Autogenous and drying shrinkage of mortars based on Portland and calcium sulfoaluminate cements

Calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement can be used as an alternative binder in concrete, partially or fully replacing ordinary Portland cement. While CSA cement considerably accelerates the mechanical properties development, the rapid evolution of the microstructure together with the high water demand cause rapid and large volume changes at early ages. As volume changes may lead to early-age cracking, measures to reduce them may be required In this paper, autogenous and drying shrinkage are studied in mortars prepared with Portland cement, CSA cement or a 50/50 blend as binder. Very fast self-desiccation and high autogenous shrinkage of the CSA-based mortar were observed compared to the mortar made with Portland cement. On the other hand, the early-age volume changes can be limited if a blend of the two cements is used. The blended system revealed a bi-modal trend in the evolution of self-desiccation and autogenous shrinkage, in which the initial fast self-desiccation and shrinkage enter the dormant phase after the first couple of days and again start after about 28 days.