The Effect of Curing Period and Curing Delay on Properties of Hardened Concrete- Review

Abstract

The curing of concrete is the process of keeping the moisture and temperature conditions of the concrete normal for the hydration reaction, allowing the concrete to develop hardening properties over time, and it is recognized worldwide that concrete must be fully cured to achieve optimal properties, and many studies clearly It is shown that delayed curing has a detrimental effect on concrete, and even delaying curing for one day has the greatest impact on strength. Although delayed curing increased the compressive strength of concrete, the strength reduction caused by delayed curing did not recover. This was demonstrated by wet jute curing processes using different curing protocols with initial water curing periods of 3, 7, 14, and 28 days in continuous air and continuous water, and delayed curing of 7 days, results including ordinary portland cement (OPC) requires at least 3 days to cure, while Pozzolanic Cement Concrete (PPC) requires longer. However, if PPCs have sufficient initial cure, they can reach the strength of OPCs in a reasonable amount of time. In practice, post-curing does not do much to increase the compressive strength of cast-in-place concrete after 3 days of initial curing.