Effect of curing method on characteristics of cold bonded fly ash aggregates

This paper discusses the influence of normal water curing, autoclaving and steam curing on the properties of a typical class-C fly ash aggregate. The 10% fines value, water absorption, and porosity of aggregates are correlated with SEM and XRD results to understand the influence of various factors and material characteristics. An increase in duration of normal water curing significantly improved the aggregate properties. Autoclaving and steam curing resulted in relatively lower enhancement in the properties as compared to normal water cured aggregate. Between the accelerated curing methods, autoclaved aggregate possessed properties closer to the normal water cured aggregate due to the dense microstructure formation. Continuation of normal water curing, after initially subjecting the aggregates to accelerated curing, exhibited only a marginal improvement in the properties.