TITLE NO.
73-31
Time and Temperature Effects on Tensile,
Bond, and Compressive
Strengths
By N. J. GARDNER and S. M. POON
Describes an experimental investigation into
the relationship between bond strength, tensile
strength, and cylinder strength of concretes made
of Type I cement and Type Ill cement moist cured
at 72 F (22 CJ for I, 3, or 7 days and then cured
under extended low temperatures of 55 F ( 13 CJ
and 35 F (2 CJ. Compression strength, tensile
strength, and bond strength are all related, and
an increase in one is reflected similarly in the
others.
The commonly assumed relationship that the
tensile and bond strengths of concrete are propor-
tional to the 0.5 power of the cylinder strength with
time was found to be inaccurate. The tensile
strength and bond strength were found to be pro-
portional to the 0.8 power of the cylinder strength
with respect to age.
The longer the concrete is cured at 72 F (22 C)
the higher the initial rate of gain of strength (up to
28 days). However, the longer the concrete is
cured at 72 F (22 CJ the lower the ultimate (3
month) strength of the concrete.
Keywords: age-strength relation; bonding; cold weather
construction; compressive strength; concretes; curing; high-
early-strength cements; low temperature: moist curing; port-
land cement type I; setting (hardening); tensile strength.
• IT IS WELL ESTABLISHED THAT the rate of gain of
strength of plain concrete is a function of age,
curing method, and temperature of curing. Knowl-
edge of how the various concrete strengths
ACI JOURNAL/ JULY 1976
(compression, tension, bond, and shear) vary
with time is essential in construction as many
construction sequences impose significant loads
on the concrete structure even though it may not
have attained its full design strength.! An addi-
tional complication in northern latitudes like
Canada is that much of the construction is carried
out in cold weather, i.e., below 72 F (22 C). The
hydration of the cement powder in concrete is a
chemical reaction which is retarded at low tem-
peratures, hence the rate of strength gain of a
fresh concrete member at low temperatures is
slower. The collapse of many reinforced concrete
buildings during construction in cold weather 2 has
been attributed partly to the low strength capa-
bility of the concrete members.
Even though most reinforced concrete elements
are designed to fail by the steel yielding, failures
are still possible in bond or shear. Knowledge of
the variation of bond strength, tensile strength,
and shear strength of the concrete is essential.
It has generally been assumed that the tensile
strength, bond strength, and shear strength of
concrete are proportional to the 0.5 power of the
cylinder strength. While this may be acceptable to
describe the 28-day performance of different con-
crete mixes, it does not necessarily hold that this
relationship could adequately describe the rate of
405

