Determination of thermal properties of some supplementary cementing materials used in cement and concrete

Use of the fly ash, ground granular blast furnace slag and silica fume, as supplementary cementing materials (SCMs), in cement and concrete for improving their quality has been in practice for a long period. The quality of blended cement and concrete depends mainly on the physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of these SCMs. Based on these properties, researchers have established guidelines, which can be used for recommending suitability of a SCM for its application in the cement and concrete. However, due to the application of cement and concrete for various insulating and refractory purposes, it is essential to determine thermal properties (thermal resistivity, diffusivity and specific heat) of these SCMs. Usually, ‘differential scanning calorimetery’ has been employed for measuring specific heat and the ‘laser flash method’ is employed for determining thermal diffusivity of these SCMs. However, these methods are quite tedious and cost intensive and require skilled operations. As such, to simplify determination of thermal properties of various SCMs, a device termed ‘thermal property detector’ has been fabricated and its working methodology is presented in this paper. The device works quite efficiently and is reliable in determining thermal properties such as thermal diffusivity, thermal resistivity and specific heat of various SCMs used in the cement and concrete.