Abstract
The paper presented herein investigates the effects of using supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in quaternary mixtures on the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of plain concrete. In addition, environmental benefits resulting from the proposed solutions were analysed. A total of four concrete mixtures were designed, having a constant water/binder ratio of 0.4 and total binder content of 352 kg/m3. The control mixture only contained ordinary Portland cement (OPC) as binder, whereas others incorporated quaternary mixtures of: OPC, fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), and nanosilica (nS). Based on the obtained test results, it was found that concretes made on quaternary binders containing nanoadditives have very favorable mechanical parameters. The quaternary concrete containing: 80% OPC, 5% FA, 10% SF, and 5% nS have shown the best results in terms of good compressive strength and splitting tensile strength, whereas the worst mechanical parameters were characterized by concrete with more content of FA additive in the concrete mix, i.e., 15%. Moreover, the results of compressive strength and splitting tensile strength are qualitatively convergent. Furthermore, reducing the amount of OPC in the composition of the concrete mix in quaternary concretes causes environmental benefits associated with the reduction of: raw materials that are required for burning clinker, electricity, and heat energy in the production of cement.
Highlights
Concrete is a common building material that was already used in the Neolithic [1], while the oldest known concrete is the flooring discovered in 1985 in Yiftah El in southern Galilee, coming from—as it was later established—approx. 7000 BC [2,3].the rapid development in the application of this construction material in industry occurred in modern times despite the fact that the history of concrete is over 9000 years old
This study investigates the behavior of quaternary concrete after incorporating: fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), and nS
The experimental results revealed that the addition of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as: FA, SF, and nS in ordinary Portland cement (OPC) very positively affects the mechanical properties of concrete
Summary
The rapid development in the application of this construction material in industry occurred in modern times despite the fact that the history of concrete is over 9000 years old. Concrete began to be the leading material in human civilization exactly on 21 October 1824 in Leeds (England), when the production of the artificial binder—the ordinary Portland cement (OPC), which is the main binder in concrete—was patented by an English bricklayer and explorer Joseph Aspidin. It is worth mentioning that concrete—which is made with OPC—soon after its patenting, became the most widely used man-made material. The increase in the concrete’s world production has been so rapid and, at the same time, significant that currently more than 1 m3 (by volume) and 2.5 t (by weight) of concrete per earth inhabitant is produced every year.
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