ACI member N. J, Gardner is a professor of civil en-
gineering at the University of Ottawa, Canada. His cur-
rent rese~rch interests are into the strength behavior of
fresh concrete as it relates to construction and the hori-
zont~l pressure exerted by wet concrete on vertical form
surf~ces. Dr. Gordner is a member of ACI Committees 215,
Fatigue of Concrete, and 347, Formwork for Concrete.
S. M. Poon was formerly a research assistant with the
Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Ottawa.
The work described in this paper is based upon Mr. Poon's
M. Eng. thesis.
gain of tensile, bond, or shear strength with time.
Unfortunately no references are available on the
variation of. the bond or shear strength of concrete
with age and curing temperature and only one,
Klieger, 3 on the gain of tensile (flexural) strength.
Klieger found that the compressive and flexural
strengths obtained from different types of port-
land cement concretes initially increase with an
increase in initial curing temperature; but the
higher the early-age curing temperature, the
lower the final strengths of the concrete. The
variation of compressive strength and flexural
strength with temperature for concrete made with
different cements were similar in behavior and
varied in degree only.
The investigation described here had as its ob-
jective to determine the variation in compressive
strength, tensile strength, and bond strength of
various standard concretes with age when cured
at steady below normal temperatures. Shear
strength was not included in this study partly
because pure shear failures are rare, and partly
because there is no standard simple test to de-
termine shear strength.
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
A total of six series of specimens were cast;
three series were made using Type I ordinary
portland cement concrete and three series using
Type III, high-early-strength, cement concrete.
The specimens for each series of tests were cast
from a single batch of ready-mixed concrete.
Two series of tests, one made with Type I ce-
ment concrete and one with Type III cement con-
crete, were carried out with the concrete con-
tinuously moist cured at 72 F (22 C). Two series
of specimens, one made using Type I cement con-
crete and one with Type III cement concrete, were
subjected to extended curing, under wet burlap,
at a steady temperature of 55 F (13 C). The re-
maining two series were subjected to extended
curing under wet burlap at a steady temperature
of 35 F (2 C).
406
All specimens were cast at 72 F (22 C). To ex-
amine the effect of time on the concrete, speci-
mens were cured at 72 F (22 C) for different
periods before exposing them to low temperatures.
One-third of the specimens of each series were
cured for 1 day, one-third were cured for 3 days,
and the remainder were cured for 7 days at 72 F
(22 C) before being transferred to the cooler en-
vironment.
Each series involved the casting of 160 standard
6 x 12-in. (150 x 300-mm) cylinders and 80 bond
specimens. Single-use waxed paper molds were
used as tests have shown that cylinders cast in
single-use molds are as consistent an indicator of
concrete quality as cylinders cast in steel molds. 4 •5
Five specimens were tested for compressive
strength, tensile strength, and bond strength at
1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days and at 3 months for each of
the 14 curing schedules. All concretes had a speci-
fied cylinder strength of 4000 psi (28 MN/m 2 ), a
specified slump of 2-3 in. (50-75 mm), and a
water-cement ratio of approximately 0.5.
CURING PROCEDURE
Wet burlap was used to cover the molds and
specimens until the specimens were removed
from the molds. A polyethylene sheet was placed
over the burlap to minimize evaporation. At 1,
3, or 7 days the appropriate number of specimens
were stripped and transferred to the cold rooms
for extended curing at either 55 F (13 C) or 35 F
(2 C), or to the moist curing cabinets, depending
on the series of tests. During the extended curing
the specimens were also covered with wet burlap
kept moist until the day of test.
COMPRESSION TEST
The compressive strength was determined using
the standard compressive strength test as de-
scribed in ASTM C 192 and C 39, using the stand-
ard 6 x 12-in. (150 x 300-mm) cylinders, except for
the temperature and humidity provisions.
TENSILE STRENGTH
Due to the large number of specimens required
the split cylinder test as specified in ASTM C 496
was chosen as the indicator of tensile strength.
BOND STRENGTH TEST
The standard bond strength test procedure de-
scribed in ASTM C 234 uses a #6 (19 mm) rein-
forcing bar cast either into a 6 in. (150 mm) con-
crete cube or a 6 x 6 x 12-in. (150 x 150 x 300-mm)
block of concrete. The test consists of placing the
ACI JOURNAL/ JULY 1976
 TABLE I--SUMMARY OF STRENGTH RESULTS, TYPE I CEMENT CONCRETE
Curing temperature 35 F (2 C) 55 F (13 C) 72F (22C)

Days at 72 F (22 C) 1 3 7 1 3 7 All

! Strength,
I
I
Age psi Mean (o) • Mean (o) Mean (o) Mean (o) Mean (o) Mean (o) Mean (o)

1 day Compressive 1150 (37) 1140 (43) 919 (26)

Tensile 173 (5) 176 (6) 159 (12)
Bond 322 (15) 314 (13) 339 (29)
3 days Compressive 1720 (59) 1850 (52) 1828 (66) 1870 (91) 1632 (41)
Tensile
Bond
225
467 (11)
(20) I 252 (13)
496 (23)
236 (11)
480 (21)
246 (6)
505 (24)
272 (25)
559 (32)
7 days Compressive 2380 ( 101) 2510 (72) 2650 (92) 2570 (79) 2650 (73) 2720 (91) 2554 (48)
Tensile 278 (14) 304 (14) 336 (13) 305 (17) 315 (11) 330 (8) 386 (28)
Bond 612 (27) 645 (29) 735 (35) 632 (19) 680 (24) 710 (26) 788 (42)
14 days Compressive 3232 (83) 3404 (138) 3515 (123) 3407 (96) 3560 (98) 3573 (169) 3048 (176)
Tensile 355 (20) 380 (14) 403 (17) 358 (22) 374 (18) 410 (19) 423 (30)
Bond 792 (21) 816 (28) 840 (37) 790 (25) 855 (36) 875 (28) 833 (36)
28 days Compressive 3603 (145) 3645 (164) 3726 (113) 3761 (161) 3680 (136) 3738 (112) 3540 (184)
Tensile 392 (15) 402 (17) 420 (18) 435 (60) 410 (33) 430 (55) 459 (18)
Bond 840 137) 855 (46) 870 (41) 865 (45) 882 (30) 905 (25) 920 (66)
3 months Compressive 4016 ( 179) 3940 (119) 3890 ( 172) 4393 (141) 4140 (144) 4033 (112) 3878 (174) t
Tensile 442 (19) 447 120) 430 (12) 575 (92) 567 (60) 513 (48) 516 (39) t
Bond 935 (46) 915 (35) 905 131) 955 (27) 950 (31) 925 (27) 1033 (122) t
-------- I I
* o = standard deviation
·!·Different test operator
Note: 1 psi =6895 N/m'.

