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Better Pavements through Internal Hydration
Better
Pavements through Internal Hydration
Taking lightweight aggregate to the streets
By Victor H. Villarreal and David A. Crocker
The benefits of using structural lightweight aggregate (LWA) to replace a portion of the normal weight aggregates in concrete mixtures have been investigated by many researchers. The main purpose of this substitution has been to provide a source of moisture for internal curing that will promote more complete hydration of the cementitious materials. Due to the inherently low permeability of the matrix, internal curing is especially beneficial in concrete with a low water-cementitious material ratio (w/cm) where external curing has little effect on hydration in the internal portion of the concrete. If the w/cm is below about 0.36, these mixtures can also self-desiccate because the amount of water included in the mixture is not enough to completely hydrate the cementitious materials.
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