Investigations into the origin and the influencing of the creep behavior of gypsum

In dieser Arbeit konnte ein weiterer und möglicherweise entscheidender Schritt zur Aufklärung des Kriechmechanismus von Gips gemacht und darauf aufbauend Kriterien, Wege und Strategien aufgezeigt werden, um neue Antikriechmittelsubstanzen zu identifizieren oder vorhandene Kriechmittel gezielt zu verbessern. Die Gültigkeit und Praxistauglichkeit der Kriterien wurde exemplarisch nachgewiesen. Die Basis der Untersuchungen wurde gelegt mit der Errichtung standardisierter Messaufbauten und Verfahren sowie Parameterauswahl für eine beschleunigte und reproduzierbare Darstellung des Kriechphänomens, wobei zunächst im Abgleich sichergestellt wurde, dass das beschleunigte Phänomen mit dem langsam über einen Zeitraum von Jahren erzeugten Phänomen deckungsgleich ist. Darauf aufbauend wurden innovative Untersuchungsmethoden entwickelt, um das Kriechverhalten zu charakterisieren und qualitativ sowie quantitativ zu analysieren. Hierzu wurde zunächst ein Aufbau und eine Messroutine entwickelt und eingeführt, um morphologische Veränderungen während des Kriechvorgangs im Rasterelektronenmikroskop nachzuverfolgen. Im Weiteren wurden Versuchsaufbauten für statische 3-Punkt-Biegeversuche in verschiedenen Lösungen realisiert und diese ergebnisabhängig optimiert. Hierdurch konnte der Einfluss der Löslichkeit von Gips in den entsprechenden Medien auf das Kriechverhalten untersuchen werden. Mittels Laserscanning-Mikroskop wurden wiederum diese Ergebnisse untermauert. Als vorherrschender Kriechmechanismus von Gips wurde damit das Abgleiten einzelner Gipskristalle bedingt durch einen Lösungs-Abscheide-Mechanismus an Orten hoher mechanischer Belastung identifiziert und bestätigt.In this work, a further and possibly decisive step could be taken towards clarifying the creep mechanism of gypsum and, based on this, ways and strategies could be identified in order to identify new anti-creep agents or to specifically improve existing anti-creep agents. The validity and practicability of the selection criteria for new anti-creep agents was demonstrated by several examples of selections of chemical moieties, to date unknown with respect to their activity as anti-creep agent for gypsum. The fundament of the investigations was laid with the establishment of standardised measurement setups and procedures as well as with the selection of parameters for an accelerated and reproducible representation of the creep phenomenon, whereby it was ensured that the accelerated creep is comparable to natural, slow creep which usually takes up to several years in gypsum materials. On this basis, innovative investigation methods were developed to characterise the creep behaviour and to analyse it qualitatively and quantitatively. Firstly, a setup and a measuring routine were developed and introduced to track morphological changes during the creep process via scanning electron microscopy. Secondly, test setups for static 3-point bending tests were realized in different solutions and optimized. This enabled the investigation of the correlation between the solubility of gypsum in different media and the resulting creep behaviour. These results were substantiated further by means of laser scanning microscopy. Using these methods, it was possible to identify and confirm the slippage of individual gypsum crystals due to a solution deposition mechanism at locations of high mechanical stress as the predominant creep mechanism of gypsum. The creep of gypsum is thus decisively determined by an increased humidity in the pores of gypsum, which results in an enlargement of the water layer in the space between the gypsum crystals in the polycrystalline structure. Thus, gypsum crystals can slide more easily against each other under load via the mechanism of the so-called "pressure solution creep". This mechanism could be confirmed by creep tests with different large gypsum crystals in the polycrystalline gypsum body. Thus, the creep velocity results primarily from the number and size of the contact points of the gypsum crystal as well as the solubility of the crystals at these interfaces in the pore liquid. Particulate, hydraulic and surface-active additives were tested to influence the creep behaviour of gypsum. In particular, the industrial anti-creep agent sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP) was investigated in detail. The mode of action of STMP as a state-of-the-art creeping agent was demonstrated by EDX mappings and transmission electron micrsocopy. The decisive influencing variables for anti-creep agents were identified to be the following ones: • A good solubility in water, which makes it possible to employ the anti-creep agent of choice in the mixing water used to form the gypsum material. • A moderate complex formation with calcium ions in the size range around log (KB) = 2.5. This moderate complex stability does significantly not hinder the crystal formation of the gypsum crystals on the one hand, but on the other hand enables a complex formation on the gypsum crystal surfaces. The surface coating which is thereby obtained, reduces the dissolution rate of gypsum in water. This is achieved by a surface coating on only certain crystal surfaces. In this thesis, the (100) and (001) planes were identified to be most preferentially complexed / coated with anti-creep agent. • A reinforcement of the gypsum matrix by "sticking" the crystals, as observed in-situ via transmission electron microscopy, also plays a role. This reinforcement may ultimately also be a reason for the increased dimensional stability. Based on these mechanisms which were identified for the state-of-the-art anti-creep agent STMP, novel chemical moieties as potential anti-creep agent candidates were selected. Surface-active additives such as poly(acrylic acid-co-maleic acid) (PAMA) were identified as a promising alternative to STMP. They are water-soluble, contain complexing centres for calcium ions with the same complexing constant as STMP and are toxicologically harmless. Ultimately, in the laboratory, these polymers, based on experiments with pure FGD gypsum, could well compete with the performance of STMP with regard to hinder creep of gypsum