Incorporating Mineral Admixtures Research Articles

A Critical Review of the Technical Characteristics of Recycled Brick Powder and Its Influence on Concrete Properties

This paper presents a systematic overview of the applications of RBP as a substitute for cement. Initially, the fundamental properties of RBP, including physical properties, chemical compositions, and morphology, are discussed. Subsequently, the effects of RBP on various aspects of cement-based materials, such as fresh properties, shrinkage behavior, hydration, microstructure, strength development, and durability, are thoroughly reviewed. The findings of this study reveal that waste brick powder exhibits pozzolanic activity and can be used to partially replace cement in concrete formulations. However, its relatively high water absorption and irregular shape increase the water demand and, thus, reduce the rheological properties. The incorporation of RBP with 10–20% or finer particle sizes can refine the pore structure and promote the formation of hydration products. However, replacements of RBP greater than 25% can lead to adverse effects on the mechanical properties, frost resistance, and carbonation resistance of cementitious composites. Therefore, to enhance the effectiveness of RBP, measures such as improving fineness, incorporating mineral admixtures, adjusting curing conditions, and applying nano- or chemical modifications are necessary. This study provides valuable technical support for promoting the sustainable preparation of construction materials, which holds important environmental and economic implications.

Mechanical, Durability, and Microstructure Characterization of Pervious Concrete Incorporating Polypropylene Fibers and Fly Ash/Silica Fume

Pervious concrete, because of its high porosity, is a suitable material for reducing the effects of water precipitations and is primarily utilized in road pavements. In this study, the effects of binder-to-aggregate (B/A) ratios, as well as mineral admixtures with and without polypropylene fibers (PPFs) (0.2% by volume), including fly ash (FA) or silica fume (SF) (10% by substitution of cement), on the mechanical properties and durability of pervious concrete were experimentally observed. The experimental campaign included the following tests: permeability, porosity, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength tests. The durability performance was evaluated by observing freeze–thaw cycles and abrasion resistance after 28 d curing. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal analysis (TGA-DTA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were employed to investigate the phase composition and microstructure. The results revealed that, for an assigned B/A ratio identified as optimal, the incorporation of mineral admixtures and fibers mutually compensated for their respective negative effects, resulting in the effective enhancement of both mechanical/microstructural characteristics and durability properties. In general, pervious concrete developed with fly ash or silica fume achieved higher compressive strength (>35 MPA) and permeability of 4 mm/s, whereas the binary combination of fly ash or silica fume with 0.2% PPFs yielded a flexural strength greater than 6 MPA and a permeability of 6 mm/s. Silica fume-based pervious concrete exhibited excellent performance in terms of freeze–thaw (F-T) cycling and abrasion resistance, followed by fiber-reinforced pervious concrete, except fly ash-based pervious concrete. Microstructural analysis showed that the inclusion of fly ash or silica fume reduced the harmful capillary pores and refined the pore enlargement caused by PPFs in the cement interface matrix through micro-filling and a pozzolanic reaction, leading to improved mechanical and durability characteristics of pervious concrete.

Mechanical and microstructural performance of bacterial self-compacted concrete incorporating mineral admixtures

Mechanical and microstructural performance of bacterial self-compacted concrete incorporating mineral admixtures

Effect of Mineral Admixtures and Curing Regimes on Properties of Self-Compacting Concrete

This study investigated the influence of mineral admixtures (fly ash, silica fume, metakaolin) and curing conditions (water immersion, polyethylene glycol, gunny bags, accelerated curing) on the properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC). The rheological properties, compressive strength, chloride penetration resistance, and microstructure were evaluated. Incorporating mineral admixtures improved the workability, strength (up to 53% increase), and durability of SCC compared to plain mixes, with 20% metakaolin replacement optimal. Water immersion curing enhanced the compressive strength (3–15% increase) and chloride resistance (up to 30% decrease in migration coefficient) owing to improved hydration and microstructural refinement. Mineral admixtures reduced the sensitivity of SCC to the curing method. Microstructural analysis showed higher density and additional C-S-H phases with mineral admixtures under wet curing. The study demonstrates that optimized SCC containing appropriate supplementary cementitious materials and proper external curing can achieve high performance.

