Effects of Two Types of Waste Wood Species on the Hydration Characteristic of Portland Cement

Abstract

Despite much work on wood-cement composites, effects of wood species on the hydration of cements remain unclear until now. Thus, we herein investigated systematically effects of two typical wood species wastes on the hydration of Portland cement in this work. It was found that adding the poplar flour prominently affects the formation of the calcium silicate hydrate gel (C-S-H gel) delaying the hydration process, while the Chinese fir flour hardly retards the process due to different components. Compared with the neat cement, addition of both wood flours makes it easier to generate the ettringite. Besides, another important hydration product, calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)₂, requires much longer time to form in the presence of both wood flours during hydration relative to the neat cement, e.g. nearly double time for the poplar-filled cement system. The findings provide useful information for extending the potential application of wood flours waste in cement composites..