Effects of LOI of ground bagasse ash on the compressive strength and sulfate resistance of mortars

Raw bagasse ash collected from the Thai sugar industry has a high loss on ignition (LOI) of ～20%. When ground and ignited at 550 °C for 45 min, the LOI was reduced to ～5%. These high and low LOI of ground bagasse ashes were blended in the ratios of 1:2 and 2:1 by weight to give ground bagasse ashes with LOIs of 10% and 15%, respectively. Each of these ground bagasse ashes was used to replace Portland cement type I at 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% by weight of binder to cast mortar.The results showed that the development of compressive strengths of mortars containing ground bagasse ash with high LOI was slower than that of mortar containing ground bagasse ash with low LOI. However, at the later age, both types of ground ash mortars displayed similar compressive strengths. Mortars containing high LOI (～20%) of ground bagasse ash at 20% and 30% by weight of binder could produce higher compressive strengths than a control mortar after 28 and 90 days, respectively. Mortar bars containing ground bagasse ash at 10% showed a greater potential sulfate resistance and displayed a reduce expansion compared to a control mortar. However, mortar bars containing high LOI (larger than 10%) of ground bagasse ashes showed greater deterioration from sulfate attack than the mortar bars containing low LOI (less than 10%) of ground bagasse ashes, especially at high replacement levels (30–40%).     

Production of low cost self compacting concrete using bagasse ash

Self compacting concrete (SCC) is a development of conventional concrete, in which the use of vibrator for compaction is no more required. This property of self compacting concrete has made its use more attractive all over the world. But its initial higher supply cost over conventional concrete, has hindered its application to general construction. Therefore, for producing low cost SCC, it is prudent to look at the alternates to help reducing the SSC cost. This research is aimed at evaluating the usage of bagasse ash as viscosity modifying agent in SCC, and to study the relative costs of the materials used in SCC.In this research, the main variables are the proportion of bagasse ash, dosage of superplasticizer for flowability and water/binder ratio. The parameters kept constant are the amount of cement and water content.Test results substantiate the feasibility to develop low cost self compacting concrete using bagasse ash. In the fresh state of concrete, the different mixes of concrete have slump flow in the range of 333 mm to 815 mm, L-box ratio ranging from 0 to 1 and flow time ranging from 1.8 s to no flow (stucked). Out of twenty five different mixes, five mixes were found to satisfy the requirements suggested by European federation of national trade associations representing producers and applicators of specialist building products (EFNARC) guide for making self compacting concrete. The compressive strengths developed by the self compacting concrete mixes with bagasse ash at 28 days were comparable to the control concrete. Cost analysis showed that the cost of ingredients of specific self compacting concrete mix is 35.63% less than that of control concrete, both having compressive strength above 34 MPa.     

Use of palm oil fuel ash as a supplementary cementitious material for producing high-strength concrete

The objective of this study is to investigate the use of ground palm oil fuel ash with high fineness (GPA) as a pozzolanic material to produce high-strength concrete. Samples were made by replacing Type I Portland cement with various proportions of GPA. Properties such as the compressive strength, drying shrinkage, water permeability, and sulfate resistance, were then investigated. After aging for 28 days, the compressive strengths of these concrete samples were found to be in the range of 59.5–64.3 MPa. At 90-day the compressive strength of concrete containing GPA 20% was as high as 70 MPa. The drying shrinkage and water permeability were lower than those of high-strength concrete made from Type I Portland cement. When the concrete samples were immersed in a 10% MgSO₄ solution for 180 days, the sulfate resistance in terms of the expansion and loss of compressive strength was improved. The results indicated that GPA is a reactive pozzolanic material and can be used as a supplementary cementitious material for producing high-strength concrete.     

Assessment of the effects of rice husk ash particle size on strength,water permeability and workability of binary blended concrete

This study develops the compressive strength, water permeability and workability of concrete by partial replacement of cement with agro-waste rice husk ash. Two types of rice husk ash with average particle size of 5 micron (ultra fine particles) and 95 micron and with four different contents of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by weight were used. Replacement of cement up to maximum of 15% and 20% respectively by 95 and 5 μm rice husk ash, produces concrete with improved strength. However, the ultimate strength of concrete was gained at 10% of cement replacement by ultra fine rice husk ash particles. Also the percentage, velocity and coefficient of water absorption significantly decreased with 10% cement replacement by ultra fine rice husk ash. Moreover, the workability of fresh concrete was remarkably improved by increasing the content of rice husk ash especially in the case of coarser size. It is concluded that partial replacement of cement with rice husk ash improves the compressive strength and workability of concrete and decreases its water permeability. In addition, decreasing rice husk ash average particle size provides a positive effect on the compressive strength and water permeability of hardened concrete but indicates adverse effect on the workability of fresh concrete.     

