For the general quantitative evaluation of the flow characteristics of a material, various factors that affect the flow should be examined. Notably, cement paste shows multi-dimensional flow characteristics owing to not only its inherent features such as its various particle sizes and hydration reaction, but also due to environmental factors including temperature, humidity, and pressure. Therefore, an analysis of those environmental factors is important for the quantitative evaluation of the flow characteristics of cement paste. In this study, we analyzed the flow characteristics of cement paste and a newly developed standard reference material (SRM) that has similar flow characteristics to cement paste at different temperatures. For the analysis, the flow characteristics of each cement paste mixture at five different temperatures (5 °C, 10 °C, 20 °C, 30 °C, and 40 °C) were examined, in consideration of variations in construction environments. Then, the flow characteristics of the developed SRM at different temperatures were also analyzed. The result of the analysis demonstrated a decrease in the rheology constant value following a rise in the temperature. Notably, the degree of variation in the flow characteristics was larger at a lower temperature, while flow characteristics remained nearly constant at higher temperatures. The result of the analysis also confirmed that cement paste and the newly developed SRM displayed similar tendencies for the change in flow characteristics following a change in temperature. In conclusion, the newly developed SRM is thought to be useful for consistently representing the flow characteristics of cement paste under various construction environments in consideration of temperature change.
Keywords: plastic viscosity; rheology; standard reference materials; temperature; yield stress.