Correlations between the Impedance and Compressive Strength of Hardened Cement According to the Aggregate Type

Abstract

: To date, methods used to assess the interfacial transition zone (ITZ), which represents the boundary between the aggregate and paste inside concretes, have primarily relied on destructive tests, and non-destructive tests has received little attention until recently. This study assessed the interfaces of concretes with lightweight aggregates based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for high-strength concretes and examined the possibility of estimating the compressive strength of concretes through non-destructive testing using EIS. The experimental results revealed that the impedance of the hardened cement increased with increasing compressive strength and aggregate density. In particular, when the results of impedance measurement were displayed as a Nyquist plot, the intercept of the x-axis depicting the effective conductivity was proportional to the compressive strength. Furthermore, an equivalent circuit was selected to interpret the correlation between cement aggregates and impedance. Consequently, the compressive strength was found to increase with the value of the resistances of the electrolyte filled in continuous pores in the cement aggregate. And, the pores formed in the ITZ affect this value. The resistance at the ITZ for different aggregates was also obtained, and it was found that the resistance was consistent with the results predicted by SEM images of the ITZ and correlated with the strength of the concretes. The proposed method can be used as a way to easily determine the strength of cement according to differences in aggregate.