Influence of fly ash on strength and sorption characteristics of cold-bonded fly ash aggregate concrete

Cold-bonded fly ash aggregate concrete with fly ash as part of binder or fine aggregate facilitates high volume utilization of fly ash in concrete with minimum energy consumption. This paper investigates the influence of fly ash on strength and sorption behaviour of cold-bonded fly ash aggregate concrete due to partial replacement of cement and also as replacement material for sand. While cement replacement must be restricted based on the compressive strength requirement at desired age, replacement of sand with fly ash appears to be advantageous from early days onwards with higher enhancement in strength and higher utilization of fly ash in mixes of lower cement content. Microstructure of concrete was examined under BSEI mode. Replacement of sand with fly ash is effective in reducing water absorption and sorptivity attributable to the densification of both matrix and matrix–aggregate interfacial bond. Cold-bonded fly ash aggregate concrete with a cement content of 250 kg/m³, results in compressive strength of about 45 MPa, with a total inclusion of around 0.6 m³ of fly ash in unit volume of concrete.     

Influence of pozzolan from various by-product materials on mechanical properties of high-strength concrete

This paper presents experimentally investigated the effects of pozzolan made from various by-product materials on mechanical properties of high-strength concrete. Ground pulverized coal combustion fly ash (FA), ground fluidized bed combustion fly ash (FB), ground rice husk–bark ash (RHBA), and ground palm oil fuel ash (POFA) having median particle sizes less than 11 μm were used to partially replace Portland cement type I to cast high-strength concrete. The results suggest that concretes containing FA, FB, RHBA, and POFA can be used as pozzolanic materials in making high-strength concrete with 28-day compressive strengths higher than 80 MPa. After 7 days of curing, the concretes containing 10–40% FA or FB and 10–30% RHBA or POFA exhibited higher compressive strengths than that of the control concrete (CT). The use of FA, FB, RHBA, and POFA to partially replace Portland cement type I has no significant effect on the splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity as compared to control concrete or silica fume concretes. This results suggest that the by-products from industries can be used to substitute Portland cement to produce high-strength concrete without alteration the mechanical properties of concrete.     

Properties of self-compacting concretes made with binary,ternary, and quaternary cementitious blends of fly ash,blast furnace slag,and silica fume

Self-compacting concretes (SCCs) have brought a promising insight into the concrete industry to provide environmental impact and cost reduction. However, the use of ternary and especially quaternary cementitious blends of mineral admixtures have not found sufficient applications in the production of SCCs. For this purpose, an experimental study was conducted to investigate properties of SCCs with mineral admixtures. Moreover, durability based multi-objective optimization of the mixtures were performed to achieve an optimal concrete mixture proportioning. A total of 22 concrete mixtures were designed having a constant water/binder ratio of 0.44 and a total binder content of 450 kg/m³. The control mixture included only a Portland cement (PC) as the binder while the remaining mixtures incorporated binary, ternary, and quaternary cementitious blends of PC, fly ash (FA), ground granulated blast furnace slag (S), and silica fume (SF). Fresh properties of the SCCs were tested for slump flow diameter, slump flow time, L-box height ratio, and V-funnel flow time. Furthermore, the hardened properties of the concretes were tested for sorptivity, water permeability, chloride permeability, electrical resistivity, drying shrinkage, compressive strength, and ultrasonic pulse velocity. The results indicated that when the durability properties of the concretes were taken into account, the ternary use of S and SF provided the best performance.     

Effect of mineral admixtures and curing periods on shrinkage and cracking age under restrained condition

This paper presents the test results on cracking behavior at medium age of uniaxially restrained specimens containing different types of mineral admixture, namely fly ash and limestone powder. In this study, the uniaxially restrained shrinkage, free shrinkage and strength tests were conducted to study the potential of cracking of concrete under restrained shrinkage condition. The influences of water to binder ratio, mineral admixtures and curing period of concrete on cracking behavior were investigated in this study. The investigation showed that cracking age and cracking strain of restrained specimens vary with mix proportion, mineral admixture and curing period. The potential of shrinkage cracking is not influenced only by cracking strain and amount of shrinkage but also on shrinkage rate and tensile creep. Mixture with lower water to binder ratio (w/b = 0.35) shows shorter cracking age than the mixture with higher water to binder ratio (w/b = 0.55). Fly ash and limestone powder significantly increase cracking age of concrete. The cracking age increases with the increase of the replacement ratio of fly ash. The higher shrinkage rate, when exposed to drying, of mixture with longer curing period leads to shorter cracking age.     

