Report rep020 : Engineering and Transport Properties of the Interfacial Transition Zone in Cementitious Composites - State-of-the-Art Report of RILEM TC 159-ETC and 163-TPZ

A key question that need to be resolved is to what extent the existence of ITZ has any practical influences on the engineering properties of cementitious materials, or is it just a peculiarity of academic interest. The question arose in view of the fact that for traditional concretes, the properties could be reasonably accounted for by the bulk properties of the cementitious matrix. To resolve this issue two committees were set up by RILEM, one dealing with engineering properties (TC 159-ETC: Engineering of the Interfacial Transition Zone in Cementitious Composites) and the other with transport properties which are related to durability (TC 163-TPZ: Transport Properties of the Interfacial Transition Zone).

This book is intended to highlight properties of practical interest, where the structure of the ITZ has a significant impact and to provide input on methods to engineer the ITZ in order to modify these properties. This State-of-the-Art Report deals with the mechanical properties of cementitious composites (strength, ductility, bond, fracture characteristics) made of a cementitious binder with different types of inclusions (normal aggregates, lightweight aggregates, reinforcing steel bars and fibers), and with the durability performance of cementitious systems which are controlled to a large extent by transport characteristics. This book also provides a special input on the modeling of the ITZ to predict its microstructure and influence on the properties of the composite.

Contents

Part 1 - Introduction

Part 2 - Interfacial transistion zone and mechanical properties

Part 3 - Interfacial transition zone and transport properties

Part 4 - Influence of microcracks in ITZ on durability

Part 5 - Modelling