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Analysis of Microstructure and Properties of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

Wall Construction Materials

Article  in  Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry · December 2007

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J. Ind. Eng. Chem., Vol. 13, No. 7, (2007) 1103-1108

Analysis of Microstructure and Properties of Autoclaved Aerated

Concrete Wall Construction Materials
Yothin Ungkoon, Chadchart Sittipunt*, Pichai Namprakai, Wanvisa Jetipattaranat**,
Kyo-Seon Kim***, and Tawatchai Charinpanitkul****,†

Division of Energy Technology, School of Energy Environment and Materials, King Mongkut’s University of
Technology Thonburi, Bangmod, Rasburana, 126 Pracha U-thit Rd., Thungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
*Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Rd., Phathumwan,
Bangkok 10330, Thailand
**Research Development Center, Superblock Public Co., LTD, 9/1 Moo 11, Singburi Pak Dong Rd., Bangrachan, Kai
Bangrachan, Singburi 16150, Thailand
***Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701,
Korea
****Center of Excellence in Particle Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Phayathai Rd.,
Phathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Received July 11, 2007; Accepted November 9, 2007

Abstract: Microstructure analyses in non-autoclaved aerated concrete (Non-AAC) and autoclaved aerated con-
crete (AAC) were conducted using optical microscopic and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) methods,
while their chemical analyses were also carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Laboratory investigation in-
cluding physiothermal properties and field tests using four lab-scale houses built with the Non-AAC and AAC
blocks were also compared. It could be observed that the AAC exhibited properties superior to that of the
Non-AAC. Interestingly, the AAC blocks could provide lower humidity accumulation than the Non-AAC
blocks, resulting in possibility to prevent mold growth in such construction materials.

