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Public PhD defence of Jingbin Yang on "Effects of Superabsorbent Polymers on the Shrinkage, Cracking, and Self-Healing Properties of Alkali-Activated Slag Systems"
Jingbin Yang successfully defended his PhD entitled “Effects of Superabsorbent Polymers on the Shrinkage, Cracking, and Self-Healing Properties of Alkali-Activated Slag Systems”. He was being supervised by Zhenping Sun from Tongji University, Nele De Belie from Ghent University and Didier Snoeck from Université libre de Bruxelles.
Summary of the research
As an environmentally friendly binder, alkali-activated slag (AAS) is considered a promising alternative to Portland cement (PC) in some specific applications. However, there is a risk of cracking due to high shrinkage. To use this new binder safely and efficiently, the excessive shrinkage and cracking must be reduced. For internal curing, superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are used in PC systems. SAPs are very sensitive to ions present in liquid phase, and the type and concentration of ions greatly influence the absorption and release behavior of SAPs. AAS and PC are different binder systems, and the properties of their liquid phases are very different. The behavior of SAPs in AAS systems differs from that in PC systems, and no systematic research has yet been conducted on how SAPs affect moisture migration and properties of AAS systems. It may be misleading to apply to AAS systems without validation what applies to SAPs in PC systems, given the major differences between these binder systems. This work is devoted to investigating the behavior of SAPs in AAS systems, and how SAPs affect the shrinkage, cracking and self-healing properties of AAS systems.