Testing of suitability of supplementary materials mixed in ternary cements

Abstract

As the market for cement has slowly moved from Portland cements towards pozzolanic cements and continues to move towards ternary cements, the tests for cements and the components blended in them remain largely unchanged. While it is recognised that certain mineral additives, e.g. limestone, do not meet the traditional definition of pozzolanic materials, the amount of processing and testing conditions play an important role in the measured reactivity of other additives. In addition, the current testing methods are unable to take the interaction of different components and their effects on the overall properties of cements into account. This paper reviews the methods currently available for the characterisation of materials and their suitability for application to ternary cements. Possible modifications to these tests, in order to take the cements of future into account are suggested. The inclusion of test methods to ascertain the suitability of the materials mixed in the cements is also suggested.