Technological Approaches to Improve Early-Age Strength of Limestone Calcined Clay Cements

Franco Zunino , Xuerun Li , Joachim Dengler

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Engineering ›› DOI: 10.1016/j.eng.2025.03.029

Technological Approaches to Improve Early-Age Strength of Limestone Calcined Clay Cements

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Abstract

Limestone calcined clay cements (LC3) present a sustainable alternative to traditional Portland cement due to their potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions. However, LC3 cements often exhibit slower early-age strength development, which poses a challenge for their broader adoption. This study critically examines various technological approaches to enhance the early-age strength of LC3 cements, focusing on physical, chemical, and hybrid methods. The findings highlight the effectiveness of increased clinker and supplementary cementitious material (SCM) fineness, chemical acceleration using calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) seeds and admixtures that promote the reaction of aluminate phases. Additionally, the study assesses the environmental impact of these strategies, evaluating their global warming potential (GWP) in relation to strength performance. The results demonstrate that while these methods effectively improve early-age strength, they may also inadvertently increase late-age strength, necessitating a balanced approach to optimize both performance and sustainability. This research provides a comprehensive framework for advancing LC3 adoption in high early-age demand applications.

Keywords

Sustainability / Hydration / Space-filling / Aluminates / Accelerator

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Franco Zunino, Xuerun Li, Joachim Dengler. Technological Approaches to Improve Early-Age Strength of Limestone Calcined Clay Cements. Engineering DOI:10.1016/j.eng.2025.03.029

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CRediT authorship contribution statement

Franco Zunino: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. Xuerun Li: Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. Joachim Dengler: Writing – review & editing, Validation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Conceptualization.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: [X. Li and J. Dengler are employees of BASF Construction Additives GmbH as of submission of the work.].

Acknowledgements

Dr. Franco Zunino gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) through an Ambizione fellowship (208719). Sincere gratitude is extended to Mr. Bernhard Mayr of BASF Construction Additives GmbH for his invaluable contributions to the experimental work. The authors also wish to express their appreciation to Dr. Julien Bizzozero during his tenure at BASF. Additionally, recognition is given to Dr. Jinfeng Sun for his work on the strength test while affiliated with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

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