Preparation of Nano-Sized C-S-H and Its Acceleration Mechanism on Portland Cement Hydration at Different Temperatures

Nano-sized C-S-H, a promising early strength agent, can accelerate the hydration rate of Portland cement and increase the early compressive strength of cement-based composites effectively. Nano-sized C-S-H suspensions with different contents of effective constituent and size distributions were prepared by a convenient coprecipitation method and the microstructures were analyzed by Zeta potential, XRD and FT-IR. The exothermic heat, early mechanical properties, hydration degree and hydration products of cement with/without nano-sized C-S-H cured at different temperatures were studied by hydration exothermic, XRD, SEM and TG analysis. Nano-sized C-S-H with semi-crystalline structures was prepared, and the size of the nano-sized C-S-H seeds showed an obvious increase with an increase in theoretical concentration, and slight precipitation in the suspension was observed when the theoretical concentration was 2%. The XRD, TG and SEM analyses showed that nano-sized C-S-H expedites the reaction of C(3)S in the first 24 h; therefore, the hydration induction period is obviously shortened. The 8 h, 16 h and 24 h compressive strength of mortars containing nano-sized C-S-H increased by 176.0%, 145.6% and 43.9%, respectively, compared with the reference mortar. The enhancement effects of nano-sized C-S-H at 10 °C were lower than that at 20 °C.