The cement and asphalt mortar (CA mortar) used in the China Railway Track System (CRTS) I ballastless slab track may encounter a coupling fatigue effect under the high-frequency vibration, load and high-and-low temperature cycles, and the deterioration under fatigue may happen during service of the high-speed railway. In this study, the performance degradation and its mechanism of the CA mortar with and without polymer emulsion incorporated under the coupling fatigue effects of the high-frequency vibration, load and temperature were studied by using an anti-fatigue testing device specially developed for the CA mortar used in the ballastless slab track of the high-speed railway. The results showed that the deformation capacity of the CA mortar for CRTS I slab ballastless slab track decreased after fatigue test under simulated service environment, presenting a typical brittle characteristic and an obvious reduction of the ductility and toughness. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observation and the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) analysis showed that the volume of the macropore decreased whereas that of the micropore increased after the fatigue test. The asphalt in the hardened CA mortar revealed a softening and migration from the bulk paste to fill the pore and make the structure denser and even ooze out of the CA mortar under the high-frequency vibration and high temperature. Through incorporating the polymer emulsion, the anti-fatigue property of the CA mortar was obviously improved, which can prevent the CA mortar from losing its elastic adjustment function too early. Though increase of the strength and elastic modulus for the CA mortar after severe service is beneficial to the stability of train running, the comfort level and safety of the train operation may decline due to the gradual reduction of the ductility & toughness and the gradual loss of the elastic damping adjustment function of the CA mortar between the base concrete slab and the track slab.

Influences and mechanisms of chemically synthesized nano-C-S-H gel addition on fresh properties of the cement-based materials with sucrose as a retarder were investigated in this study. The results showed that the flow value of the fresh cement paste was gradually but slightly reduced with increasing nano-C-S-H gel addition due to its fibrous but well-dispersed characteristic in both water and cement paste. The semi-adiabatic calorimetry testing results verified that incorporation of nano-C-S-H gel could greatly mitigate the retarding effect of sucrose on cement hydration. The total organic carbon (TOC) indicated that the addition of the nano-C-S-H gel helps to reduce adsorption of the sucrose molecules into the protective layer, thus the semi-permeability of the protective layer was less reduced and that is why the addition of the nano-C-S-H gel can mitigate the retardation caused by the sucrose. Through XRD analysis, it was found that the CH crystals are more prone to grow along the (0001) plane with larger size in the paste with nano-C-S-H addition before the induction period starts, because the C-S-H nanoparticles can form 3D network to slow down the diffusion rate of the released ions and eliminate the convection in the paste, thus suppress the 3D nucleation and growth of the CH crystals. The XRD analysis also indicated a refinement of the ettringite crystals in the paste with sucrose addition, but introduction of nano-C-S-H gel did not show further refinement, which was also verified by the SEM observation.

The study on the hydration process of cement-based materials is of significance since it determines the development of the macro-properties. The hydration process of high-volume fly ash (FA)-cement based materials is quite special and needs systematic study. In this study, the hydration heat release of cement paste with high volume FA were measured with isothermal calorimetry at different temperatures. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) value of the exothermic peak and the cementitious index (CMI) of FA were used comprehensively to evaluate the influence of FA on cement hydration. It was found that increasing the FA content and water-binder ratio retarded the hydration process for paste but did not show obvious effects on the hydration of cement. The CMI values show that raising the temperature intensified the retarding effect of FA on cement hydration during the induction period, but promoted the subsequent hydration process. According to the normalized heat release to cement, and the change of CMI values with temperature, new evidence was found that FA may not act as nucleation sites during the hydration process of cement. The result can be better explained by the topochemical reaction mechanism.