Effects of fly ash fineness on the mechanical properties of concrete

The present study reviews the effects of fly ash fineness on the compressive and splitting tensile strength of the concretes. A fly ash of lignite origin with Blaine fineness of 2351?cm²/g was ground in a ball mill. As a consequence of the grinding process, fly ashes with fineness of 3849?cm²/g and 5239?cm²/g were obtained. Fly ashes with three different fineness were used instead of cement of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% and ten different types of concrete mixture were produced. In the concrete mixtures, the dosage of binder and water/cement ratio were fixed at 350?kg/m³ and 0.50, respectively. Slump values for the concretes were adjusted to be 100 ± 20?mm. Cubic samples were cast with edges of 100?mm. The specimens were cured in water at 20°C. At the end of curing process, compressive and splitting tensile strengths of the concrete samples were determined at 7, 28, 56, 90, 120 and 180?days. It was observed that compressive and splitting tensile strength of the concretes was affected by fineness of fly ash in short-and long-terms. It was found that compressive and tensile strength of the concretes increased as fly ash fineness increased. It was concluded that Blaine fineness value should be above 3849?cm²/g fineness of fly ash to have positive impact on mechanical properties of concrete. The effects of fly ash fineness on the compressive and splitting tensile strength of the concretes were remarkably seen in the fly ash with FAC code with fineness of 5235?cm²/g.     

Transport and mechanical properties of self consolidating concrete with high volume fly ash

This paper presents the transport and mechanical properties of self consolidating concrete that contain high percentages of low-lime and high-lime fly ash (FA). Self consolidating concretes (SCC) containing five different contents of high-lime FA and low-lime FA as a replacement of cement (30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 by weight of total cementitious material) are examined. For comparison, a control SCC mixture without any FA was also produced. The fresh properties of the SCCs were observed through, slump flow time and diameter, V-funnel flow time, L-box height ratio, and segregation ratio. The hardened properties included the compressive strength, split tensile strength, drying shrinkage and transport properties (absorption, sorptivity and rapid chloride permeability tests) up to 365 days. Test results confirm that it is possible to produce SCC with a 70% of cement replacement by both types of FA. The use of high volumes of FA in SCC not only improved the workability and transport properties but also made it possible to produce concretes between 33 and 40 MPa compressive strength at 28 days, which exceeds the nominal compressive strength for normal concrete (30 MPa).     

Effect of high volume fly ash on mechanical properties of fiber reinforced concrete

This paper reports the effects of incorporating high volume fly ash in fiber reinforced concrete. Fly ash was mixed as a partial fine aggregate replacement of approximately one third of the fines volume. The fibers were polypropylene or steel fibers at a maximum proportion of 1% by volume of the concrete. The results showed that fiber reinforced concrete that included high fly ash volume achieved compressive and tensile strength values that are more than double those of concrete without fly ash. Values of other mechanical properties have also achieved significant increase due to fly ash addition. It is suggested that a large quantity of fly ash is necessary to enhance the efficiency of fiber reinforcement. Polypropylene fibers resulted in gains up to 50% while steel fibers achieved gains up to more than 100%. This enhancement is believed to be due to the microstructural modification and densification in the transition zone between the matrix and the fibers.

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Résumé Cet article décrit les effets de la cendre volante quand elle est incorporée, en grande quantité, à du béton enrobé de fibres. D'une part, la cendre volante est mélangée au béton de manière à remplacer le contenu en granulat fin qui équivaut à environ un tiers du volume des matériaux fins. D'autre part, le béton est enrobé de fibres, à base de polypropylène ou d'acier, dans une proportion maximale de 1% par volume de béton. Les résultats obtenus démontrent que, mélangé à une quantité volumineuse de cendre volante, le béton enrobé à l'aide de fibres offre, entre autres propriétés mécaniques, une résistance à des efforts de compression et de traction qui dépasse nettement le double de celle que l'on obtient avec du béton dépourvu de cendre volante. On en déduit qu'une grande quantité de cendre volante s'avère nécessaire pour améliorer l'efficacité du renforcement à base de fibres. En outre, l'utilisation de fibres de polypropylène permet d'atteindre une efficacité jusqu' à 50%, tandis que cette dernière excède 100% avec des fibres d'acier. Ces améliorations sont attribuées à la modification et à la densification microstructurelles qui ont lieu dans la zone de transition entre la matrice de béton et les fibres utilisées.