Filler effect and pozzolanic reaction of ground palm oil fuel ash

This research examines the compressive strength of mortar and how the filler effect and pozzolanic reaction of ground palm oil fuel ash (POFA) contribute to this strength. POFA and river sand were ground to three different particle sizes and used to replace Type I Portland cement at 10–40% by weight of binder to cast the mortar. The compressive strengths of ground POFA and ground river sand mortars were determined at various ages between 7 and 90 days. The results showed that the compressive strength of mortar due to the filler effect of ground river sand was nearly constant during the 7–90 day period for a specified replacement rate of cement. However, the compressive strength of mortar due to the filler effect tended to increase slightly with increased cement replacement. The pozzolanic reaction of ground POFA increased with increasing particle fineness of ground POFA, replacement rate of cement, and age of the mortar. The compressive strength contribution from the pozzolanic reaction of ground POFA was much more pronounced than the contribution from the filler effect when the smallest sizes of both materials were considered.     

Shrinkage characteristics of high-strength concrete for large underground space structures

This study forms part of a research project that was carried out on the development and application of high-strength concrete for large underground spaces. In order to develop 50 MPa high-strength concrete, eight optimal mixtures with different portions of fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag, which make the pozzolanic reaction, were selected. For assessments of shrinkage characteristics, free shrinkage tests with prismatic specimens and shrinkage crack tests were performed. The compressive strength was more than 30 MPa at 7 days, and stable design strength was acquired at 28 days. High-strength concrete containing blast furnace slag shows large autogenous shrinkage, while large shrinkage deformations and cracks will occur when mixtures are replaced with large volumes of cementitious materials. Hence, for these high-strength concrete mixtures, the curing conditions of initial ages that affect the reaction of hydration and drying effects need to be checked.     

Investigation on the corrosion resistance of bagasse-rice husk-wood ash blended cement concrete by impressed voltage

In this study, the compressive strength, the durability to chloride penetration and the corrosion of concrete containing bagasse-rice husk-wood ash (BRWA) were tested. Normal strength concrete with water to binder ratio (w/b) of 0.45 and 0.60 were used. The Portland cement was partially replaced with BRWA at the dosage of 10% and 20% by weight of binder. For concrete with w/b of 0.60, the replacement level of 40% was also tested. The chloride penetration resistance of the concretes was evaluated using the measurement of non-steady state chloride diffusion coefficient by accelerated salt ponding. The accelerated corrosion test by impressed voltage (ACTIV) was also performed to verify the findings and to investigate the characteristics of corrosion in terms of the initial current, the time of initial crack, and the weight loss of embedded steel.From the experiment, it was found that the concrete with 20% BRWA had the highest gain of compressive strength at the ages ranging from 7 to 180 days. The results of the experiments of accelerated salt ponding were in good agreement and conformed with ACTIV. The increase of the incorporation of the BRWA reduced the chloride penetration. The diffusion coefficient was reduced by 30–40% and 65–70% for concrete containing 10% BRWA and 20% BRWA compared to control concrete. The results of ACTIV also indicated that the initial current and the weight loss of embedded steel reduced and the time of initial crack increased with the increase in the replacement level of BRWA.     

Effect of elevated temperature on physico-mechanical properties of blended cement concrete

Pozzolanas are readily available for use in concrete in the local markets for strength and/or durability enhancement. Although safety and security against disasters are not new, they still presuming a challenge. For instance, the fire resistive properties of concrete are of prime interest.Through this work, the effect of different kinds of pozzolana on the fire resistive properties of concrete was studied. Four types of pozzolana were incorporated into the concrete mixtures, i.e. metakaolin (MK), silica fume (SF), fly ash (FA), and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). Each of the employed pozzolana was used in two ratios: 10% and 20%, either in the form of cement replacement or as an addition without affecting the cement content. A total of 17 mixes were cast.For all mixtures, compressive strength is evaluated after 28 days of water curing. The mixtures’ compressive strengths were also evaluated after exposure to elevated temperatures: 200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C, and 800 °C. The residual compressive strengths after heat exposure are evaluated. The formed cementitious phases after incorporation of pozzolana and the heat-induced transformations are investigated via the X-ray diffraction technique (XRD).Test results demonstrate the impact of each type of the employed pozzolana on the heat resistive properties of concrete in addition to their influence on the strength development of the investigated mixes. Therefore, a decision could be made regarding optimizing the benefits specific to each type of pozzolana and their employment method.     