block in a testing machine so that the reinforcing
bar can be drawn out of the concrete. However, in
view of the large number of specimens it was
not possible to purchase enough cube molds to
use the standard procedure. As the object of the
investigation was to study the variation in
strength with age and temperature a modified
test specimen was devised. Specimens were made
by casting a #6 reinforcing bar into a 6 x 6-in.
(150 x 150-mm) cylindrical block of concrete to
approximate as closely as possible the standard
specimen.
All specimens behaved in essentially a similar
manner with failure occurring by longitudinal
splitting of the concrete.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
The experimental results are summarized in
Tables 1 and 2 for Type I and Type III cement
concretes. For each group of five test results the
mean and the standard deviation of the five in-
dividual results are given. It can be concluded that
the in-batch variations were acceptably small with
coefficients of variation of the order of 6 percent.
For vis u ali z a ti on the respective concrete
strengths are plotted against log time in Fig. 1 for
concrete made with Type I cement and subjected
to extended curing at 35 F (2 C). This visualization
is typical of all six batches of concrete. It can be
observed that all variants of concrete strength
increase with age for each of the curing schedules.
It is interesting to note, and consistent with the
results of other investigations, that the earlier the
curing at the low temperatures is commenced the
higher the ultimate strength. Curing for 1 day at
72 F (22 C) and then at 35 F (2 C) gives a higher
strength at 90 days than curing for 3 days or 7
days at 72 F (22 C) and then at 35 F (2 C). How-
ever, in the context of construction practice it is
the rate of strength gain from placing to 28 days
which is important and for this criteria the longer
the specimens are cured at 72 F (22 C) the higher
the strength between 7 days and 28 days.
It was assumed that the relationship between
tensile or bond strength and the compressive
strength would be a simple power law relationship,
as a more involved relationship, however accurate,
would be too cumbersome to use. By reduction of
the experimental data it was determined that both
the tensile strength and the bond strength are
proportional to the 0.8 power of the cylinder
strength at a given age. As shear capacity is gen-
erally limited by diagonal tensile failure, it can
be assumed that this relationship also holds for
the shear stress.
To verify that the 0.8 power relationship does not
have a trend with age the quantities f',r""inll(hnnd 1/
(f,.'} o.R normalized with respect to the 28-day
quantity are given in Tables 3 and 4 for tensile
strength and bond strength. Noting that for con-
struction problems the strength gain from 3 to 28
days is of interest, it can be seen that the 0.8 power
law exhibits no significant trend for Type I ce-
ment concrete for either tensile strength or bond
strength. There is a slight trend for Type III ce-
ment concretes for both tensile strength and bond

ACI JOURNAL/JULY 1976 407

 TABLE 2-SUMMARY OF STRENGTH RESULTS, TYPE Ill CEMENT CONCRETE

Curing temperature 35 F (2 C) 55F (13C) 72 F (22 C)

Days at 72 F (22 C) 1 3 7 1 3 7 All

----- ----
Strength
Age psi Mean (a)* Mean (a) Mean (a) Mean (a) Mean (a) Mean (a) Mean (a)

1 day Compressive 1650 (43) 2080 (94) 2468 (99)