     

Hydration of high-volume fly ash cement pastes

The hydration processes of high-volume fly ash cement paste were investigated by examining the non-evaporable water content, the CH content, the pH of pore solution and the fraction of reacted fly ash, curing at either 20°C or elevated temperatures after an initial curing at 20°C. The replacement percentage levels of fly ash were 40%, 50% and 60% by weight, respectively. The results revealed that the non-evaporable water content in high-volume fly ash cement pastes does not develop as plain cement pastes does, so it may be improper to apply the non-evaporable water content to evaluate the hydration process in high-volume fly ash cement matrix. The reduction in CH content increases with the progressing of hydration process and varies linearly with the logarithm of curing age. The addition of 3.0% of Na₂SO₄ could accelerate the pozzolanic reaction of fly ash at early ages. At 20°C, the pH of pore solution of high-volume fly ash cement paste was reduced to a great extent at early ages and it continued to decline at later ages due to the inclusion of large amount of fly ashes. At elevated temperatures, however, this trend was not found. The fraction of reacted fly ash directly reflects the pozzolanic reactivity of fly ash both at normal and elevated temperatures. There is some inherent correlation between the reduction in CH content, the pH of pore solution and the fraction of reacted fly ash. For specified matrix, the consumption of CH and the pH of pore solutions change linearly with the increase of the fraction of reacted fly ash.     

粉煤灰陶粒混凝土的抗盐冻性能

为了评价桥面铺装中应用的轻骨料混凝土长期耐久性,利用R ILEM推荐混凝土抗盐冻性能试验标准(CDF)研究了粉煤灰陶粒混凝土与普通混凝土的抗盐冻性能.结果表明:相同强度等级的掺加矿物掺合料的粉煤灰陶粒混凝土的抗盐冻性能明显优于普通混凝土的抗盐冻性能.复掺矿物掺合料混凝土的抗盐冻性能优于单掺矿物掺合料混凝土的抗盐冻性能.与普通混凝土相比,通过SEM-EDXA的分析,掺与未掺矿物掺合料陶粒与水泥石之间的界面过渡区的范围明显变小,这是粉煤灰陶粒混凝土抗除冰盐性能优良的重要原因.     

Durability of concrete incorporating high-volume of low-calcium (ASTM Class F) fly ash

Research on structural concrete incorporating high volumes of low-calcium (ASTM Class F) fly ash has been in progress at CANMET since 1985. In this type of concrete, the cement content is kept at about 150 kg/m³. The water-to-cementitious materials ratio is of the order of 0·30, and fly ash varies from 54 to 58% of the total cementitious material. A large dosage of a superplasticizer is used to achieve high workability.

This paper presents data on the durability of this new type of concrete. The durability aspects considered are: freezing and thawing cycling; resistance to chloride ion permeability; and the expansion of concrete specimens when highly reactive aggregates are used in the concrete.

The investigations performed at CANMET indicate that concrete incorporating high volumes of low-calcium fly ash has excellent durability with regard to frost action, has very low permeability to chloride ions and shows no adverse expansion when highly reactive aggregates are incorporated into the concrete.     

Transport properties of high-volume fly ash concrete: Capillary water sorption,water sorption under vacuum and gas permeability

Studying concrete’s resistance to carbonation-induced corrosion usually involves exposing the material to CO₂ for quite some time. To estimate the performance of high-volume fly ash (HVFA) concrete more quickly, two key properties governing this process can be studied, namely water penetrability and gas permeability. With respect to HVFA mixtures optimized for usage in an environment exposed to carbonation with wetting and drying, we adopted the latter approach. This paper presents a full assessment of concrete mixtures with varying fly ash amounts. A 50% fly ash mixture by mass with a binder content of 400 kg/m³ and a water-to-binder ratio of 0.4 had a lower capillary water uptake (?32.6%), water sorption under vacuum (?10.7%) and gas permeability (?78.9%) than a proper reference normally used in this environment. The fly ash applied had an excellent quality regarding loss on ignition (3.5%) and fineness (19% retained on a 45 μm sieve).     

Frost salt scaling resistance of concrete containing CFBC fly ash

The possibility for using coal combustion by-products in concrete exposed to frost-salt aggression was investigated. The research was aimed to assess an influence addition of circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) fly ash on frost-salt scaling of air-entrained concrete. For evaluation of the resistance of concrete to frost salt scaling the test called “depth sensing indentation” (DSI) was applied. The DSI test method was implemented on a universal testing frame using a standard Vickers indenter. Experimental tests were performed on cement paste specimens and concrete specimens designed with partial replacement of cement with coal combustion by-products. The mass of scaled material in standard frost salt scaling resistance tests on concrete was inversely proportional to the Vickers hardness of the paste containing CFBC fly ash; the best-fit arithmetic relationship is provided.     