Influence of class F fly ash on the abrasion–erosion resistance of high-strength concrete

This study investigates the abrasion–erosion resistance of high-strength concrete (HSC) mixtures in which cement was partially replaced by four kinds of replacements (15%, 20%, 25% and 30%) of class F fly ash. The mixtures containing ordinary Portland cement were designed to have 28 days compressive strength of approximately 40–80 MPa. Specimens were subjected to abrasion–erosion testing in accordance with ASTM C1138. Experimental results show that the abrasion–erosion resistances of fly ash concrete mixtures were improved by increasing compressive strength and decreasing the ratio of water-to-cementitious materials. The abrasion–erosion resistance of concrete with cement replacement up to 15% was comparable to that of control concrete without fly ash. Beyond 15% cement replacement, fly ash concrete showed lower resistance to abrasion–erosion compared to non-fly ash concrete. Equations were established based on effective compressive strengths and effective water-to-cementitious materials ratios, which were modified by cement replacement and developed to predict the 28- and 91-day abrasion–erosion resistance of concretes with compressive strengths ranging from approximately 30–100 MPa. The calculation results are compared favorably with the experimental results.     

Effect of rice husk ash on the strength and durability characteristics of concrete

This work investigates the effects of adding residual rice husk ash (RHA) from South Vietnam, generated when burning rice husk pellets in the boiler, to cement. To improve pozzolanic reactivity, RHA was ground for 1 h. The non-ground RHA and ground RHA were used to test strength activity index according to ASTM C311. The properties of the concrete were investigated, including compressive strength, concrete electrical resistivity, and ultrasonic pulse velocity. Results show that the non-ground RHA can be applied as a pozzolanic material. Decreasing the non-ground RHA average particle size provides a positive effect on the compressive strength of mortar. Compressive strength of cylindrical concrete in the 47–66 MPa range was obtained in this study. The results also indicate that up to 20% of ground RHA could be advantageously blended with cement without adversely affecting the strength and durability properties of concrete.     

Effect of palm oil fuel ash fineness on the microstructure of blended cement paste

This paper presents the effect of palm oil fuel ash fineness on the microstructure of blended cement paste. Palm oil fuel ash (POFA) was ground to two different finenesses. Coarse and high fineness palm oil fuel ash, with median particle sizes of 15.6 and 2.1 μm, respectively, were used to replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC) at 0%, 20% and 40% by binder weight. A water to binder (W/B) ratio of 0.35 was used for all blended cement pastes. The amorphous ground palm oil fuel ash was characterized by the Rietveld method. The compressive strength, thermogravimetric analysis and pore size distribution of the blended cement pastes were investigated. The test results indicate that the ground palm oil fuel ash was an amorphous silica material. The compressive strengths of the blended cement pastes containing coarse POFA were as high as that of OPC cement paste. Blended cement paste with high fineness POFA had a higher compressive strength than that with coarse POFA. The blended cement pastes containing 20% of POFA with high fineness had the lowest total porosity. The Ca(OH)₂ contents of blended cement paste containing POFA decreased with increasing replacement of POFA and were lower than those of the OPC cement paste. In addition, the POFA fineness had an effect on the reduction rate of Ca(OH)₂. Furthermore, the critical pore size and average pore size of blended cement paste containing POFA were lower than those of the OPC cement paste. The incorporation of high fineness POFA decreased the critical pore size and the average pore size of blended cement paste as compared to that with coarse POFA.     