Tensile 210 (14) 260 (8) 382 (24)
Bond 475 (14) 593 (27) 852 (36)
3 days Compressive 2540 (121) 2710 (112) 3050 (86) 3140 ( 127) 3392 (117)
Tensile 260 (13) 309 ( 12) 336 (14) 354 (17) 450 (12)
Bond 693 (37) 776 (34) 823 (39) 850 (40) 991 (42)
7 days Compressive 3490 (183) 3560 (167) 3620 (159) 4110 (166) 3780 (142) 4030 (187) 3837 (154)
Tensile 332 (14) 347 (15) 390 (18) 410 (11) 388 (18) 426 (18) 483 (9)
Bond 890 (29) 925 (68) 950 (29) 1030 (32) 925 (32) 1020 (46) 1050 (24)
14 days Compressive 3879 (158) 4010 (122) 4079 (170) 4760 (155) 4386 (185) 4563 (196) 4269 (95)
Tensile 362 (17) 380 (27) 408 (18) 465 (13) 427 (11) 433 (17) 513 (19)
Bond 970 (64) 1010 (31) 1045 (47) 1160 (32) 1030 (35) 1100 (52) 1090 (38)
28 days Compressive 4348 (222) 4300 (122) 4363 (136) 5082 (208) 4633 (139) 4916 (192) 4986 (151)
Tensile 410 (19) 397 (22) 418 (17) 495 (19) 450 (15) 456 (30) 550 (29)
Bond 1020 (39) 1050 (44) 1060 (58) 1195 (40) 1070 (31) 1130 (52) 1165 (24)
3 months Compressive 4820 (275) 4750 (194) 4260 (208) 5750 (219) 5597 (221) 5433 (234) 5364 (375) H
Tensile 450 (18) 422 (19) 428 (26) 540 (20) 503 (26) 488 (14) 582 (57)!
Bond 1100 (36) 1110 (25) 1080 (52) 1250 (40) 1210 (71) 1190 (47) 1276 (91)

*a = standard deviation
tThree specimens only
tDifferent test operator
Note: 1 psi = 6895 N/m2 •

strength but the 0.8 power is conservative if the

28-day strength is taken as the base quantity.
~
z SPEC. STRENGTH =
4000 psi (28MN/m2 J This conclusion is significant because the tensile,
::E 4000 AVE. SLUMP =: 2 TO 3 in (50 TO 75 mm J
':!1. Wfc RATIO 0.5 = bond and probably the shear strength available
:c
• NO AIR CONTENT at day x (x < 28 days) is less, as a fraction of the
......
~ 3000
28-day quantity, than would be calculated using
w
g:c2o.oJ COMPRESSIVE // CURED 7 DAYS AT 72"FC22b ft', f' bond, or vc' proportional to 'Y fc'. While very
/~.'}(_CURED
(f)

w 3 DAYS AT 72"FC22"CJ
few structures are sensitive to the compressive
>
Ui 2000 /
/
. . strength of concrete, the available tensile, bond,
...--
(f)
w ,--./ CURED 1 DAY AT 7tFC2tCJ and shear capacity of a reinforced concrete ele-
cr
a._ ./' ment should be verified against the required ca-
:::i:( 10.0 )
0 EXTENDED CURING AT 35°F ctc J pacities for construction loads or other early age
u 1000~---~--~--~--~----L--J
1 7 14 28 90 loads. In the context of construction there is ap-
AGE OF TEST - DAYS
proximately a 5 percent and 9 percent gain in the
1000,_------------------~ 7-day and 14-day strengths of Type I cement con-
cretes subjected to extended curing at 35 F (2 C)
z~ ( 6,0) and 55 F (13 C) by increasing the curing time at
::;: 8 00
Ul
72 F (22 C) from 1 day to 3 days and 1 day to 7
I
.
c..
days, respectively. Similarly the 7-day and 14-day
......
BOND
strengths of Type III cement concretes extended-
~ 600
~ (4.0) cured at 35 F (2 C) increase by some 3 percent
(f)

D
and 6 percent by increasing the curing time at
z 72 F (22 C) from 1 day to 3 days and 1 day to 7
0
m 40 0
cr days, respectively. However for Type III cement
0
concretes cured at 55 F (13 C) no conclusions can
~ ( 2.0)
g,! 20 0
be inferred on the benefits of extended curing at
w
......
72 F (22 C).

7 14 28 90
AGE OF TEST- DAYS CONCLUSIONS
Fig. !-Variation of concrete strength with temperature 1. Temperature influences tensile and bond
for Type I cement concrete cured at 35 F (2 C) strength development of concrete in much the

408 ACJ JOURNAL/ JULY 1976

TABLE 3-VERIFICATION 0~ NORMALIZED POWER TABLE 4--VERIFJCA TION OF NORMALIZED POWER
LAW RELATIONSHIP-TENSILE STRENGTH LAW RELATIONSHIP-BOND STRENGTH

Type I cement concrete Type I cement concrete

Curing 72 F Curing 72 F
temperature 35F (2C) 55 F (13 C) (22C) temperature 35 F (2C) 55 F (13 C) (22 C)

