When fly ash from a CFB co-fired boiler is mixed with water, it has a highly exothermic reaction, expansion of the particulate matter and a high pH value.
Some producers of concrete use co-fired fly ash as a controlled low strength material (CLSM).
The SO3 content might have been a factor that induced the volumetric expansion of the composite cement mortar.
The volumetric expansion of the composite cement mortar might have been primarily induced by and CaSO4·(H2O)8.