Fresh and Mechanical Properties of High Strength Self Compacting Concrete Using Metakaolin

Abstract

AbstractConcrete is probably the most consumed construction material in the world. However, environmental concerns both in terms of damage caused by the extraction of raw material and carbon dioxide emission during cement manufacture have brought pressures to reduce cement consumption by the use of supplementary cementing materials (SCM). Metakaolin is a SCM, which has a significant potential for the production of High Strength Concrete (HSC) and Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC). Because of the lower processing temperature compared to cement clinker, use of metakaolin can contribute to sustainability through energy savings, as well as reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The present study evaluates the fresh and mechanical properties of high strength self-compacting concrete developed using metakaolin. SCC having a strength category of 80, 100, 120 MPa developed a with metakaolin replacement percentages of 7.5, 15, and 22.5 % respectively. All the SCCs developed using metakaolin exhibited good fresh properties. It has been observed that SCC with metakaolin having powder content 550 kg/m3 is sufficient to produce 120 MPa. At higher replacement level of metakaolin, it was also observed that the autogeneous shrinkage reduced considerably. All these evidences justifies that metakaolin is potential material for the development of high strength self-compacting concrete.KeywordsHSCSCCMetakaolin