Effects of post-mercury-control fly ash on fresh and hardened concrete properties

Activated carbon injection is the most mature technology for mercury capture from coal burning power plants; however, this technology increases the carbon content and mercury concentration in the fly ash. This, in turn, may reduce the suitability of fly ash for use in concrete and call into question the safety of using fly ash derived from this process. The focus of this paper is to investigate the reuse potential of post-mercury-control fly ash in concrete by examining the influence of three fly ashes derived from the activated carbon injection on the air content, compressive strength, permeability, and resistance to freezing and thawing of concrete mixtures. Laboratory testing confirmed the influence of the carbon on the air content of the concrete. However there was no difficulty in entraining air in activated carbon injection fly ash concretes within the recommended dosage range of the air-entraining admixture. All air-entrained fly ash concretes exhibited excellent characteristics in compressive strength (?32.0 MPa, 4641 psi at 28 days), resistance to chloride-ion penetration (moderate to low at 28 days of age) and freeze–thaw (?90 average durability factor after 300 cycles). The possible leaching of toxic elements including mercury from one fly ash sample used in this study was also evaluated using the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure. The test results indicated that the leaching of toxic elements was much lower than the contamination level.     

Durability of cementing binders based on fly ash and other wastes

The paper deals with the cementitious binders produced by blending 60–70% fly ash with fluorogypsum, hydrated lime sludge, with and without Portland cement and chemical activator in different proportions. Data show that strength development of cementitious binders takes place through formation of ettringite, C–S–H and wollastonite compounds. The durability of these binder has been studied by its performance in water and by accelerated aging i.e. alternate wetting and drying as well as by heating and cooling cycles at temperatures in the range 27–50 °C. The results indicate Lawrence of strength of binder with the increasing cyclic studies at different temperatures. The maximum fall in compressive strength was noticed at 50 °C.     

The characteristics of air void and frost resistance of RCC with fly ash and expansive agent

In order to assure the outer concrete of Longtan dam in China possesses excellent of frost resistance, the losses of strength, mass and air void characteristics of roller compacted concrete (RCC) containing fly ash, superplasticizer and a novel MgO-bearing expansive agent (HNM) were studied using the freezing–thawing method ASTM C666. The results show that there is a linear correlation between strength and mass losses in RCC subjected to cycles of freezing and thawing.There is a relationship between the air void spacing factor and the frost resistance of RCC. However, for RCC containing fly ash and superplasticizer a spacing factor of 0.25 mm is not necessary. Using a water:binder ratio of 0.48 in RCC containing 50% fly ash and 8% HNM a durability factor of over D₃₀₀ can be achieved provided the spacing factor is less than 0.4 mm.     

Effect of Granulated Blast Furnace Slag and fly ash addition on the strength properties of lightweight mortars containing waste PET aggregates

In this work, the effect of Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GBFS) and fly ash (FA) addition on the strength properties of lightweight mortars containing waste Poly-ethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle aggregates was investigated. Investigation was carried out on three groups of mortar specimens. One made with only Normal Portland cement (NPC) as binder, second made with NPC and GBFS together and, third made with NPC and FA together. The industrial wastes mentioned above were used as the replacement of cement on mass basis at the replacement ratio of 50%. The size of shredded PET granules used as aggregate for the preparation of mortar mixtures were between 0 and 4 mm. The waste lightweight PET aggregate (WPLA)–binder ratio (WPLA/b) was 0.60; the water–binder (w/b) ratios were determined as 0.45 and 0.50. The dry unit weight, compressive and flexural–tensile strengths, carbonation depths and drying shrinkage values were measured and presented. The results have shown that modifying GBFS had positive effects on the compressive strength and drying shrinkage values (after 90 days) of the WPLA mortars. However, FA substitution decreased compressive and flexural–tensile strengths and increased carbonation depths. Nevertheless a visible reduction occurred on the drying shrinkage values of FA modifying specimens more than cement specimens and GBFS modified specimens. The test results indicated that, GBFS has a potential of using as the replacement of cement on the WPLA mortars by taking into consideration the characteristics. But using FA as a binder at the replacement ratio of 50% did not improve the overall strength properties. Although it was thought that, using FA as binder at the replacement ratio of 50% for the aim of production WPLA concrete which has a specific strength, would provide advantages of economical and ecological aspects.     

The effect of high temperature on compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of structural lightweight concrete containing fly ash

In this study, the effect of high temperature on compressive and splitting tensile strength of lightweight concrete containing fly ash was investigated experimentally and statistically. The mixes incorporating 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% fly ash were prepared. After being heated to temperatures of 200, 400 and 800 °C, respectively, the compressive and splitting tensile strength of lightweight concrete was tested. This article adopts Taguchi approach with an L₁₆ (4⁵) to reduce the numbers of experiment. Two control factors (percentage of fly ash and heating degree) for this study were used. The level of importance of these parameters on compressive and splitting tensile strength was determined by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) method.