Effects of simultaneous utilization of natural zeolite and magnetic water on engineering properties of self-compacting concrete

Abstract

A study was performed to assess the effects of magnetic water with different percentages of natural zeolite (NZ) on self-compacting concrete (SCC) mixes. Over the past decades, a limited number of studies were conducted by researches on the effects of magnetic water on SCC mixes. In addition, it seems that pozzolanic materials such as NZ can affect performance of magnetic water in SCC mixes. Following this, the present study was aimed to survey engineering properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) containing magnetic water and NZ. To achieve this goal, slump flow, T50, V-funnel, L-box and visual stability index (VSI) were employed to evaluate the rheological properties of concrete mixes. Furthermore, hardened properties were investigated by compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and water absorption tests. The concrete test results demonstrated that 20% NZ inclusion and magnetic water in SCC with the water–binder (W/B) ratio of 0.37 led to an optimum mix design and also this mixture could contribute to an increase in compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity up to 25, 8 and 9%, respectively.