An examination of the reactivity of fly ash in cementitious pore solutions

Fly ash is frequently used to replace cement in concrete, but it is difficult to predict performance based only on the oxide composition, which is typically the only compositional information available. In order to better utilize fly ash in concrete, it is important to develop more meaningful characterization methods and correlate these with performance. The research presented here uses a combination of analytical methods, including X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy coupled with multispectral image analysis, and solution analysis to determine the compositions of the glassy phases in a specific fly ash and to examine the fly ash's reactivity in late- and early-age cement pore solutions, ultrapure water, and sodium hydroxide. The dissolution of individual glassy phases in the fly ash was tracked over time and the precipitation of reaction products monitored. A high-calcium aluminosilicate glass was the most reactive, a low-calcium aluminosilicate glass was of intermediate reactivity and a medium-calcium aluminosilicate glass had the lowest reactivity in the solutions tested for a specific fly ash. This result suggests the glass composition has a strong effect on reactivity, but that that there is not a strict correlation between calcium content and glass reactivity.