1. Cement hydration heat and concrete hardening

1.1 Cement hydration: an exothermic, heat-activated reaction

The setting and hardening of concrete is the result of a number of chemical reactions, the most important of which — hydration of the silicates in clinker — are accompanied by the release of considerable heat. In addition to the difficulty of defining and isolating these different reactions, the heats of hydration of pure species are rather tricky to measure, and the literature does not provide precise values.

The following ranges (in joules per gram of anhydrous material) are used for the main...