Supplementary Cementitious Materials

What are they? Why do we use them? What are the future trends?

Supplementary cementitious materials (SCM's) have become an integral part of modern concrete mixtures for a variety of reasons. Depending on the material and mixture design, SCM's can provide performance enhancements in concrete, or in some cases SCM's can lower overall material costs. The common materials classified as SCM's include fly ash, slag cement, and silica fume, but the portfolio of materials is changing for a variety of reasons. The supply some SCM's has varied and inconsistent performance has been reported in some cases. Additionally, new materials are entering the the market and in most cases, these new materials do not have a historical record of use allowing for easy adaptation in existing concrete mixture designs. Understanding performance variations and adapting to new materials requires a basic understanding of what SCM's are, how they function, and how we measure their performance. This presentation will describe common SCM's and their properties, highlight their benefits and drawbacks when used in concrete, and discussrecent trends that may effect the use of SCM's in the foreseeable future. 

Speaker: Larry Sutter is a Professor in the Materials Science & Engineering Department at Michigan Technological University, specializing in materials characterization, concrete durability, and the use supplementary cementitious materials. He also serves as Director of the Michigan Department of Transportation Materials Research Center at Michigan Tech. He is a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and Chairman of Committees 232 Fly Ash and ITG-10 Alternative Cementitious Materials. He is also a member of ASTM committees C01 and C09, serving as Chairman of C09.24 on Supplementary Cementitious Materials and C09.65 on Petrography. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Michigan.