Using calcium chloride as an accelerator for Portland pozzolan cement concrete compressive strength development

Abstract

The influence of calcium chloride (CaCl2) as an accelerator for the compressive strength development of concrete made with type I Portland pozzolan cement (PPC) as a hydraulic binder has been investigated. Natural sand and crushed stone were used as fine aggregate and coarse aggregate, respectively. The mix proportion of concrete, by weight, was 1.0 binder: 2.1 fine aggregate: 3.4 coarse aggregate and the water-binder ratio was 0.57. The calcium chloride added to the concrete mixture was 0%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0% by binder weight. The compressive strength test was performed at 1, 3, 7, 28, and 90 days. The test results show that adding CaCl2 to a concrete mixture accelerates the development of compressive strength. The compressive strength gain was about 36–48% at 1 day and about 29–33% at 3 days, compared to control concrete. Moreover, it increases the compressive strength of PPC concrete about 3–16% at 28 days and about 7–19% at 90 days. The optimum dose of CaCl2 to accelerate the development of compressive strength at the early age and to produce the highest compressive strength in the long-term was about 1.5%.