The comparison between sulfate salt weathering of portland cement paste and calcium sulfoaluminate cement paste

In this paper, the damage performances of sulfate salt weathering of Portland cement paste and calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement paste were compared according to authors' previous studies. It was found that the evaporation zone of speciments partially immersed in 10% Na2SO4 solution were both severely deteriorated for Portland cement and CSA cement. However, the differences were more significant: (1) the CSA cement paste were damaged just after 7 days exposure compared to the 5 months exposure of Portland cement paste under the same exposure condition of RH 60% and 20°C; (2) the cement paste specimen was split into several pieces along the shrinkage cracks, and the damaged CSA cement paste consisted of a detachment of successive paste layers; (3) gypsum and ettringite were identified in the Portland cement paste and attributed to the paste failure mechanism, however sodium sulfate crystals were clearly observed in the detached paste layers. According to the comparison the so-called sulfate weathering of Portland cement concrete was discussed

Study of cement-fly ash paste exposed to sodium sulfate solutions with different concentrations at different temperatures

When concrete elements are partially exposed to sulfate environment, in the upper part of concrete elements above ground an aquiferous zone containing almost saturated and high pH value (> 12.5) sulfate pore solution will be formed. The concentration of sulfate solution is much higher than 5 %, as usually used in laboratory. It is necessary to study the performance of cement-fly ash paste in different high concentration sulfate solutions at different temperatures. In this paper, pure cement paste and cement - fly ash (25 % dosage) paste specimens were immersed in the 5 %, 15 %, 20 %, 30 %, 40 % and 50 % sodium solutions at 20°C, 30°C and 40°C respectively. After 1, 3 and 6 months immersion, the compressive strength of the specimens was measured. XRD and thermal analysis were employed to analyze the reactive products of the paste. The experimental results show that the reactive aluminum in fly ash is activated by high concentration sodium sulfate solution at different temperatures and more ettringite is generated than pure cement paste

Influence of superplasticizer on the rheology of fresh cement asphalt paste

AbstractCement asphalt (CA) paste is an organic–inorganic composite material of cement and asphalt emulsion. Its complicated rheological behavior affects its site application in high speed railway. Superplasticizers (SPs) are usually used to improve the construction properties of fresh CA mortar. However, the principle of SPs acting on the rheology of CA paste is seldom studied. In this paper, the effects of polycarboxylate (PCA) and naphthalenesulfonate (PNS) on the rheological properties of CA pastes, asphalt emulsions (both anionic and cationic) and cement pastes were studied, respectively from the viewpoint of adsorption and zeta potential. Centrifugation method was used to determine the adsorption of asphalt onto cement particle, electroacoustic method was employed to study the zeta potential of cement particles of concentrated paste, and optical microscopy was used to observe the dispersion of particles. The results suggest that both PCA and PNS can decrease the yield stress and apparent viscosity of CA pastes. The effect of SPs on the rheology of CA paste can be explained by two reasons. First, PNS can adsorb on both asphalt and cement surface, change the zeta potential and then decrease their yield stress and viscosity, while PCA only adsorb on cement surface. Second, the competitive adsorption of SPs and asphalt prevents asphalt from adsorbing on cement surface and then more asphalt droplets are released into aqueous solution, thereby enhancing the particle dispersion

Evolution of Maximum Bending Strain on Poisson's Ratio Distribution

In recent years, new flexible functional materials have attracted increasing interest, but there is a lack of the designing mechanisms of flexibility design with superstructures. In traditional engineering mechanics, the maximum bending strain (MBS) was considered universal for describing the bendable properties of a given material, leading to the universal designing method of lowering the dimension such as thin membranes designed flexible functional materials.In this work, the MBS was found only applicable for materials with uniformly distributed Poisson's ratio, while the MBS increases with the thickness of the given material in case there is a variation Poisson's ratio in different areas. This means the MBS can be enhanced by certain Poisson's ratio design in the future to achieve better flexibility of thick materials. Here, the inorganic freestanding nanofiber membranes, which have a nonconstant Poisson's ratio response on stress/strain for creating nonuniformly distributed Poisson's ratio were proven applicable for designing larger MBS and lower Young's modulus for thicker samples

Glucagon-like peptide-1 and its class B G protein-coupled receptors: A long march to therapeutic successes

Theglucagon-likepeptide (GLP)-1receptor (GLP-1R) is a class B G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that mediates the action of GLP-1, a peptide hormone secretedfromthreemajor tissues inhumans,enteroendocrine L cells in the distal intestine, a cells in the pancreas, and the central nervous system, which exerts important actions useful in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity, including glucose homeostasis and regulation of gastric motility and food intake. Peptidic analogs of GLP-1 have been successfully developed with enhanced bioavailability and pharmacological activity. Physiologic and biochemical studies with truncated, chimeric, and mutated peptides and GLP-1R variants, together with ligand-bound crystal structures of the extracellular domain and the first three-dimensional structures of the 7-helical transmembrane domain of class B GPCRs, have provided the basis for a twodomain-binding mechanism of GLP-1 with its cognate receptor. Although efforts in discovering therapeutically viable nonpeptidicGLP-1R agonists have been hampered, small-moleculemodulators offer complementary chemical tools to peptide analogs to investigate ligand-directed biased cellular signaling of GLP-1R. The integrated pharmacological and structural information of different GLP-1 analogs and homologous receptors give new insights into the molecular determinants of GLP-1R ligand selectivity and functional activity, thereby providing novel opportunities in the design and development of more efficacious agents to treat metabolic disorders