Nanoscale mechanical properties of concrete containing blast furnace slag and fly ash before and after thermal damage

Portland cement blended with waste products such as blast furnace slag and fly ash are frequently used to create more sustainable concrete, but their nanoscale mechanical behavior, particularly after thermal damage, has not been well-studied. Here, nanoindentation experiments confirm that concrete produced with blended cements contains hydration products with nearly identical nanoscale mechanical properties to the hydration products found in concretes produced with ordinary Portland cement. The volume fractions of the hydration products, particularly calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) phases, are formed in different proportions with the addition of fly ash and blast furnace slag. After exposure to fire damage, the nanoscale behavior of concretes produced with fly ash and slag also matches the nanoscale behavior of conventional concretes. This suggests that any macroscopic differences between fire damage behavior of blended cement concrete and ordinary Portland cement concrete must have origins in a larger length scale.     

Fresh properties of self-compacting rubberized concrete incorporated with fly ash

Solid waste management is one of the major environmental concerns in all over the world. High amounts of waste tires are generated each year and utilization of this waste is a big problem from the aspects of disposal, environmental pollution, and health hazards. In the production of self-compacting concrete, the incorporation of waste tires as partial replacement of aggregates is very limited. However, the use of waste tires might join the characteristics of self-compacting concrete (high flowability, high mechanical strength, low porosity, etc.) with the tough behavior of the rubber phase, thus leading to be a building material with more versatile performances. Thus, in this study, the usability of untreated crumb rubber as a partial substitute of fine aggregates with and without fly ash in the application of self-compacting concretes was investigated experimentally. For this purpose, a water–cementitious material ratio (0.35), four designated crumb rubber contents (0, 5, 15, and 25% by fine aggregate volume), and four fly ash content (0, 20, 40, and 60%) were considered as experimental parameters. Test results indicated that use of crumb rubber (CR) without fly ash (FA) aggravated the fresh properties of self-compacting rubberized concretes (SCRC) (slump flow diameter, T₅₀ slump flow time, V-funnel flow time, L-box height ratio, initial and final setting times, and viscosity). However, the use of CR with FA amended the fresh properties of SCRC.     

Transport properties of high volume fly ash roller compacted concrete

This paper describes research on the transport properties of high-volume fly ash roller compacted concrete (RCC). The mixes were developed through incorporating 50–260 kg/m³ cement and high volumes of fly ash ranging from 40% to 85% by mass of the total cementitious material. The concretes were investigated for permeability, absorption, sorption and chloride diffusion. The study showed that RCCs of moderate cement and moderate fly ash contents had lower values of permeability, absorption, sorption and chloride diffusivity.     

The durability properties of polypropylene fiber reinforced fly ash concrete

This paper reports of a comprehensive study on the durability properties of concrete containing polypropylene fiber and fly ash. Properties studied include unit weight and workability of fresh concrete, and compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, porosity, water absorption, sorptivity coefficient, drying shrinkage and freeze–thaw resistance of hardened concrete. Fly ash content used in concrete mixture was 0%, 15% and 30% in mass basis, and fiber volume fraction was 0%, 0.05%, 0.10% and 0.20% in volume basis.     

Studies on mechanics of development of physical and mechanical properties of high-volume fly ash-cement pastes

High-volume fly ash concrete for structural applications was developed at CANMET. In this concrete fly ash to ‘total cementitious material’ was maintained over 55%. The purpose of this work was to investigate, by the use of similar paste mixtures of the same fly ash and cement, the mechanism by which the mechanical properties were developed. Mechanical property-porosity relations, pore size distribution, permeability, degree of hydration and Ca(OH)₂ content measurements were made. It was observed that the fly ash-cememt reaction occurred relatively early at 3 to 7 days and it was concluded that the cement matrix and residual unreacted fly ash form a good mechanical bond.     

Efficiency of fly ash in concrete

Earlier efforts towards an understanding of the efficiency of fly ash in concrete has led to the introduction of rational methods. Based on the results available on some of the more recent pulverised fuel ashes, the authors evaluated the efficiency of fly ash in concrete over a wide range of percentage replacements (15–75%). It was clearly shown that the overall efficiency of fly ash cannot be adequately predicted using a single efficiency factor at all percentages of replacements. The overall efficiency factor (k) has been evaluated at all percentages of replacements considering the general efficiency factor (k_e) and the percentage efficiency factor (k_p). This study resulted in a quantitative assessment of the behaviour of fly ash in concrete, especially for the 28 day compressive strength at different percentages of replacement.     

The permeability of fly ash concrete

Oxygen permeability tests were carried out on plain ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and fly ash concretes at three nominal strength grades. Prior to testing the concretes were subjected to a wide range of curing and exposure conditions. The results emphasize the importance of adequate curing to achieve concrete of low permeability, especially when the ambient relative humidity is low. In addition, the results demonstrate the considerable benefit that can be achieved by the use of fly ash in concrete. Even under conditions of poor curing, fly ash concrete is significantly less permeable than equal-grade OPC concrete, the differences being more marked for higher-grade concretes. Attempts were made to correlate strength parameters with permeability but it is concluded that neither the strength at the end of curing nor the 28-day strength provides a reliable indicator of concrete permeability. A reliable correlation was established between the water to total cementitious material ratio [w/(c+f)] and the permeability of concretes subjected to a given curing and exposure regime.     

