Behavior of heat treated self-compacting mortar cured in seawater

The acceleration of the hardening of self-compacting concrete (SCC) using the process of heat treatment is widely used in the field of prefabrication. Because mortar serves as the basis for the workability properties of SCC, these properties could be assessed by self-compacting mortars (SCMs). This paper has the purpose to study the behavior of heat-treated SCM based on two different mineral additions in marine environment. The additions are used as micronized powder to substitute 20 % and 40 % of cement. They are as ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and limestone filler (LF). The cycle regime of heat treatment process used achieves a temperature of 60 °C and total duration of 24 hours. The research was conducted through the study of the physical and mechanical properties of elaborated SCMs under two curing regimes as freshwater and seawater. The obtained results indicate that the incorporation of LF seemed more effective in standard treatment process but it is advisable to limit its use to levels of less than or equal to 20 % as it develops resistance levels lower than those obtained by GGBFS. The incorporation of GGBFS especially with high amount of 40 % is very beneficial to improve physical-mechanical properties of heat-treated SCMs and it has many advantageous for obtaining stable and resistant SCMs against aggressive environment.