Durability of a Metakaolin-Incorporated Cement-Based Grouting Material in High Geothermal Tunnels

To improve the durability of cement-based grout in high geothermal tunnel grouting projects, metakaolin was incorporated to replace 8% of the cement. The permeability, chloride penetration, and sulfate and carbonate erosion tests were carried out on the grout cured at varying temperatures (20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 °C). It was shown that with the increase in curing temperature, the impermeability and resistance to chloride penetration initially increased and then decreased, reaching the highest values at 40 °C. Furthermore, the incorporation of metakaolin into grout enhanced the impermeability by 11.11-38.91% and resistance to chloride penetration by 12.23-12.77%. As attacked by sulfate, the surface spalling of the specimen was more obvious with the increase in the curing temperature and immersion time. Conversely, the appearance remained almost unchanged under carbonate erosion. As immersion time increased, both the antisulfate and anticarbonate erosion coefficients declined. The effect of curing temperature on erosion resistance was assessed via the relative antierosion coefficient. When immersed in sulfate, the coefficient achieved the highest value of 1.08 as cured at 30 °C, and in carbonate, the coefficient reached a maximum of 0.99 as cured at 40 °C. Through scanning electron microscopy and binarized images, it was verified that gypsum and ettringite were formed during sulfate attack, leading to volume expansion and cracking, consequently reducing the strength. Meanwhile, in the case of carbonate erosion, calcium hydroxide (CH) and calcium silicate hydrate gel (C-S-H) were dissolved and degraded, resulting in a large number and size of pores in the grout. The research results have certain theoretical significances and reference values for the application of cement-based grouting materials in high geothermal environments.