The Effect of Al2(SO4)3 on Compressive Strength in SLU Based on Ternary Binder System

The early flexural and compressive strengths of fast setting SLU formulations based on a ternary system can be severely affected by the selection of accelerator, its quantity and chemistry. Besides design complexity, it is predicted that the current lithium resources will not be sufficient to meet the increasing demands from other markets and lithium prices are expected to increase. It is necessary to search for a new raw material that gives the same performance to prevent the possibility of a supply shortage in the construction sector. In this study, ternary system accelerated with aluminum sulphate was comprehensively investigated in comparison with commonly used accelerators. Aim to achieve is to provide early strength by using aluminum sulphate in the OPC-rich SLU formulation based on the ternary systems instead of traditional accelerators while obtaining cost saving solutions. For this purpose, fresh mortar properties and strength test were carried out according to EN 13813 and results were verified by monitoring hydration reactions over time by XRD and FTIR.