Abstract
Sustainability is considered to be highly important for preserving continued industrial growth and human development. Concrete, being the world’s largest manufacturing material comprises cement as an essential binding component for strength development. However, excessive production of cement due to high degree of construction practices around the world frames cement as a leading pollutant of releasing significant amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere. To overcome this environmental degradation, silica fume and hydrated lime are used as partial replacements to cement. This paper begins with the examination of the partial replacement levels of hydrated lime and silica fume in concrete and their influence on the mechanical properties and durability characteristics of concrete. The effect of hot water curing on concrete incorporated with both silica fume and hydrated lime is also investigated in this paper. The results reported in this paper show that the use of silica fume as a partial replacement material improved both the mechanical properties and durability characteristics of concrete due to the formation of calcium silica hydrate crystals through the pozzolanic reaction. Although the hydrated lime did not significantly contribute in the development of strength, its presence enhanced the durability of concrete especially at long-term. The results also showed that hot water curing enhanced the strength development of concrete incorporated with silica fume due to the accelerated rate of both the hydration and pozzolanic reaction that takes place between silica fume and calcium hydroxide of the cement matrix particularly at early times. The results reported in this paper have significant contribution in the development of sustainable concrete. The paper does not only address the use of alternative binders as a partial replacement material in concrete but also suggest proper curing conditions for the proposed replacement materials. These practices play a vital role in the development of sustainable concrete.
Highlights
Recent developments in the construction industry has promoted concrete as ‘highly efficient material with improved mechanical properties and durability’ [1]
The paper investigates the use of silica fume and hydrated lime as a replacement material to cement on the strength development and durability of concrete
The effect of hot water cure condition on the strength development of concrete incorporated with silica fume and hydrated lime is investigated in this paper
Summary
Recent developments in the construction industry has promoted concrete as ‘highly efficient material with improved mechanical properties and durability’ [1]. Such advancements have highlighted cement and concrete manufacturing as carbon and energy intensive processes. From the idea of sustainability in concrete manufacturing, there is a need to develop an environmentally friendly type building material which ensures a good balance between performance and sustainability concern [5, 6]. If the cement manufacturing is tend to shift with the mixture of ‘second generation’ or ‘low carbon’ binders [7], the idea of achieving sustainable concrete may emerge to existence
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