The effect of temperature on the hydration of composite cements containing limestone powder and fly ash

The effect of the curing temperature (5, 20 and 40°C) on the degree of hydration, amount of bound water and calcium hydroxide, porosity and the development of mechanical properties was investigated on pastes and mortars prepared with fly ash (FA)–limestone (L) Portland composite cements. Increasing the curing temperature for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) leads to a more inhomogeneous distribution of hydration products, resulting in an increased coarse porosity and therefore a lower compressive strength after 7 days and longer. In contrast, the FA containing mortars showed higher compressive strength with increasing curing temperature up to 90 days. The reaction of the FA is increased at 40°C and strongly retarded at 5°C. At 20 and 40°C, FA reduces the porosity at later ages. The replacement of 5% of the OPC or FA by L powder did not impair the strength at 5 and 20°C, but lowered strength slightly at 40°C for the FA blended cements. The porosity appears to be the dominating factor regarding the compressive strength, independent of whether part of the OPC is replaced by FA and L powder or not.