Influence of the Physicochemical Properties of Portland Cement on the Strength of Reactive Powder Concrete

The paper presents an analysis of mechanical properties and microstructure of reactive powder concretes RPC manufactured with the use of three different industrial Portland cements diversified in terms of the strength class (42.5 and 52.5), chemical and mineral composition as well as specific surface area. All developed materials were subjected to three different hydrothermal curing conditions. The test results confirm that the factors most influencing the consistency of the concrete mixture are the chemical and mineralogical composition of the binder. However, it appears that when it comes to mechanical properties, the factor which plays the crucial role is the specific surface area of cement. For one of the analysed cements, due to its favourable chemical and mineralogical composition, it was possible to limit the value of W/B ratio up to 0.17, without adversely affecting the properties of the concrete mixture. Nevertheless, it has not contributed to any spectacular increase in strength as compared to materials based on the cement with the largest surface area, where the minimum realizable W/B ratio was 0.20.