Influence of Metashale as Cement Replacement on the Hygric Transport Properties of Concrete

Abstract

This article is focused on the utilization of metashale as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete. Metashale as well as metakaolin is a product originating in the burning of clay materials, but in metashale production, the raw material is shale (aluminosilicates with granularity up to 0.02 mm). Four mixtures with cement replacement ranging from 0% up to 60% are designed and their properties are examined. Basic physical properties, mechanical strength, as well as hygric transport properties are measured and evaluated, in order to determine the influence of metashale on concrete properties. Experimental results show that for low amounts of cement replacement, metashale admixture leads to the improvement of studied material characteristics. When the material contains 40% of metashale, studied characteristics have almost similar values as the reference material. The worst values of measured properties are obtained for the replacement level of 60%. Nevertheless, all studied materials have appropriate properties to be applicable as high performance concrete.