Temperature Impact on the Structural Build-Up of Cementitious Materials – Experimental and Modelling Study

With increasing focus on industrialized processing, investigating, understanding, and modelling the structural build-up of cementitious materials becomes more important. The structural build-up governs the key property of fresh printable materials – buildability – and it influences the mechanical properties after the deposition. The structural build-up rate can be adjusted by optimization of the mixture composition and the use of concrete admixtures. Additionally, it is known, that the environmental conditions, i.e. humidity and temperature have a significant impact on the kinetic of cement hydration and the resulting hardened properties, such as shrinkage, cracking resistance etc. In this study, small amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) tests are applied to examine the structural build-up rate of cement paste subject to different temperatures under controlled humidity. The results indicate significant influences of the ambient temperature on the intensity of the re-flocculation (R_thix) rate, while the structuration rate (A_thix) is almost not affected. A bi-linear thixotropy model extended by temperature dependent parameters coupled with a linear viscoelastic material model is proposed to simulate the mechanical behaviour considering the structural build-up during the SAOS test.