The hydration behaviour of blended cements incorporating sugarcane bagasse ash and limestone

The utilization of supplementary cementitious material [SCMs] as a partial substitution of cement is one of the most effective way to lower carbon-dioxide emissions in the cement production. Although previous research on the use of sugarcane bagasse ash [SBA] and limestone as SCMs as a partial substitution of cement has been reported. However, there is little research on their combined use in cement. The impact of SBA and limestone on the hardening and hydration property in blended cements were examined by testing properties of fresh and hardened mortars supplemented with TGA and XRD analysis. The combined effects of SBA pozzolanic reaction and limestone nucleation effect in ternary cement, B15L10 exhibits the maximum compressive strength. With the addition of SBA and limestone, a reduction in portlandite content was clearly observed in binary and ternary blended cements using XRD and TGA. B15L10 accounts for about 44 % decrease in portlandite when compared to control observed by TGA. Additional hydration products like hemicarboaluminate and monocarboaluminate are produced as an outcome of the addition of limestone in blended cement were detected by XRD which implies synergistic reaction between SBA and limestone.