Abstract
Despite the undoubted advantages of using lightweight concrete, its actual use for structural elements is still relatively small in comparison to ordinary concrete. One of the reasons is the wide range of densities and properties of lightweight aggregates available on the market. As a part of the research, properties of concrete based on sintered fly ash were determined. The ash, due to its relatively high density is suitable to be used as a filler for structural concretes. Concrete was based on a mixture of sintered fly ash and exfoliated vermiculite aggregate also tested. The purpose of the research was to determine the possibility of using sintered fly ash as alternative aggregate in structural concrete and the impact of sintered fly ash lightweight aggregate on its physical, mechanical and durability properties. Conducted tests were executed according to European and Polish standards. Created concretes were characterized by compressive strength and tensile strength ranging from 20.3 MPa to 54.2 MPa and from 2.4 MPa to 3.8 MPa, respectively. The lightest of created concretes reached the apparent density of 1378 kg/m3.
Highlights
Concrete structures are ubiquitous in today’s world
Due to large-scale production of concrete, the construction industry significantly impoverishes the deposits of natural raw materials, including aggregates which constitute majority of concrete volume
The 2-day compressive strength, which was determined on the day of demolding of the specimens, constituted around 59 and 48% of the maximum strength achieved by sintered fly ash (SFA) and SFA + EV concretes respectively
Summary
Concrete structures are ubiquitous in today’s world. At the moment, concrete, as the structural material, does not have a worthy replacement. While the use of lightweight concrete is constantly increasing due to its practical, economic and environmental advantages, it is still a contentious technological and designing challenge for many engineers, architects and contractors. The majority of this “reserved” attitude is caused by bad experiences with low-quality lightweight aggregates for less demanding applications (e.g., insulating concretes) in the past decades. By mixing them together in different proportions one can achieve very wide range of mechanical and physical properties Such an approach is novel and offer new type of lightweight concretes
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