Heat deformations of fly ash concrete

When dealing with concrete resistance to high temperatures it is important for design purposes to know the elastic parameters, such as the temperature–strain curves and the modulus of elasticity.Concretes containing a high volume of fly ash differ from conventional mixes in the cementitious phase. This results in a different behaviour under heating compared to plain Portland cement concretes. To find the elastic response of fly ash concrete four series of concrete mixtures were manufactured: one with cement only, another with 30% by mass partial replacement of cement by fly ash, and two with 30% and 40% by mass replacement of cement by ground fly ash. Tests were carried out on cylinders (150 × 300 mm). A high-calcium fly ash was used.The conditions were selected so that the applied level of stress corresponded to 25% or to 40% of the ultimate compressive strength of concrete, and a transient type of temperature regime was followed. Based on the experiments the critical temperature, the residual deformation and the modulus of elasticity were determined.The results indicate that concretes containing a high volume of fly ash are more sensitive to high temperatures, since they developed greater deformations. The fineness of the fly ash used also seems to influence the degree of deformation in an adverse way.     

Relation between abrasion resistance and flexural strength of high volume fly ash concrete

In this paper, abrasion of high volume fly ash (HVFA) concretes made with 50% and 70% of cement replacement with fly ash was assessed in terms of its relation to flexural tensile strength. Comparisons were made between normal Portland cement (NPC) concrete and fly ash concrete. Comparisons were also made between fly ash concretes. Investigation results have shown that the abrasion resistance increased as flexural tensile strength increased. Analysis of the results showed that, for concrete with tensile strength of greater than 4–5 MPa, the abrasion resistance of HVFA concrete with 70% replacement with cement was found to be higher than that of counterpart control NPC concrete and concrete made with 50% fly ash. The comparison between the relation of abrasion to compressive strength and abrasion to flexural tensile strength made in terms of R² of the linear regression showed that a stronger relation existed between abrasion and flexural tensile strength than that of abrasion to compressive strength of the concrete studied.

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Résumé L'étude a pour but d'estimer la relation entre la résistance à l'usure avec la résistance à la traction en flexion des bétons contenant de 50% et 70% de cendres volantes. On a comparé le béton pur au béton contenant des cendres volantes. Des comparaisons ont été faites également entre les différents bétons contenant des cendres volantes. Les resultats de la recherche ont montré que la résistance à l'usure augmente à mesure que la résistance à la traction en flexion de 4∼5 MPa ont une résistance à l'usure plus grande s'ils contienneint 70% de cendres volantes que s'ils étaient purs ou contenaient 50% de cendres volantes. La comparaison entre les relation de la résistance à l'usure en compression et de la résistance à l'usure en traction a été établie en termes de R² de la régression linéaire. On a prouvé qu'une relation plus forte a été obtenue entre la résistance à l'usure et la résistance à la traction en flexion par rapport à la résistance à l'usure en compression du béton étudié.

     

Strength and durability properties of polyester concrete using pet and fly ash wastes

Recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, mainly recovered from plastic beverage bottles, can be used to produce unsaturated polyester resins. In turn, these resins can be mixed with inorganic aggregates (sand and gravel and fly ash waste), to produce polyester concrete (PC). The strength and durability properties of plain and steel-reinforced polyester concrete (PC) using unsaturated polyester resins based on recycled PET and fly ash fillers are discussed in this paper. The recycling of PET and fly ash in PC helps in reducing the cost of the material and alleviating an environmental problem posed by waste materials. The material may effectively be used in many construction applications such as utility, transportation and building components, and the repair and overlay of pavements, bridges and dams.     

Optimization of properties of fly ash aggregates for high-strength lightweight concrete production

The optimization of properties of lightweight fly ash aggregates for suitability in high-strength lightweight fly ash concrete production was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). Design-Expert software was used to establish the design matrix and to analyze the experimental data. The relationships between the sintering parameters (temperature, binder content and binder type) and experimentally obtained three responses (specific gravity, water absorption and crushing strength) were established. Also, the optimization capabilities in Design-Expert software were used to optimize the sintering process. Historical data design technique under RSM was performed to optimize the input parameter interactions which showed the best conditions for preparation of fly ash pellets. According to the obtained results, the developed models are statistically accurate and can be used for further analysis. The experimental values agreed with the predicted ones, thus indicating suitability of the model employed and the success of RSM in optimizing the sintering conditions.