
of Q2 site in C–S–H of Q3 and Q4 site in silica gel
950–980 1020–1140
–OH stretching bending in H2O stretching vibration in Ca(OH)2
1640, 3446 3640

strong calcium carbonate peaks (2θ of 29.4◦ , 39.4◦ and 48.5◦ ) were
generated in CO2 cured samples, while no obvious portlandite and
ettringite patterns were detected in all aged carbonated samples, indi­
cating portlandite and ettringite were consumed due to the carbonation
reactions [26]. Compared to carbonated samples, the hydrated samples
exhibited traces of calcium carbonate peak, which was attributed to
natural carbonation. Fig. 3 clearly showed that some C3S and C2S could
be found in the samples regard of CO2 or water curing. However, it was
evident that C3S and C2S peaks were weaker in CO2 cured samples,
suggesting carbonation reaction accelerated the consumption rate of C3S
and C2S, which polished up the strength of compression on carbonated
cement mortar samples.
3.3. FTIR analysis
Fig. 4 shows the FTIR spectra over the range of 4000–400 cm− 1 of the
hydrated and carbonated paste samples at 5 ◦ C. The typical wave­
numbers of FTIR absorption for main chemicals in carbonation and
hydration samples are summarized in Table 2 [34–36]. Generally, the
sharp vibrations at around 875 cm− 1, 714 cm− 1, 1080 cm− 1 and strong
bond at 1420 cm− 1 are ascribed to C–O stretching, suggesting the
CaCO3 was generated in cement pastes [37]. It was clear that the in­
tensities of these three bands were stronger in carbonated pastes sam­
ples, especially no obvious 714 cm− 1 band was detected in hydrated
samples, indicating more CaCO3 was formed due to the accelerated
carbonation reactions, which was consist with XRD patterns in Fig. 3.
The detected relative weaker C–O stretching in hydrated pastes was due
to natural carbonation. Furthermore, compared to control samples, it
can be seen that the band at 875 cm− 1 and 1420 cm− 1 became stronger
and shaper in carbonated samples, indicating that the formed CaCO3
exhibited a better crystalline in accelerated carbonation reaction.
The band in range of 900–1100 cm− 1 are assigned to Si-O stretching
[37,38]. A Si-O stretching vibrations of Q2 sites was observed at around
970 cm− 1 in hydrated sample and it exhibited no obvious change with
the hydration age, which was attributed to C–S–H in hydrated cement
Fig. 6. Content of CaCO3 and Ca(OH)2 based on TG-DTG curves at 5 ◦ C.
pastes as reported in the literature [37]. However, the band from 970
cm− 1 in hydrated cement pastes shifted to 1060 cm− 1, corresponding to
high polymerization of silica gel, in carbonated samples. The wave­
number increased with the carbonation time duration, indicating the
aggregation performance of silica gel was improved [26,37]. Further­
more, the band occurred at carbonated sample indicated CO2 curing
could also improve the polymerization of silica gel at low temperature.
Fig. 4 displayed that the hydrated and carbonated cement pastes
revealed a similar band at 1639 cm− 1 and 3446 cm-1because of the O–H
stretching in H2O [37]. In addition, a weak band corresponding to OH-
stretching in Ca(OH)2 was detected at around 3644 cm− 1 in hydrated
samples [36]. while no obvious band at 3644 cm− 1 was found in
carbonated samples, suggesting carbonation reaction avoided the for­
mation of Ca(OH)2, which was similarly confirmed by XRD patterns.
3.4. TG-DTG analysis
Fig. 5 shows the thermodynamic characteristics of different products
in hydrated and carbonated pastes samples through the TG-DTG curves.
As expected, a mass loss in the range of 30 ◦ C − 200 ◦ C, corresponding to
the dehydration of C–S–H and ettringite, was observed in hydrated
sample at 1 d and it increased with the increasing hydration duration
due to the more formation of C–S–H and ettringite products [39,40].
Similar to hydrated sample, when the range of temperature was similar,
a slightly mass loss was also detected in carbonated sample, which may
be attributed to the water loss of formed polymerized silica gel during
carbonation curing [23,26]. An obvious steep mass occurred between
400 ◦ C and 500 ◦ C, corresponding to the dehydration of Ca(OH)2, and it

Fig. 5. TG -DTG curves of cement pastes before and after carbonation at 5 ◦ C.

