The Influence of Shrinkage-Reducing Admixtures (SRAs) on Moisture Absorption in Cementitious Materials at Early Ages

Published

March 1, 2010

Author(s)

G Sant, A Eberhardt, Dale P. Bentz, W Weiss

Abstract

The water absorption behavior of cement pastes (w/c = 0.30) containing varying concentrations (i.e., 0 %, 0.2 % and 5 %) of a shrinkage reducing admixture (SRA) was measured. Moisture ingress was monitored using x-ray absorption.  A decrease in both the depth of water penetration and the rate of water absorption was observed with increasing specimen maturity and admixture concentration. This agrees with theoretical considerations that suggest water sorption is a function of the surface tension and the viscosity of the fluid ingressing into the pores. The Boltzmann-Matano approach was successfully employed to determine the moisture content dependent moisture diffusivity of the material, which exhibited a dependence on both the pore structure (specimen maturity) and the admixture concentration.  

Citation

Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering

Report Number

861509

Volume

22

Issue

3

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Building technology, early age, moisture diffusivity, shrinkage reducing admixture, sorption, x-ray absorption

Citation

Sant, G. , Eberhardt, A. , Bentz, D. and Weiss, W. (2010), The Influence of Shrinkage-Reducing Admixtures (SRAs) on Moisture Absorption in Cementitious Materials at Early Ages, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=861509 (Accessed October 11, 2025)