Chemical shrinkage of portland cement pastes

Chemical shrinkage of normal Portland cement pastes (0.4 ≤ w/c < 0.8) has been measured at 20°C and of pastes with w/c = 0.5 furthermore at 35, and 50°C by means of measuring the volume change of samples of cement paste during the hydration. A small increase in the chemical shrinkage at “infinite time” was found at increasing water-cement ratio. The influence of the temperature was found to be twofold: Increasing temperature caused an increasing rate of the development of chemical shrinkage and a decrease of the chemical shrinkage at “infinite time”. Earlier studies of chemical shrinkage of Portland cement paste are also reported.