Evaluation of properties of cellular light weight concrete

Abstract

Cellular Light Weight Concrete (CLWC) is relatively a new material having cementitious properties, incorporated with mechanically entrained foam in the cement based slurry or mortar which can manufacture in a varying densities ranging from 300 kg/m3 to 1850 kg/m3. With the increase in future requirement of the construction material, the CLWC is presently believed to have a promising future. CLWC is a versatile material, which is generally used in non-load bearing structural elements, having lower strength than conventional concrete. It is quite renowned for some application for the reason that it’s self-weight (which is light in weight) such as reduction of dead load of the structure, thermal insulating materials, acoustic insulating materials and non-structural partitions walls. Since it has low strength, some material is used in order to increase the strength of the CLWC. The applications of CLWC are very limited due least knowledge about its properties and stability.CLWC, fairly a new material as compare to conventional concrete, has become more popular material in construction industry. Fly ash and Silica fume are getting more attention nowadays since their uses usually improve the properties of mixed cement concrete, economical and reduction of harmful environmental effects. The properties of CLWC vary according to a different type of mixture and its composition.This study investigates the mechanical and physical properties of CLWC specifically dry density, water absorption and compressive strength. In this study, the cubes are casted for different target densities 800 to 1000 kg/m3, 1000 to 1200 kg/m3 and 1200 to 1400 kg/m3 by varying the fly ash content 50% to 80% at the interval of 5% and corresponding decrease in cement content 50% to 20%. The water content of all mixes are kept constant as 40% of weight of cement and fly ash combined. The foam consists of one part of foaming agent diluted with 35 parts of water. As the amount of foam affects the dry density of concrete, hence foam content is varied from 1% to 1.5% to get different target density. After getting the optimum content of fly ash, the cement content is further reduced by adding silica fume. Silica fume is incorporated in the mix 0% to 15% at the interval of 5% by the weight of cement and tested for same mechanical and physical properties.