Investigation of the swelling behavior of cationic exchange resins saturated with Na+ ions in a C3S paste

Ion exchange resins (IERs) are widely used by the nuclear industry to decontaminate radioactive effluents. Spent products are usually encapsulated in cementitious materials. However, the solidified waste form can exhibit strong expansion, possibly leading to cracking, if the appropriate binder is not used. In this work, the interactions between cationic resins in the Na+ form and tricalcium silicate are investigated during the early stages of hydration in order to gain a better understanding of the expansion process. It is shown that the IERs exhibit a transient swelling of small magnitude due to the decrease in the osmotic pressure of the external solution. This expansion, which occurs just after setting, is sufficient to damage the material which is poorly consolidated for several reasons: low degree of hydration, precipitation of poorly cohesive sodium-bearing C–S–H, and very heterogeneous microstructure with zones of high porosity.