Utilization of Corn Cob Ash as Fine Aggregate and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag as Cementitious Material in Concrete

Naraindas Bheel,Nadhim Hamah Sor,T Tafsirojjaman,Montasir Osman Ahmed Ali,Paul Awoyera,Yue Liu,Lenin Miguel Bendezu Romero

doi:10.3390/buildings11090422

Abstract

Cementitious and recycled materials that have the potential to improve various properties of concrete have attracted the attention of many researchers recently. Different types of cementitious and recycled materials seem to possess certain unique properties to change cement concrete. This experimental study aims to investigate the impact of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and corn cob ash (CCA) as a partial replacement material for Portland cement (PC) and fine aggregate (FA), respectively, on fresh and hardened concrete properties, as well as the embodied carbon of concrete. The concrete mix was blended with 5–20% of GGBFS and 10–40% of corn cob ash, both individually and combined. A total of 300 concrete specimens were made to achieve the targeted strength of 25 MPa at a 0.50 water/cement ratio and cured at 28 days. It is observed that the workability of fresh concrete is lowered as the dosages of GGBFS and CCA increase in the mixture. Moreover, the compressive and split tensile strengths are augmented by 10.94% and 9.15%, respectively, at 10% of GGBFS by the weight of PC at 28 days. Similarly, the compressive and split tensile strengths are augmented by 11.62% and 10.56%, respectively, at 30% of CCA by the weight of FA at 28 days. Moreover, the combined use of 10% of GGBFS as a cementitious ingredient along with 30% of fine aggregate replaced with CCA in concrete provides the highest compressive and splitting tensile strength, with 16.98% and 13.38% at 28 days, respectively. Furthermore, the density and water absorption of concrete were reduced with increasing dosages of GGBFS and FA in concrete at 28 days. In addition, the embodied carbon and energy were also reduced as the replacement content of GGBFS along with CCA increased in concrete. It is concluded that 10% of GGBFS and 30% of CCA are the optimum percentages for structural applications to reduce the use of cement as well as the cost of the project.

Highlights

The improvement of hardened properties coupled with the capability to produce them in various forms have resulted in concrete, which is used mostly as a building material around the world [1]
This study investigated the utilization of corn cob ash (CCA) as a fine aggregate and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) as a cemeTnhtiitsiosutus dmyaitnervieasltiingactoendcrtheteeuptriolidzautcitoinono.fTChCe Apraims aarfyingeoaalgogfrethgiasteinavnedstiGgGatBioFnS wasasa tcoemasesnetsistiothues imnflatueerniacleinofcothnecsreetreepprlaocdeumcteinotn.mTahteerpiarilms oanrythgeoawl oofrkthaibsiliintyveasntidgapthioynsiwcaals, mtoeachssaensiscathl,eanindfleumenbcoedioefdthcaersbeornepchlaacreamcteenritstmicastoerfitahlse coonntchreetewmorikxatubrielist.yTahnedfoplhloywsiicnagl, fimnedcihnagnsiccaaln, abnedtaekmenbofrdoimedtchaisrbionnvecshtiagraatcitoenri:stics of the concrete mixtures
The control mixture of concrete provides the best density, 2378 kg/m3, while lower density of 2140 kg/m3 was found with 20% of Portland cement (PC) replaced with GGBFS, followed by 2085 kg/m3 with 40% of fine aggregate replaced with CCA and 1935 kg/m3 with GGBFS20CCA40 at 28 days

Summary

Introduction

The improvement of hardened properties coupled with the capability to produce them in various forms have resulted in concrete, which is used mostly as a building material around the world [1]. It was observed that the inclusion of GGBFS as a cementitious material in the mixture improved the split tensile, compressive, and flexural strengths of the hardened concrete at 28 days. The high quantity of GGBFS in the ecological environment used to replace cement leads to the fact that concrete can use waste and protect natural resources and energy consumption [37,38] Natural sand is another main component of concrete, and it is applied as a fine aggregate, which distresses natural resources. Our main objective is to analyze the fresh and hardened properties and embodied carbon of concrete using various levels of GGBFS as a PC replacement and CCA as a fine aggregate replacement, both separate and together in concrete mixtures

Materials

ExperimPPerrnootpapleePrrttryyogram

Testing Methods

Slump Test

Findings

Conclusions