Yanfei Yue

Monitoring the cementitious materials subjected to sulfate attack with optical fiber excitation Raman spectroscopy

Abstract. Formation of ettringite and gypsum from sulfate attack together with carbonation and chloride ingress have been considered as the most serious deterioration mechanisms of concrete structures. Although electrical resistance sensors and fiber optic chemical sensors could be used to monitor the latter two mechanisms on site, currently there is no system for monitoring the deterioration mechanisms of sulfate attack. In this paper, a preliminary study was carried out to investigate the feasibility of monitoring sulfate attack with optical fiber excitation Raman spectroscopy through characterizing the ettringite and gypsum formed in deteriorated cementitious materials under an optical fiber excitation + objective collection configuration. Bench-mounted Raman spectroscopy analysis was also conducted to validate the spectrum obtained from the fiber-objective configuration. The results showed that the expected Raman bands of ettringite and gypsum in the sulfate-attacked cement paste can be clearly identified by the optical fiber excitation Raman spectrometer and are in good agreement with those identified from bench-mounted Raman spectrometer. Therefore, based on these preliminary results, it is considered that there is a good potential for developing an optical fiber-based Raman system to monitor the deterioration mechanisms of concrete subjected to sulfate attack in the future.

Application of Raman Spectroscopy for Tracing the Status of Silica Fume in Cementitious Materials

Silica fume (SF) is an important component for manufacturing high performance concrete (HPC), owing to its superb pozzolanic reactivity and physical filling effects. However, application of SF in concrete may cause potential hazards issues. Although using SF in slurry form can somehow reduce the potential biotoxicity, the long-term stability and status of the SF particles within cementitious materials is still uncertain. In the current study, attempts were made to use Raman spectroscopy as an innovative alternative technique for tracing and identifying the status of SF both in its original SF slurry and in a 6-month-old hydrated cement paste. Light-optical microscope was also used to examine the morphology of the SF particles in the aforementioned samples. The results showed that under Raman spectroscopy, the various components of the SF in slurry, such as amorphous silica, silicon crystal, and carbon, were clearly recognised. In addition, the SF agglomerates formed in the slurry were also detected. On the other hand, the chemical composition, status, and morphology of both SF and SF agglomerates in the 6-month-old paste were also identified. The study reported in this paper indicates that Raman spectroscopy could be a potential technique for tracing the status of SF, so that the potential safety hazards of SF can be monitored.

Preliminary research on monitoring the durability of concrete subjected to sulfate attack with optical fibre Raman spectroscopy

Formation of ettringite and gypsum from sulfate attack together with carbonation and chloride ingress have been considered as the most serious deterioration mechanisms of concrete structures. Although Electrical Resistance Sensors and Fibre Optic Chemical Sensors could be used to monitoring the latter two mechanisms in situ, currently there is no system for monitoring the deterioration mechanisms of sulfate attack and hence still needs to be developed. In this paper, a preliminary study was carried out to investigate the feasibility of monitoring the sulfate attack with optical fibre Raman spectroscopy through characterizing the ettringite and gypsum formed in deteriorated cementitious materials under an ‘optical fibre excitation + spectroscopy objective collection’ configuration. Bench-mounted Raman spectroscopy analysis was also used to validate the spectrum obtained from the fibre-objective configuration. The results showed that the expected Raman bands of ettringite and gypsum in the sulfate attacked cement paste have been clearly identified by the optical fibre Raman spectroscopy and are in good agreement with those identified from bench-mounted Raman spectroscopy. Therefore, based on these preliminary results, there is a good potential of developing an optical fibre Raman spectroscopy-based system for monitoring the deterioration mechanisms of concrete subjected to the sulfate attack in the future.