Revising Specifications to Enable New Materials and Adapting to Performance of Low-Clinker Concretes
Abstract
To support the concrete industry’s goals of meeting net-zero carbon-dioxide emissions by 2050, new types of lower-clinker cements are being developed for use. While Portland cement will continue to be used as part of the cementitious materials in the bulk of applications, use of Portland cement as the sole binder in concrete is diminishing globally. Reducing the clinker content of concretes is complicated by the limited and diminishing availability of traditionally used Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs), such as fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slags, whether added as separate additions to concrete or as components of blended cements. This has spawned increased interest and use of natural pozzolans such as volcanic materials, calcined clays, and other novel activated pozzolans. However, some of these activated or manufactured pozzolans either may not meet the current definition of pozzolans, and some may not meet some of the prescriptive limits in current specification. Performance specifications will help in the adoption of new SCMs and low-clinker cements that are being developed and coming to the market. The rapid changes in the availability of cementitious materials, combined with the need to accelerate the adoption and use of concrete mixtures provided they demonstrate equivalent performance to traditionally specified concretes, requires rapid adoption of performance specifications and test methods.
Keywords
specifications, low-clinker cements, alternative supplementary cementitious materials.
DOI
10.5703/1288284318154
Recommended Citation
Hooton, Robert Douglas and Sutter, Lawrence, "Revising Specifications to Enable New Materials and Adapting to Performance of Low-Clinker Concretes" (2025). International Conference on Durability of Concrete Structures. 1.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/icdcs/2025/keynote/1
Revising Specifications to Enable New Materials and Adapting to Performance of Low-Clinker Concretes
To support the concrete industry’s goals of meeting net-zero carbon-dioxide emissions by 2050, new types of lower-clinker cements are being developed for use. While Portland cement will continue to be used as part of the cementitious materials in the bulk of applications, use of Portland cement as the sole binder in concrete is diminishing globally. Reducing the clinker content of concretes is complicated by the limited and diminishing availability of traditionally used Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs), such as fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slags, whether added as separate additions to concrete or as components of blended cements. This has spawned increased interest and use of natural pozzolans such as volcanic materials, calcined clays, and other novel activated pozzolans. However, some of these activated or manufactured pozzolans either may not meet the current definition of pozzolans, and some may not meet some of the prescriptive limits in current specification. Performance specifications will help in the adoption of new SCMs and low-clinker cements that are being developed and coming to the market. The rapid changes in the availability of cementitious materials, combined with the need to accelerate the adoption and use of concrete mixtures provided they demonstrate equivalent performance to traditionally specified concretes, requires rapid adoption of performance specifications and test methods.
