Hydration Reaction and Strength Development of Lunar Concrete Under Vacuum Condition

Under vacuum condition, mixing water in fresh concrete evaporates leading to impeding of the cement hydration and strength development. In this study, strength development of the fresh concrete under vacuum condition was investigated in order to verify the possibility of concrete construction on the moon.

To avoid moisture loss, Rapid setting cement was used as a binder. The specimens having different setting speed were exposed to the vacuum condition.

As a result, it was shown that the specimen with faster setting time yields higher strength, even though they have the same value of the penetration resistance.