Keywords: autoclaved aerated concrete, microstructure, tobermorite

Introduction accumulation of heat and moisture in building wall plays

1)
At present, construction works, such as high-rise build-
ings or offices and residential houses, in many countries
including Thailand are growing very fast every year.
Concrete has mainly been used as fundamental con-
struction material for most of residential building be-
cause of its outstanding mechanical properties, low cost
and availability. However, structure and foundation of
buildings tend to become larger due to an increase in
their scale, leading to much more time-consumption and
cost.
In monsoon region including the Southeastern Asian
countries, the ambient condition is hot and humid so that
† weight characteristics [1,2]. They revealed that low den-
To whom all correspondence should be addressed.
(e-mail: ctawat@chula.ac.th)
an important role in its maintenance and energy con-
servation. As a result, ventilating fans and air-condi-
tioners have been employed to remove heat for providing
comfortable environment for residents. Meanwhile, both
the economic and energy crisis has stimulated awareness
of energy conservation, resulting in a drastic increase in
studies on construction material which incorporates en-
ergy conservation. It should be noted that an approach
which has been used in Civil Engineering works is the
usage of construction materials as an insulator to prevent
heat transfer from outsides of buildings. Khedari and
coworkers reported that internal structure of concrete
consisting of coconut and durian fibers mixed with ce-
ment and sand at various proportions could exhibit light
sity and thermal conductivity of blocks consisting of ad-
1104 Yothin Ungkoon, Chadchart Sittipunt, Pichai Namprakai, Wanvisa Jetipattaranat, Kyo-Seon Kim, and Tawatchai Charinpanitkul
ditive fibers could help prevent heat transfer into build-
ing. However, because of their low compressive strength,
they could only be recommended to use for non-load
bearing concrete masonry units. John and coworkers con-
ducted an assessment of degradation on a wall panel
composite made of low alkaline, clinker free, activated
slag cement reinforced with coconut fibers [3]. Though
the low alkaline cement was not able to prevent decom-
position and leaching of lignin contained in the fibers,
the leaching of lignin exerted insignificant effect on the
wall performances. Meanwhile, various studies on
non-autoclaved and autoclaved light weight concrete
which consisted of cement and some other additives,
such as ash, zeolite or polystyrene foam were also con-
ducted to elucidate their structures and engineering prop-
erties [4-6]. For instance, effect of polymer cement modi-
fiers on mechanical and physical properties of mortar us-
ing waste concrete fine aggregate was investigated and
found that porosity of the mortar could be increased by
addition of higher contents of polyacrylic ester (PAE)
modifier [7]. Such polymeric modifier could lead to en-
hanced performance in hot water resistance and higher
compressive strength but worse flexural strength [8].
There are two types of autoclaved aerated concrete
(AAC) production methods which are chemical and me-
chanical processes. In the chemical process, some metal-
lic compounds would be added to react and generate tre-
mendous amount of air bubbles in concrete texture while
in mechanical process expansive foaming agent is nor-
mally employed. In general, AAC could be prepared in a
high pressure autoclave under conditions of temperature
o
and pressure higher than 180 C and 12 bar, respectively
[5]. Approximately the porosity is 80 % of the volume of
the processed cement, resulting in its very light weight.
Additionally, AAC has excellent properties of acoustic
insulation, fire resistance and allergy-free while it tends
to suffer edge damage or breakage if it is subject to abra-
sion or collision. In order to produce more promising
AAC, various researches on its physical structure have
been initiated using microscopic analyses and X-ray dif-
fraction (XRD) to investigate their chemical and struc-
tural characteristics [9-13].
To our knowledge, there are very few systematic inves-
tigations on thermal and physical properties of AAC in
Thailand. So far, only some comparisons of engineering
and thermal properties of clay bricks, concrete blocks,
AAC and Non-AAC have been reported [14,15]. Studies
on thermal inertia of concrete blocks by Ropelewski and
coworkers [16] and Ungkoon and coworkers [17] are in-
volving with heat transfer by radiation to buildings made
of AAC and Non-AAC. It was found that Non-AAC
blocks with higher density are likely to be able to transfer
heat faster than the lighter AAC and in turn lead to short-
er delay time in heat transmission. Ungkoon and cow-
orkers has also conducted a study on moisture and ther-
mal resistance of building walls made of AAC blocks
and clay bricks [18]. Their experimental results showed
that the wall made of AAC could resist moisture and re-
duce heat transfer due to its inner porous structure.
However, there is insufficient understanding of micro-
structure which could affect on thermal properties of
AAC. Therefore, this work sets its aim at examining the
porous structure of both AAC and Non-AAC in order to
elucidate the formation process of their microstructures
using optical microscopy and scanning electron micro-
scopy (SEM). Also chemical and structural analyses are
conducted using X-ray diffraction (XRD) to Figure out
the effect of their composition on their thermal pro-
perties. Comparison of thermal and mechanical proper-
ties of AAC and Non-AAC has also been reported.
Materials and Method
Specimens of AAC were collected from a manufacturer
which has been certified by Thailand Industrial Standard
(TIS) 1505-2541. 120 pieces of AAC blocks with a uni-
form size of 200 × 600 × 75 mm were randomly sampled
for investigation. Meanwhile, the Non-AAC blocked of
the same size and amount manufactured at the same fac-
tory were sampled for comparison. Both AAC and Non-
AAC specimens were subjected to tests as follows; 1)
Thailand Industrial Standard (TIS) 1505-2541 and Din
4165-1986 for determining dry density, compressive
strength, and flexural strength, 2) JIS A 2618 standard
for examining thermal conductivity using Thermal Con-
ductivity Tester (model 88 K-FOTOR, ANACON), 3)
DSC analysis for determining specific heat capacity us-
ing a differential scanning calorimeter (Model DSC 7),
4) microscopic analysis using scanning electron micro-
scopy (SEM, Model JEOL JSM 5800 equipped with
Energy Dispersive Spectroscope), and 5) chemical analy-
sis using XRD (X-ray Diffractometer, model Bruker D8).
Results and Discussion
In general, it is known that tobermorite with ortho-
rhombic structure could be stable with Ca/Si ratio of 0.8
∼1.0 and temperature of ambient condition up to 150
o
C. It generally coexists within tetrahedral silicate layers
and octahedral calcium layers [17]. With hydrothermal
reaction between SiO2 and Ca(OH)2 a system of Ca-
lcium-Silicate-Hydrate (so-called C-S-H system) could
be formed as slurry phase by following a two-step
process. In the first step, calcium silicate hydrate gel
(C-S-H gel) will be generated on the surface of SiO2 and
then react with Ca(OH)2 to form well-organized crystal-
 Analysis of Microstructure and Properties of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Wall Construction Materials
Figure 1. Model of Tobermorite structure consisting of proto-
nated silicate ions and water.
line [19]. In the second step, curing of crystalline product
would be taken into account. There are two alternatives
of curing process which could provide specimen of dif-
ferent properties. The first curing process making use of
air to cure specimens could create hydrogarnet crystalline
of which the structure would strongly depend on curing
time period. The other is an autoclave curing process in
which high pressure and temperature would be applied to
the specimens. At a pressure of 10∼12 bars and a tem-
perature of 180∼190 oC, tobermorite could be formed in
the specimens. As depicted in Figure 1, the tobermorite
structure model consists of Ca2+ ions which are entrapped
in the protonated silicate ions [9]. Therefore, the to-
bermorite crystal is stable to carbonation reaction under
the condition of ambient temperature and the pressure
but it will be disintegrated at the temperature higher than
650 oC.
From the SEM investigation on the surface morphology
of the two typical samples of light weight AAC and Non-
(a)
Figure 2. SEM micrographs of non-AAC and AAC specimens.
1105
AAC blocks, it could clearly be observed that the surface
of Non-ACC sample consisted of large pores while the
ACC sample exhibited smoother surface with much
smaller porosity as shown in Figure 2.
For further investigation on the porous structure of typi-
cal samples of Non-AAC and AAC, SEM micrographs
with higher magnification shown in Figure 3 are taken
into account. In Figure 3(a) Non-AAC samples consist of
particulate clusters of evenly distributed sizes, which sit-
uate around craters generated by the existence of uncon-
trollable air bubbles in curing process. It could further be
observed that the crystallinity of the Non-AAC was re-
sulted from random formation of gas bubbles, leading to
formation of cavities with various depths. Also seen in
Figure 3(a), some cracks observed on the Non-AAC sur-
face would possibly lead to a decrease in the mechanical
strength because they could become sources of fatigue
growth. On the other hand, Figure 3(b) revealed the sam-
ples of AAC exhibit smoother surface with some poros-
ity and particulate of narrower size. It is notable that
there are no cracks observed on the surface of denser
AAC samples. This could be implied that under high
pressure and temperature in autoclaving process, denser
phase of C-S-H could be formed.
For further investigation of their crystallinity, SEM mi-
crographs with further higher magnification were em-
ployed. Figure 4(a) clearly reveals that Non-AAC sam-
ples are comprised of particulate calcium silicate of un-
evenly distributed morphologies. Primary particles exist-
ing in the Non-AAC samples exhibit average size of 200
∼400 nm. Sub-micron particulates gathering as agglom-
erates with average size of 5 µm could form loose matrix
surrounding by voidage, resulting in lower density and
thermal conductivity of the Non-AAC samples. Howev-
er, considering Figure 4(b), one could clearly observe
(b)
1106 Yothin Ungkoon, Chadchart Sittipunt, Pichai Namprakai, Wanvisa Jetipattaranat, Kyo-Seon Kim, and Tawatchai Charinpanitkul

