Citric Acid on the Hydration Mechanism of Cement

This article reports on the study to evaluate the hydration process of cement by the addition of citric acid. Through the test of citric acid of cement paste, hydration heat performance, resistivity, chemical shrinkage, and combined with XRD, SEM, DSC-TG discusses the influence of citric acid on cement hydration process. The results thus obtained were compared to the hydration process of cement with the blank sample and vary of dosage of citric acid. The results show that: The early hydration about 1~2 h resistivity increases, dissolve balance stage was extended; The chemical shrinkage increased significantly, and increases with dosage; With the increase in citric acid dosage, AFt diffraction peaks increases, while the CH peak decreases, indicating that the citric acid accelerated the initial hydration of C3A, while inhibiting C3S hydration and promoting AFt generation. Key words: citric acid, mechanism ,hydration heat, resistivity