Alkali-activated cementitious materials and concretes - Steps towards standardization

Alkali-activated cements are now reaching commercial uptake in the UK and elsewhere, providing the opportunity to produce concretes of good performance and with reduced environmental footprint compared to established technologies. The development of performance-based specifications for alkali-activated cements and concretes is ongoing in many parts of the world, including in the UK where the world-first British Standards Institute (BSI) Publicly Available Specification PAS 8820:2016 has been published to describe these materials and their utilization. However, the technical rigor, and thus practical value, of a performance-based approach to specification of novel cements and concretes will always depend on the availability of appropriate and reliable performance tests. This paper will outline the requirements of PAS8820, and briefly discuss the activities of RiLEM Technical Committee 247-DTA in working to validate durability testing standards for alkali-activated materials, to feed scientific insight into the standardization process.