Leaching: is the extraction, by a leachant (demineralised water or others) of inorganic and/or organic components of a solid material, into a leachate by one or more physico-chemical transport mechanisms.
Leachant: is the solvent used in a leaching test (demineralised water or others).
Leachate: is the solution (or eluate) obtained after leaching a solid material with a leachant.
L/S: is the abbreviation for liquid (volume) to solid (mass) ratio; L/S is expressed in [l/kg].
Availability test: is a standard test method in which a crushed or finely ground solid sample is immersed in acidified water, with or without agitation; availability tests are intended to simulate “worst-case” conditions.
Available amount: is the quantity of a component which can potentially leach from a crushed or finely ground material as indicated in a standard test using a specified leachant under specified conditions (ie. availability test).
Tank (diffusion) test: is a standard test method in which an intact solid material is immersed in a leachant (usually demineralised water), typically under static conditions (ie. without agitation).
Monolith: is a solid material sample in the form of an intact single specimen to which specified criteria for dimensions and/or physico-mechanical properties apply.
Characterization test: is a standard leaching procedure, or group of related leaching procedures, used to determine the controlling transport mechanisms, the short and long term behaviour and the basic properties of a solid material, subject to specified sequential or periodic leaching.
Compliance test: is a standard leaching method used to determine if a material is either acceptable, or inacceptable, for a given application, by comparing its performance, under specified leaching conditions (usually single extraction, without agitation, under temperature control), against specified criteria for specified components.
Coefficient of diffusion: is a measure of the mobility of a component in a saturated porous material, as a function of total porosity, pore size distribution, tortuosity, concentration gradient, and chemical interactions within the pores.
Oxy-anions: is a synonym for a group of metals which in aeqeous solutions, do not form cationic species, but anionic complexes with oxygen, for example [MoO4]2-. Chromium, molybdenum, vanadium, selenium, and arsenic belong to the group of oxyanions.
Primary application: application of intact concrete or mortar structures (“service life”) under various exposure scenarios (ie. exposure to groundwater, seawater, drinking water, or soil).
Secondary application: crushed concrete debris reused either as recycled aggregates in new concrete structures ("bound") or as ("unbound") aggregates in road constructions, dam fillings etc. (“second life”).
End-of-life application: concrete debris which is not reused but disposed of in a landfill (“end of life”).
Composite (or blended) cements: cements which contains one or more mineral components (ie. blast furnace slag, coal fly ash, limestone, microsilica etc.) besides clinker and set regulator (gypsum, anhydrite).
W/C ratio: describes, as part of the mix design, the ratio between mixing water and cement in concrete or mortar (typically between 0.4 and 0.6 in concrete).
Curing: the treatment of freshly prepared concrete or mortar samples under well defined conditions (time, temperature, humidity etc.) specified in cement or concrete standards.