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Author : Mouad Jebli (LINEACT)

Article : Articles dans des revues internationales ou nationales avec comité de lecture - 10/03/2023 - Construction and Building Materials

An experimental program is oriented to the mechanical behaviour of the Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ)
exposed to leaching, for a single mix. Leaching kinetics of the degraded depth, measured through grey level on
cross sections, reveals a maximum gap of 10 % between ITZ and bulk cement paste. ITZ, with a main thickness of
15 µm suffers a significant decalcification, which is reflected on the mechanical properties of the bond. Grey
level, Calcium/Silicon (Ca/Si) molar ratio and Young’s modulus in the degraded zone present similar evolution.
Effect of ITZ causing cracking and then debonding is noticed, through chemical analysis, image observation and
mechanical tests.