RAV16N1, Message from the Editor-in-Chief (January - April 2026)

Abstract

LATIN AMERICAN JOURNAL OF QUALITY CONTROL, PATHOLOGY AND RECOVERY OF CONSTRUCTION

 http://www.revistaalconpat.org

It is a source of satisfaction and joy for the ALCONPAT Journal team to see the publication of the first issue of our sixteenth year.

The objective of the ALCONPAT Journal (RA) is the publication of contributions resulting from critical reviews of the state of the art, as well as basic or applied research directly related to the solution of problems regarding to quality control, pathology and recovery of constructions, being welcome case studies in these areas.

This V16N1 edition begins with a review work from Mexico, where José Iván Escalante García, in view of the urgency of reducing the environmental impact of Portland cement, explores the potential of limestone and pulverized recycled concrete (PRC) as pillars for sustainable binders. The historical and current role of limestone is analyzed, from its ancestral use to its application in modern cements, LC³ and, crucially, as a precursor in alkaline-activated cements (AAC). The PRC as a precursor in AAC is also examined, highlighting its contribution to the circular economy. The environmental and performance advantages of AACs based on these materials are discussed, as well as key challenges, including long-term durability, raw material variability, and the need for standardization. It is concluded that both resources are strategic, requiring focused research for their effective implementation.

The second work of this edition is a review by Pedro Garcés Terradillos and Oscar Galao from Spain together with Fillippo Ubertini from Italy, where they present the foundation and evolution in the research of the main functions developed with conductive cementitious materials. Multifunctional conductive concretes represent an innovation in the field of cementitious materials, with not only structural, but also electrical, thermal and sensor-like capabilities. The functions proposed are: a) Function of perception of the deformation and structural damage of a structure when subjected to stress, without having any sensor attached or embedded in it. b) Joule effect with heating and de-icing function for applications such as de-icing or heating in buildings. c) Electromagnetic field (EMI) shielding function of the conductive structure itself.

The third article comes from Brazil, where Edna Possan presents a critical review of the decarbonization of Portland cement (CP) and its implications for concrete durability. The reduction of clinker content, a central strategy to mitigate CO₂ emissions, has been accompanied by physicochemical adjustments that increase the reactivity of the CP, increasing the heat of hydration and the risk of expansive reactions. In addition, the lower alkaline reserve of the lower-emitting cements accelerates carbonation, which increases the likelihood of reinforcement corrosion. These and other issues must be considered in the decarbonization process, highlighting the need for systemic studies that address the trade-offs between CO₂ reduction and durability over the lifetime of concrete structures.

In the fourth article from Mexico and Canada, David Miguel Solis Cruz, Andrés Antonio Torres Acosta and Beatriz Martín Pérez review the mechanical, microstructural and durability performance of Portland-limestone cement (PLC) as a sustainable alternative to traditional Portland cement. A systematic review of the literature from nearly five decades was conducted, focusing on compressive strength, porosity, chloride ingress, and carbonation in mortars and concretes. The results indicate that PLC generally provides adequate resistance at early ages, while porosity, chloride diffusion and carbonation increase with higher limestone contents; These effects can be mitigated by optimizing the water-cement ratio and incorporating pozzolanic materials. Limitations include inconsistent experimental protocols, variations in cure times, and scarcity of long-term data. Originality lies in synthesizing PLC performance by considering multiple durability metrics and highlighting research gaps. In general, the need for integrated, performance-based assessments to ensure sustainable and durable concrete applications is emphasized.

The fifth article, by Carmen Andrade, comes from Spain. She tells us about the electrical resistivity of concrete that represents its porosity and tortuosity. The use of this parameter has been proposed for years, due to its ease of measurement (non-destructive) in the same specimen that is used for the compressive strength test and both as an indicator of corrosion and for its equivalence with the diffusion coefficient of chlorides. In the latest version of Eurocode 2 (EC2)-concrete, the "Exposure Resistance classes" (ERC) have been introduced, which allow concretes to be classified by their diffusion coefficient in a standardized test or by their resistance to carbonation. In the present work, a simplified equivalence between the resistivity and the apparent diffusion coefficient of chlorides has been applied to obtain the table of CKDs based on resistivity. For the calculation of the coatings, the model has also been simplified, which requires only resistivity, age exponent and exposure factor as input parameters.

The sixth article comes from Mexico, where Pedro Castro Borges reviews, according to the available literature, several of the conceptual models of service life of reinforced concrete in terms of durability, highlighting their contributions and the aspects in which they evolved with respect to their predecessors. The journey is made chronologically to the present time, beginning with the pioneering work of Tuutti in 1982. The transition from phenomenological to temporal models is addressed, from the prescriptive to the performance, and from the general vision to the specialized vision.  One of the main conclusions is that each model must adjust its validity to an age range through which the structure transits, warning about the certainty of the predictions depending on the stage of service life to which it is confined. The review ends with reflections on the present and future use of these conceptual models.

The article that closes the edition belongs to Maria Guadalupe Gómez Valdovinos and colleagues from Mexico, who analyze the effect of polypropylene microfibers and PET fibers on the mechanical properties and electrical resistivity (ER) of permeable concrete. Three mixtures were designed—control, microfiber, and PET—and compression, tension, bending, ER, and resonance frequency were evaluated. The results were integrated using a Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) to identify multivariate relationships between reinforcement and material performance. The CCA showed significant correlations between the incorporation of fibers and the increase in mechanical strength, as well as its relationship with the variation in RE. The study is original because when applying CCA to permeable concretes, the fibers improve the structural behavior and the CCA provides an accurate comprehensive interpretation.

In 2025 Alconpat Journal turned 15 years old and made an academic activity and this special issue to celebrate, in which critical reviews of the state of the art of very high level are being published, and written by internationally recognized researchers in their areas. This was an issue whose articles were written as a response to an invitation of the Editor-in-Chief, and that due to the quality of their authors and topics will surely be and will have high citation. Alconpat Journal honored its editorial committee and outstanding authors of the Journal. This issue has precisely in the person of Paulo Helene the Guest Editor for this issue to celebrate his contributions to the Journal in terms of the number and quality of articles published during these 15 years. In other words, he was the author with more articles published in the Alconpat Journal.

We are confident that the articles in this issue will constitute an important reference for those readers involved with the state of the art of cement and concrete, especially as it relates to new cements, sustainability, resilience, new indices and parameters of durability measurement, adverse effects of new materials, evolution of service life models, etc. We thank the authors participating in this issue for their willingness and effort to present articles of high quality and comply with the established deadlines.

By the Editorial Board

Pedro Castro Borges

Editor-in-Chief