Average Average
Da[s cured Days <'Ured
at 7 F (22 C) 1 3 7 1 3 7 All at 72 F (22 C) 1 3 7 1 3 7 All
---------- - - -- ------ -- - - ---
Age at test, Age at test,
days days
1
3
1.10
1.04
-
1.08
-
-
1.05
0.97
-
1.03
-
-
1.02
1.10
1.06
1.04
1
3
0.96
1.00
-
1.00
-
-
0.94
0.99
-
0.98
-
-
1.08
1.13
0.99
1.02
7 0.99 1.02 1.05 0.95 1.00 0.99 1.09 1.01 7 1.02 1.02 1.11 0.99 1.00 1.01 1.11 1,04
14 0.99 1.00 1.01 0.89 0.94 0.99 1.04 0.98 14 1.03 1.01 1.01 0.99 1.00 1.00 1.02 1.01
28 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 28 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
90 1.03 1.04 0.99 1.17 1.26 1.12 1.05 1.09 90 1.02 1.01 1.01 0.98 0.98 0.96 1.04 1.00

Type Ill cement concrete Type Ill cement concrete

Curing 72 F Curing 72 F
temperature 35 F (2 C) 55 F (13 C) (22C) temperature 35 F (2 C) 55 F (13 C) (22 C)
Average -- Average
Days cured Days cured
at 72 F (22 C) 1 3 7 1 3 7 All at 72 F (22 C) 1 3 7 1 3 7 All
-------- -- -- ------ -----------
Age at test, Age at test,
days days
1
3
1.11
0.98
-
1.13
-
-
1.07
1.02
-
1.07
-- 1.22
1.11
1.13
1.06
1 1.01 - - 1.01 - - 1.28 1.10
7 0.97 1.02 1.08 0.98 1.01 1.10 1.08 1.03
3 1.04 1.07 - 1.04 1.08 - 1.16 1.08
7 1.04 1.02 1.04 1.02 1.02 1.06 1.11 1.04
14 0.97 1.01 1.03 0.99 0.99 1.08 1.06 1.02 14 1.04 1.02 1.04 1.02 1.01 1.03 1.06 1.03
28 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 28 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
90 1.01 0.98 0.98 0.99 0.96 0.99 1.00 0.99 90 0.99 0.98 0.97 0.95 0.97 0.97 1.03 0.98

same manner as it does compressive strength de-
velopment. Compressive strength, tensile strength,
and bond strength are all related, and an increase
in one is reflected similarly in the others.
2. The compressive strength, tensile strength,
and bond strength of concrete at early ages in-
creases with increased curing temperature. The
lower the initial curing temperature the greater
the eventual ultimate strength of the concrete,
provided curing is continuous.
3. Bond strength and tensile strength are pro-
portional to the 0.8 power of the cylinder strength
at the appropriate age. Neither extended curing
at temperatures of 35 F (2 C) and 55 F (13 C) or
type of cement appear to have any significant
effect on the interrelationship of bond strength or
tensile strength and cylinder strength.
4. With respect to construction schedules there
is a 5 percent to 9 percent gain in the 7-day and
14-day strengths due to casting and curing Type I
cement concretes for 3 days and 7 days, respec-
tively at 72 F (22 C), compared to casting and
curing for 1 day at 72 F (22 C).
5. Type III cement concretes exhibited a small
strength gain due to prolonged initial curing at
72 F (22 C) when subjected to extended curing
at 35 F (2 C) but no strength gain for prolonged
initial curing at 72 F (22 C) when subjected to
extended curing at 55 F (13 C).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial
support of the National Research Council of Canada
under Grant No. A5645.
REFERENCES
1. Agarwal, R. K., and Gardner, Noel J., "Form and
Shore Requirements for Multistory Flat Slab Type
Buildings," ACI JouRNAL, Proceedings V. 71, No. 11,
Nov. 1974, pp. 559-569.
2. McKaig, Thomas H., Building Failures; Case Studies
in Construction and Design, McGraw-Hill Book Co.,
New York, 1962, 261 pp.
3. Klieger, Paul, "Effect of Mixing and Curing Tem-
perature on Concrete Strength," ACI JouRNAL, Proceed-
ings V. 54, No. 12, June 1958, pp. 1063-1081.
4. Burmeister, Robert A., "Tests of Paper Molds for
Concrete Cylinders," ACI JouRNAL, Proceedings V. 47,
No. 1, Sept. 1950, pp. 17-24.
5. Price, Walter H., "Factors Influencing Concrete
Strength," ACI JouRNAL, Proceedings V. 47, No. 6, Feb.
1951, pp. 417-432.
Received July II, 1975, and reviewed under Institute publication
policies.

ACI JOURNAL/ JULY 1976 409