(a) (b)
Figure 3. Comparison of surface morphology of Non-AAC and AAC specimens.

(a) (b)
Figure 4. Comparison of crystalline structure of Non-AAC and AAC specimens.

sub-micron needle crystal is ca. 400 nm with aspect ratio

Figure 5. XRD patterns of (a) Non-AAC and (b) AAC speci-
mens (Q: quartz , T: tobermorite and C: calcite).
that finer needle-like crystalline structures exist thor-
oughly the surface of AAC samples. The average size of
of 20∼30. Tremendous amount of finer porosity within
the matrix of fine particulate would also result in much
lower specific density of AAC samples. In order to con-
firm the crystal structure of both Non-AAC and AAC
samples, XRD analysis was also carried out. XRD pat-
terns in Figure 5 reveals that Non-AAC samples mainly
consist of calcite and quartz. Meanwhile, in AAC sample
main product is crystalline in as much as tobermorite and
quartz are present. With a high pressure of 12 bar and
o
temperature of 180∼200 C, calcite in the tested speci-
mens could undergo phase transformation process to be-
come tobermorite. Such experimental results are in a
good agreement with those previous reports [9-11].
Difference in such crystal morphologies and phases in
Non-AAC and AAC samples are supposed to exert sig-
nificant effects on not only mechanical but also thermal
characteristics of the samples. Accordingly, 250 pieces of
Non-AAC and AAC samples were randomly collected
 Analysis of Microstructure and Properties of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Wall Construction Materials 1107

