ASTM International Subcommittee C09.48 on Performance of Cementitious Materials and Admixture Combinations’ working document, WK40615 Guide for Comparing Performance of Concrete Materials Using Mortar Mixtures, standardizes longstanding material-performance investigation protocol.
“This diagnostic tool will provide concrete technologists with useful defined mortar procedures to help anticipate an incompatibility of previously untested material combinations, or to troubleshoot unexpected concrete performance,” says Ara Jeknavorian, consultant and Grace Construction Products veteran.
The guide will assist suppliers, producers, testing labs and government agencies with material selection and quality control processes. Technologists can use one of its mortar tests to compare the relative workability, workability retention, set time, strength, and air content of two or more combinations of cement, sand, admixture, and fly ash. Test results could indicate that a change in material properties might favorably or unfavorably impact concrete performance. Results could also flag a potential material incompatibility that could become evident from poor concrete workability, high air content or delayed set times.
“Should a discrepancy occur between parties on whether a particular material may be responsible for an unexpected concrete performance, the guide will enable two or more labs to conduct the same test procedures to help come to a consensus cause of the problem,” Jeknavorian notes.
Subcommittee C09.48 is part of ASTM Committee C09 on Concrete and Concrete Aggregates, whose next meeting is June 24-28 at the Sheraton Hotel & Marina, San Diego.
ASTM 2018 CHAIRMAN
Dale Bohn, product quality manager for Flint Hills Resources LP, in St. Paul, Minn., has been elected 2018 ASTM International chairman, leading a 25-director board and transitioning from the same capacity at Safety Equipment Institute, an ASTM affiliate. Bohn has served in his current Flint Hills role since 2011 and oversees development, formulations, testing and process support for petroleum and other products. He previously served as a technical leader for Flint Hills and peer operator Koch Materials Co.
An ASTM International member since 1996, Bohn is a member of Committee D04 on Road and Paving Materials (D04). He serves on multiple D04 groups and has chaired Subcommittees D04.41 on Emulsified Asphalt Specifications and D04.42 on Emulsified Asphalt Test. He is also a member of Committees D02 on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants and D03 on Gaseous Fuels. He was an ASTM Committee on Technical Committee Operations (COTCO) member from 2006 to 2011, co-chairing the final three years. A director since 2012, Bohn also chaired the board’s Finance and Audit Committee in 2015.
2017 MATHER AWARD
ASTM Committee C01 on Cement has presented the Bryant Mather Award to National Institute of Standards and Technology Physical Scientist Paul Stutzman. Named for a longtime C01 member and Army Corps of Engineers institution, the award recognizes Stutzman’s contributions to the development of various committee standards related to quantitative analysis of portland cement and work on behalf of Subcommittee C01.23 on Compositional Analysis. Stutzman has also earned the ASTM Award of Appreciation (2011), P.H. Bates Memorial Award (1992, 2008), and Award of Merit (2013).