Development of low absorption and high-resistant sodium acetate concrete for severe environmental conditions

Abstract

This research presents new insight on the performance of concrete when integrated with sodium acetate and cured under extremely harsh environmental conditions: freezing temperature of −25 °C and hot temperature of 60 °C. Mechanical properties, water absorption, microstructural analysis and interaction mechanism of concrete and sodium acetate were evaluated by conducting the compressive strength test, Initial Surface Absorption Test (ISAT), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis and Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. Despite the harsh curing conditions, results showed an enhancement of 64% in compressive strength when 4% (based on the weight of cement) sodium acetate is incorporated within concrete with w/c ratio of 0.32 and cured under temperature of 60 °C. Also, water absorption was observed to decrease by more than 79% when 2% sodium acetate is added to concrete with w/c ratio of 0.32. SEM and FTIR analyses revealed the formation, high distribution and strong bonding of sodium acetate crystals within the concrete’s micropores.