A novel approach towards ranking the performance of cement-based materials exposed to organic acids

Exposure of cementitious materials to organic acids is an inevitable phenomenon. Various test parameters are used to evaluate the degradation of cementitious materials exposed to organic acids. It is imperative to investigate the interrelationship among commonly used test parameters, including mass loss, degradation depth, and strength loss. An experimental study was conducted on three distinct types of binders: Portland Slag Cement (PSC), High Alumina Cement (HAC), and Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC 53 grade). These binders were exposed to 12 acid exposure conditions. This paper aims at correlating test parameters such as mass loss, degradation depth in terms of area loss, compressive strength loss and loss in dynamic elastic modulus (RDEM loss). Correlations are computed using SPSS software. A performance index is proposed as the weighted average of the results of test parameters adopted. The concept of Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) is adopted for the formulation of performance index. The weightage to be provided for each parameter is calculated based on the correlation between the test parameters. Higher the performance index value, higher is the rank, better is the performance of the material. After analyzing the results of the experimental study and forming performance index, it has been found that, Portland Slag Cement (PSC) exhibits good resistance against acids forming calcium soluble salts. But for acids forming slightly soluble calcium salts such as citric acid, HAC exhibits better performance than PSC and OPC binders.