There has recently been an increased use of anti-freezing agents that are primarily composed of salt- and alkali-free calcium nitrite (Ca(NO₂)₂) and calcium nitrate (Ca(NO₃)₂) to promote the hydration reaction of concrete in cold weather concreting. Nitrite–nitrate based accelerators accelerate the hydration of C₃A and C₃S in cement more quickly when their quantities are increased, thereby boosting the concrete’s early strength and effectively preventing early frost damage. However, the connection between the hydrate formation behavior and the strength development characteristic over time has yet to be clearly identified. Therefore, in this study, a wide range of physicochemical reviews were carried out to clarify the relationship between the hydrate formation behavior and the strength development characteristics, both at an early age and at later ages, which results from the addition of nitrite–nitrate based accelerators to concrete in varying amounts. These accelerators also act as anti-freezing agents. The results show that an increased quantity of nitrite–nitrate based accelerators caused an increase in the early strength of the concrete. This was due to the formation of nitrite and nitrate hydrates in large amounts, in addition to ettringite containing SO₄², which is generated during the hydration reaction of normal Portland cement at an early age. On the other hand, at later ages, there was a rise in nitrite and nitrate hydrates with needle crystal structures exhibiting brittle fracture behavior. A decrease in C–S–H gel and Ca(OH)₂ hydrates, deemed to have caused a decline in strength on Day 3 and thereafter, was also observed.

This study measured and analyzed the mechanical properties of normal aggregate concrete (NC) and lightweight aggregate concrete (LC) subjected to high temperatures. The target temperature was set to 100, 200, 300, 500, and 700 °C, and W/C was set to 0.41, 0.33 and 0.28 to evaluate high temperature properties at various intensities. Measurement parameters included mass loss, compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), and elastic modulus. We compared the residual mechanical properties between the target and preheating temperatures (20 °C) and then analyzed the correlation between UPV and compressive strength. According to the research findings, after exposure to high temperatures, LC demonstrated a higher mass reduction rate than NC at all levels and exhibited higher residual mechanical properties. The results of analyzing the correlation between compressive strength and UPV for concrete subjected high temperatures were very different from the compressive strength prediction equation previous proposed at room temperature, and the error range of the residual strength prediction equation considering W/C was reduced.

In this study, experiments were performed on the applicability of mortars and concretes based on calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) binders to facilitate the early strength development of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) under low-temperature conditions. An optimum mixture of CSA was evaluated to improve the early strength of OPC, and the effects of accelerators and retarders on this mixture were examined to demonstrate the applicability of the resulting concrete mixture. Furthermore, mixture applicability was validated by producing concrete at the Remicon Batcher plant and performing numerical simulations. As observed, the optimum CSA substitution rate for the realization of early strength was 17% of the total unit binder amount with CaO/SO₃ and SO₃/Al₂O₃ ratios of 1.9 and 1.25, respectively. Evidently, CSA in combination with Na₂SO₄ as an accelerator promoted the early strength of concrete with OPC and secured its constructability using additional retarders to control the quick setting of concrete. Additionally, the activation of initial hydration at low temperatures yielded a compressive strength of 5 MPa/12 h or higher for the resulting concrete mixture.

This study classified the strength of normal aggregate concrete (NC) and lightweight aggregate concrete (LC) into three levels (30, 45, and 60 MPa). In particular, the compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, and elastic modulus were measured and analyzed at the ages of 1, 3, 7, and 28 days to establish the correlation between the compressive strength and the ultrasonic pulse velocity and between the elastic modulus and the ultrasonic pulse velocity. In addition, this study proposed strength and elastic modulus prediction equations as functions of the ultrasonic pulse velocity. The developed equations were compared with previously proposed strength prediction equations. The results showed that the measured mechanical properties of NC tended to be higher at all ages than in LC. However, LC45 exhibited relatively high compressive strength compared to NC45. The relative mechanical properties of LC compared to NC were the highest at 45 MPa and the lowest at 60 MPa. The relative ultrasonic pulse velocity converged at all levels as the age increased. Moreover, the correlation between the compressive strength and the ultrasonic pulse velocity in LC exceeded that of NC, and in LC, the correlation coefficient decreased as the strength increased. The correlation coefficients between the elastic modulus and the ultrasonic pulse velocity were high at all levels except for LC45. Finally, this study proposed compressive strength and elastic modulus prediction equations as an exponential function of LC. The proposed equations outperformed the previously proposed strength prediction equations.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the temperature distribution, strength development, porosity, scanning electron microscopy observation, shrinkage, and surface properties of concrete in order to apply microwave heat curing to the precast method and to analyze the CO₂ emissions and economic feasibility of microwave heat curing. The heating of a steel form by microwave heating enabled concrete to be efficiently cured at a temperature within a range of ±5 °C. After the curing, demolding strength could be cleared through the densification of the concrete by decreasing the porosity of the concrete. Microwave heat curing exhibited excellent performance compared to conventional steam curing in terms of efficient temperature control, occurrence of cracks due to shrinkage, surface condition of concrete after curing, economic efficiency, and CO₂ emissions. However, verification and supplementation based on actual data are necessary so that environments applicable to the various sizes and shapes of forms can be prepared.

The effect of the thermal properties of aggregates on the mechanical properties of high-strength concrete was evaluated under loading and high-temperature conditions. For the concrete, granite was selected as a natural aggregate, and ash-clay and clay as lightweight aggregates. The mechanical properties of the concrete (stress–strain, compressive strength, elastic modulus, thermal strain, and transient creep) were evaluated experimentally under uniform heating from 20 to 700 °C while maintaining the load at 0, 20, and 40% of the compressive strength at room temperature. Experimental results showed that the concrete containing lightweight aggregates had better mechanical properties, such as compressive strength and elastic modulus, than that of the concrete with a granite aggregate at high temperature. In particular, the concrete containing lightweight aggregates exhibited high compressive strength (60–80% of that at room temperature) even at 700 °C. Moreover, the concrete containing granite exhibited a higher thermal strain than that containing lightweight aggregates. The influence of the binding force under loaded conditions, however, was found to be larger for the latter type. The transient creep caused by the loading was constant regardless of the aggregate type below 500 °C but increased more rapidly when the coefficient of the thermal expansion of the aggregate was above 500 °C.