The Impact of Accelerated Carbonation on the Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of Seawater Sea Sand Concrete

Abstract

In practice, assessing the mechanical behavior of seawater sea sand concrete under severe environmental conditions is urgently needed to evaluate the service life of the prepared concrete. In this paper, the influence of carbonation on the mechanical properties, especially the stress–strain relationship of seawater and sea sand concrete (SSC), sea sand concrete (SC), and ordinary concrete (OC), were investigated by experimental and theoretical means. The microstructural analysis revealed that SSC and SC have higher CO2 sequestration than OC. Although the compressive strength of all concrete specimens increased during the carbonation time, the net increase of compressive strength (excluding cement hydration) contributed by the carbonation of SSC and SC was less than that of OC. The stress–strain curves’ ascending branches of the three types were roughly similar; for the descending branch, the slope of SSC and SC became steeper compared with OC after carbonation. The results also revealed that the brittleness of SSC and SC increased orderly with the extension of carbonation time. Finally, an empirical expression for the stress–strain relationship of SSC and SC considering the effect of carbonation was proposed, which provides an analytical base for concrete structure design and practical application for marine infrastructures.