Table 1. Mechanical and Thermal Characteristic Test of Non-AAC and AAC Samples
Non‐AAC AAC
Characteristics of sample tested
Min Max Avg. Min Max Avg.
3
Density (kg/m ) 733 750 741 573 577 575
Compressive strength (MPa.) 1.6 1.7 1.6 3.7 4.8 4.3
Flexural Strength (MPa.) 0.55 0.64 0.59 0.90 1.23 1.06
Thermal conductivity (W/mºC) 0.179 0.189 0.184 0.132 0.135 0.133
Heat capacity (J/kgK.) 1,303 1,595 1,449 1,193 1,256 1,224

for the statistical test of their mechanical and thermal Conclusion

characteristics. Table 1 summarizes the mechanical and
thermal investigating results. It could be clearly observed
that AAC samples exhibit specific density almost 20 per-
cent lower than that of Non-AAC. Meanwhile, average
compressive and flexural strength of AAC samples are
2.7 and 1.8 times of those of Non-AAC, respectively.
These superior mechanical properties of AAC could be
attributed to the present of higher crystallinity of to-
bermorite phases in AAC samples [13,15]. On the other
hand, it could also be seen that average thermal con-
ductivity and heat capacity of AAC samples are sig-
nificantly lower than those of Non-AAC. As could be
confirmed by microscopic analyses, the existence of mi-
cro-sized porosity in AAC samples would lead to higher
insulating performance. Moreover, it has been reported
that AAC could also exhibit lower drying shrinkage
when compared with Non-AAC [9].
Finally, field tests using four lab-scale houses built with
the Non-AAC and AAC blocks were also carried out.
Details of field test facilities are available elsewhere [18].
It could be observed that walls built with the AAC blocks
could exhibit insulating and humidity adsorbing perform-
ance superior to that of a wall built with the Non-AAC
blocks. Temperature in the houses built with the AAC
blocks is significantly lower than that in the Non-AAC
houses. Additionally, the AAC blocks could also provide
lower humidity accumulation than the Non- AAC blocks,
resulting in possibility to prevent mold growth in such
construction materials.
In summary, it could be confirmed experimentally that
suitable treatment of aerated concrete specimens using
autoclaving method could enhance phase transformation
of calcite to tobermorite and control formation of micro-
porosity in the cement matrix. The existence of crystal-
line tobermorite phase and microporosity, which are jus-
tified by microscopic and spectroscopic analyses, could
enhance both mechanical and thermal properties of AAC
specimens compared with those of Non-AAC. Based on
these investigating results it is reasonable to recommend
that AAC could be more suitable to apply as wall con-
struction material which exerts superior mechanical
strength with better insulating performance.
Under a condition of high pressure and temperature
treatment, calcite in aerated cement specimens could un-
dergo phase transformation process to become tobermor-
ite, which is more stable than former phase. High pres-
sure autoclaving could also control formation of evenly
distributed micropores within the cement matrix. The ex-
istence of tobermorite phase in AAC plays an important
role in providing various outstanding properties. With
autoclaved aerating process, AAC sample exhibits lower
density than that of Non-AAC. Additionally, AAC could
exhibit superior compressive strength and thermal in-
sulating properties. With a series of experiments it could
be confirmed AAC could be employed as a promising
concrete building material.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Superblock
(public) Co., Ltd. for financial support to this research
work. T. C. would gratefully acknowledge financial sup-
port from Silver Jubilee Fund of Chulalongkorn
University for CEPT. Support from the Ministry of
Education and Human Resources Development (MOE)
and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy
(MOCIE) through the fostering project of the Industrial-
Academic Cooperation Centered University is also
acknowledged.
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