Microstructure and Shrinkage Behavior of Autoclaved Aerated Con-crete(AAC) -Comparison of Vietnamese and Japanese AACs-

Abstract

We investigated the microstructure and shrinkage behavior of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) from several manufacturers in Vietnam comparing with Japanese AAC. Three types of Vietnamese AAC and one type of Japanese AAC were used for powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, mercury intrusion porosimetry, and shrinkage tests. The experimental results show that the main hydration products of AAC that used fly ash as silica materials is semicrystalline calcium silicate hydrate, while the ones of others are tobermorite; but the tobermorite crystals of AACs from some manufacturers in Vietnam are disordered structures and lack of interlocking among tobermorite crystals. The pore size distribution of all Vietnamese AAC are single peak, whereas Japanese AAC is bimodal. The pore distribution characteristics of AACs significantly influenced their shrinkage behavior and the shrinkage of Vietnamese AAC is higher than that of Japanese AAC at intermediate relative humidity (RH). The capillary tension is the principle shrinkage mechanism for AAC materials at high RH (above about 65%) to cause local minimum shrinkage of Japanese AAC at high RHs, while the change in surface free energy is dominant at low RH conditions.