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L. Jiang et al. Construction and Building Materials 365 (2023) 130128

Fig. 7. Cumulative porosity and pore size distribution of hydrated and carbonated cement mortar at 28 d.

increased with the increased hydration duration in hydrated samples.

based on the TG-DTG curves, the calculated Ca(OH)2 content was
illustrated in Fig. 6. Fig. 6 showed that the Ca(OH)2 content, from 7.9 %
(1 d) to 11.3 % (28 d) in hydrated samples increased with the longer
hydration time. This was attributed to the subsequent hydration process
in hydrated cement paste, which resulted in more formation of Ca(OH)2
products [40]. Different from hydrated sample, a very slight mass loss
was detected in the same temperature range in carbonated cement paste,
suggesting no obvious Ca(OH)2 is present in carbonated sample due to
carbonation reaction. The content of Ca(OH)2 and CaCO3 were calcu­
lated through Eqs. (1) and (2) [17]:
74.10
Ca(OH)2 (%) = ΔM400◦ C− 500◦ C × × 100% (1)
18.02

44.01
CaCO3 (%) = ΔM500◦ C− 950◦ C × × 100% (2)
100.09

where ΔM400◦ C-500 ◦ C represents the weight loss from 400 ◦ C to

500 ◦ C, while ΔM500◦ C-950 ◦ C represents the weight loss from 500 ◦ C
to 950 ◦ C. Molecular weight of Ca(OH)2, H2O, CO2 and CaCO3 are
74.10, 18.02, 44.01 and 100.09, respectively.
Furthermore, the Ca(OH)2 content showed no remarkable change
with the carbonation time according to Fig. 6. In addition, compared to
the TG-DTG curves, no Ca(OH)2 peaks was detected through XRD patters
in Fig. 3 may be attributed to the poor crystallization of Ca(OH)2 in
carbonated sample. As expected, compared with hydrated cement paste
samples, carbonated samples exhibited a significant mass loss above
600 ◦ C, corresponding to the decarbonation of CaCO3 [41]. The CaCO3
content was 20.9 % in 1 d, and increased to 37.7 % in 28 d in carbonated
sample due to the longer carbonation time. Furthermore, compared with
cement paste sample carbonated for 1 d prolonged carbonation duration
resulted in a higher decomposition temperature of CaCO3 in carbonated
paste samples, suggesting increasing carbonation time not only
increased the CaCO3 content, but also improved CaCO3 crystalline de­
gree. The formed CaCO3 filled the pores of the cement matrix, which
could lower the porosity and improve the strength of compression for
carbonated sample at low temperature.
3.5. Pore structure analysis
Fig. 7 shows the pore structures induced by formation of hydration
products and carbonation products in hydrated and carbonated samples
at 28 d, respectively. As expected, the carbonated sample reduced the
total porosity and the peak value in comparison to the hydrated samples.
The porosity of the hydrated sample was 19.7 %, while the porosity was
reduced to 17.1 % in carbonated sample. Furthermore, the most
Fig. 8. Pore volume distribution of hydrated and carbonated cement mortar at
28 d.
probable pore diameters decreased from 2461 nm in hydrated sample to
1045 nm in carbonated sample at 28 d as shown in Fig. 7. The result
suggested that the formed CaCO3 and silica gel in carbonated sample
played more favorable influence on the pore structure improvement
compared to the generated hydration products, such as C–S–H,
ettringite and Ca(OH)2. Therefore, the carbonation curing can signifi­
cantly improve the microstructure densification of samples, which made
it possible that the compressive strength played a higher development
level in comparison to the hydrated samples.
Based on the previous study [42], the different sizes ranges,
including ＜10 nm, 10–50 nm, 50–100 nm, 100–5000 nm and＞5000
nm, in hydrated and carbonated samples were summarized in Fig. 8.
Compared to hydrated sample, the volume fractions of gel micro-pores
and meso-pores increased from 0.65 % to 2.66 % and 3.39 % to 13.27
% in carbonated sample, respectively. While the volume fractions of
large capillary pores reduced from 83.2 % in hydrated sample to 65.4 %
in carbonated sample. As reported in previous studies, the distributions
of pore sizes were related to the compressive strength development. The
pores smaller than 100 nm may paly positive effect on the compressive
strength improvement, while pores lager than 100 nm may had a
negative action on the compressive enhancement. Therefore, carbon­
ation curing resulted in an improvement compressive strength of sam­
ples due to its refinement pore structure, indicating carbonation curing

