Water contents in aggregates and cement pastes determined by gravimetric analysis and prompt -ray analysis

Kinoshita, Norikazu*; Noto, Takuma*; Nakajima, Hitoshi*; Kosako, Kazuaki*; Kato, Takahiro*; Kuroiwa, Yoichi*; Kurabe, Misako*; Sasaki, Yuki*; Torii, Kazuyuki*; Maeda, Makoto  ; Toh, Yosuke   ; Kimura, Atsushi   ; Nakamura, Shoji  ; Endo, Shunsuke   ; Segawa, Mariko   

There are some different chemical and physical forms of water molecules in concretes. Especially, bound water is difficult to determine. In the present work, we determined free + adsorbed water and bound water contained in aggregates and cement pastes, which are component of concretes, by means of conventional gravimetric analysis and prompt -ray analysis (PGA), respectively, in order to evaluate a total water content in concretes. In the PGA, background reduction was attempted by using the time-of-flight (TOF) signal. In addition, the degree of contribution to analytical values by scattered neutrons by samples was evaluated because water would adsorb on the surface of instruments inside the irradiation chamber for the PGA. Contents of the free + adsorbed water and bound water in some geochemical references determined in the present work were compared with the nominal values to confirm the precision. Each water content in aggregates collected from different quarries and cement pastes with different water-to-cement ratios were analyzed. A total water content in young concrete was evaluated on the basis of the analytical values.