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Why Alkaline Activation – 60 Years of the Theory and Practice of Alkali-Activated Materials
P. Krivenko
Scientific Research Institute for Binders and Materials, Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Povitroflotskyi prospect 31, Kyiv 03037 Ukraine
received June 14, 2017, received in revised form August 1, 2017, accepted August 24, 2017
Vol. 8, No. 3, Pages 323-334 DOI: 10.4416/JCST2017-00042
Abstract
Sixty years ago, just the idea of the presence of free alkalis in a cement matrix was considered by ordinary Portland cement people to be absurd, and this was a basic postulate accepted in cement chemistry. In 1957, a scientist from Kyiv, Ukraine (then, USSR), Victor Glukhovsky, put forward an assumption that was taken as a basis for development and realization of a principally new class of cementitious materials, which first appeared under the name of "alkaline cements" (nowadays also known under the general name of "alkali-activated cements"). The validity of these ideas is confirmed by more than 60 years of evolutionary development and vast experience collected from the practical use of these new materials in a variety of large-scale applications. The present review covers theoretical views on the role played by alkali in the formation of cement stone structure. Examples of compositional build-up of alkali-activated cementitious materials as a function of the quantity of the alkali and type of aluminosilicate component are reported, as well as the findings of analysis of alkali-activated cement concrete structures.
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Keywords
Alkaline activation, aluminosilicate, cement, concrete, durability, hydration products, terminology
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