Trends and developments in low-heat portland cement and concrete: A review

Low-heat portland cement (LHC), characterized by high C2S and low C3A content, is an environmentally friendly cement with energy saving and low carbon emission. Much attention has been focused on the use of LHC for mass concrete structure construction due to its low heat of hydration and minimized temperature rise. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of existing literature on application standards, clinker production, performance development, and environmental assessment of LHC and/or LHC-based materials. Results found that the 7-d heat of hydration of LHC, as the most common and important indicator, is required to be less than a value normally between 220 and 270 kJ/kg in specified standards, depending on the country. Compared with ordinary portland cement (OPC), LHC-based materials exhibit slow compressive strength development at early ages (18.2% - 28.3% lower at 3 d), but can gain comparable mechanical properties at later ages (3.4% - 8.4% higher at 180 d), better cracking resistance with 11.9% - 32.4% longer initial cracking time, and higher corrosion resistance. Moreover, a lower amount of limestone required for LHC reduces energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 7.2% - 15.31% and 14.90% - 15.7%, respectively. Finally, conclusions and an outlook on the future development of LHC were presented to enhance its industrial production and applications of LHC.