Understanding the shrinkage behaviour of alkali-activated slag binders modified by the superabsorbent polymer

Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) have gained attention as internal curing agents in alkali-activated slags (AAS). The absorption–desorption kinetics of SAPs in AAS pastes were monitored using X-ray computed tomography. This study examines the influence of Angular covalently crosslinked sodium polyacrylate SAPs on AAS's reaction kinetics, pore structure, and microstructure f AAS. Meanwhile, autogenous, total drying shrinkage and continuous monitoring of internal relative humidity changes were performed. The results showed that the SAPs’ desorption kinetics is crucial in influencing the efficiency to counteract the shrinkage. SAPs significantly mitigated the autogenous and total drying shrinkage up to 90% and 30%, respectively. The incorporation of the ideal content of SAPs significantly compensated for the impact of the w/b ratio AAS properties. The optimum SAPs dosage was found to be 0.6 %, which enhanced the ability to control IC water, yielding better performance in terms of shrinkage, assisting the hydration degree, and enhancing the surface quality and anti-permeability. No reaction products were detected inside the voids of SAP, and the agglomeration of SAP was observed. However, care should be taken when incorporating a high content of SAP (i.e. > 0.6 %), which can adversely affect the properties of AAS. This work confirms that IC of AAS using SAPs is a powerful mitigating strategy, particularly when traditional curing is insufficient.