Hydration and microstructure of blended cement with sodium polystyrene sulfonate

Abstract

Polystyrene foamed plastic wastes are a kind of environmental pollutant. It could be recycled in cement industry as a chemical agent. In this paper, the effects of sodium polystyrene sulfonate (SPS) on the hydration and microstructure of blended cement were investigated by calorimetry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). SPS slightly delayed the hydration of alite and decreased its hydration degree. SPS did not change the phase compositions during hydration. SPS changed the morphology of ettringite (AFt) and decreased the pore volumes and the sizes of pores.