5
L. Jiang et al.
Fig. 9. SEM images and EDS spectrum of hydrated and carbonated samples at 1 d and 28 d.
can significantly promote compressive strength development even at
low temperatures compared to the hydrated samples, which showed a
low compressive strength enhancement due to its low hydration rate at
low temperatures.
3.6. SEM images
The SEM morphologies and EDS analysis of the hydrated and
carbonated paste samples are presented in Fig. 9. As seen from Fig. 9(a)
6
Construction and Building Materials 365 (2023) 130128
and 9(b), obvious hydration products, including foil-like C–S–H gel,
platy Ca(OH)2 and need-like ettringite, could be recognized in hydrated
paste samples [33]. In addition, compared Fig. 9(a) with (b), the hy­
drated paste at 28 d showed a denser microstructure, suggesting more
hydration products were formed prolonged hydration time. However,
the morphological evolution of carbonation products in the paste sam­
ples under CO2 curing at different age are presented in Fig. 9(c)–(f). It
can be seen that no typical hydration products formed in carbonated
samples. Intensity, a large number of prismatic calcite crystal with the
L. Jiang et al.
size of 50–100 nm were observed in 1 d carbonated paste sample
[43,33]. The calcite crystal could be also identified by the EDS spectrum
and elemental date presented in Fig. 9(e) and Fig. 9(f). Interestingly, the
rose-like morphology product was found in 1 d carbonated paste sample
and was recognized as calcium carbonate due to the EDS spectrum
[44,34]. some literature suggested that this rose-like morphology cal­
cium carbonate may be classified as calcite. Extending the CO2 curing
time, the prismatic and rose-like calcite crystals were still found in the
carbonated sample at 28 d. Furthermore, the size of calcite increased to
100–200 nm with well-defined prismatic morphology, indicating longer
carbonation time improved calcite size and crystallization degree. These
different morphology calcite crystals flocked together and irregularly
filled a space full of water, which improved the porosity and led to a
denser microstructure and higher compressive strength [18].
4. Conclusions
Based on the above results, the following conclusions could be
drawn:
(1) The 1 d and 28 d compressive strength of carbonated samples was
18.2 % and 54.1 % higher than that of hydrated samples at the corre­
sponding ages under 5 ◦ C. Furthermore, the 3 d compressive strength of
carbonated sample was similar to the hydrated samples cured at 28 d.
(2) XRD and FTIR results confirmed that typical hydration products
of C–S–H, ettringite and Ca(OH)2 were formed in hydrated sample,
while CaCO3 and silica gel were generated in carbonated sample.
Furthermore, the band located at 970 cm− 1, corresponding to C–S–H
at hydrated sample in FTIR spectra, shifted to 1080 cm− 1 at carbonated
sample due to the highly polymerization silica gel under carbonation
curing.
(3) TG-DTG curves suggested that the Ca(OH)2 content was increased
from 7.9 % (1 d) to 11.3 % (28 d) in hydrated samples, while the CaCO3
content was increased from 20.9 % at 1 d to 37.7 % at 28 d in carbonated
samples. Moreover, prolonging carbonation curing resulted in a higher
decomposition temperature of CaCO3.
(4) The total porosity was reduced from 19.7 % in hydrated sample
to 17.1 % in carbonated sample at 28 d. The carbonated samples showed
a lower most probable pore size compared to hydrated sample. SEM
images showed that obvious hydration products, including foil-like
C–S–H gel, platy Ca(OH)2 and need-like ettringite in hydrated sam­
ple, while obvious prismatic calcites were generated in carbonated
samples, which exhibited a denser microstructure.
(5) This result confirmed that the carbonation curing can accelerate
the early and later compressive strength in comparison to hydrated
samples at low temperatures, which represented a promising approach
to improve compressive strength at low temperatures through carbon­
ation curing.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Lei Jiang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft,
Writing – review & editing. Qian Wu: Methodology, Formal analysis,
Writing – review & editing. Zhen Huo: Methodology, Writing – original
draft, Writing – review & editing. Zheyu Zhu: Writing – review &
editing. Fengshun Wu: Writing – review & editing. Bao Lu: Concep­
tualization, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
7
Construction and Building Materials 365 (2023) 130128
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Opening Project of State Key Labo­
ratory of Green Building Materials (2022GBM01), Key Research and
Development Plan Science and Technology Demonstration Project of
Shandong Province “Integrated Innovation and demonstration of new
green building materials” (2021SFGC0903), the financial support by the
Science and Technology program of Jiangsu province (BZ2020012), the
first batch of major scientific and technological research in China’s
building materials industry “to select the best candidates for key
research ” projects and Joint project of CNBM Innovation Technology
Academy Co., ltd.
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