Mineral Additives in Concrete Durability: A Comprehensive Review

The body of literature on concrete using mineral admixtures covers a number of review studies on the durability characteristics of various materials used in concrete, such as fly ash (FA), rice husk ash (RHA), ground granular blast furnace slag (GGBS), fly ash (SF), and met kaolin (MK) are reviewed in this work. The features that are related to durability have been evaluated, and they include permeability, resistance to chloride ion penetrations, abrasion, fire resistance efflorescence. Incorporating mineral admixtures in concrete affects various properties. Concrete's permeability decreases and its ability to resist chloride ion penetration rises when admixtures containing a greater alumina content are used. Use of mineral admixtures enhances compressive strength and enhancing abrasion resistance. Moreover, highly reactive mineral admixtures mitigate efflorescence. Notably, while heating PFA concrete improves fire resistance, it reduces overall durability. SF concrete, on the other hand, behaves similarly to standard concrete but can be more brittle. MK concrete exhibits increased strength at 200°C, but its durability and strength decline at higher temperatures compared to other concrete types.RHA pozzolans can replace OPC up to 15% by weight after curing for up to 200 days without lowering the concrete's compressive strength.

Sustainable ultra-high performance concrete with incorporating mineral admixtures: Workability, mechanical property and durability under freeze-thaw cycles

This paper evaluates the influence of mineral admixtures partially replacing cement, sea sand replacing quartz, sea water replacing fresh water on ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). The fluidity and mechanical properties were studied. Besides, the impermeability, chloride resistance and freeze-thaw resistance were investigated. Failure modes, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis, mass loss, relative dynamic modulus of elasticity and mechanical properties of UHPCs after freeze-thaw cycles were conducted. The results showed the fluidity of UHPC paste gradually increases with the improvement of water-binder ratio. It is recommended that the water-binder ratio of UHPC be set at 0.19. The fluidity also increases with the improvement of the content of slag, fly ash and water reducer, but decreases with the improvement of silica fume content. The flexural and compressive strengths of UHPC enhance with the improvement of the content of silica fume, but reduce with the improvement of the content of fly ash and slag. The UHPCs made of quartz sand, river sand and sea sand, all, achieve a high strength. UHPCs prepared at standard curing conditions, with or without steel fibers, mixed by artificial seawater and made of sea sand, exhibited excellent impermeability and chloride resistance. The frost resistant grade of all UHPC specimens prepared by standard curing are greater than F500 exhibiting excellent freeze-thaw resistance and sustainability.

Chloride Penetration of Recycled Fine Aggregate Concrete under Drying-Wetting Cycles.

Recycled fine aggregate (RFA) produced from concrete waste is commonly used in the construction industry; however, its use for structural concrete members has not been extensively studied. Moreover, its durability in a drying-wetting cycle environment still needs to be examined. In this study, the intrusion process of chloride in concrete under the drying-wetting cycles is experimentally characterized. Chloride penetration tests are carried out on concrete with the incorporation of different RFA replacement rates and mineral admixtures (i.e., fly ash and silica fume). The results show that the chloride penetration of recycled fine aggregate concrete (RFAC) is dependent upon the performance of the concrete itself, while the deterioration of chloride ion erosion resistance is due to the combined action of the replacement rate of RFA and the drying-wetting cycles. The incorporation of RFA degrades the properties of RFAC owing to its drawbacks in the degradation of interfacial properties of RFAC. Exposure to the drying-wetting cycle environment causes the content of free chloride ions in RFAC to increase initially before decreasing with the erosion depth, thereby showing an obvious convection zone and diffusion zone. The incorporation of the mineral admixture can effectively improve the compactness of the concrete microstructure and make concrete less susceptible to chloride ions ingress. RFAC mixed with 15% fly ash and 10% silica fume has a comparable resistance to chloride penetration as a natural aggregate concrete, which is a feasible method for the application of RFA.

Study on mechanical properties of cemented backfill with different mineral admixtures

In order to establish storages in mining goaf, calcium bentonite (Ca-B), slag powder (SP) and silica fume (SF) were added into the backfill to obtain a cemented backfill with high stability and certain anti-seepage function. Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), porosity, permeability and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tests were carried out. Results show that SP and SF can significantly improve the strength at the same level of incorporation, the highest increases are 216.37% and 125.51% compared with the control group, while Ca-B has strong swelling and low pozzolanic activity, the strength can only be increased by 32.83%, and the strength can be significantly reduced by 28.34% if the Ca-B content is too high. The incorporation of mineral admixtures can increase the number of closed pores in the compaction stage, and the damage mode of backfill can be changed with the increase of the incorporation amount. There is a power function relationship between permeability and porosity, permeability increases with the increase of porosity. The strong pozzolanic reaction of SP and SF can produce more gel compounds to block pore channels, refine pore size and reduce permeability. Compared with the control group, the permeability can be reduced by 46.05% and 36.84% at the highest, while Ca-B due to strong swelling, low activity, and insufficient reaction cause the backfill porous, and the permeability is greater than the control group under different incorporation amounts.

A Review of Improvement of Interfacial Transition Zone and Adherent Mortar in Recycled Concrete Aggregate

An increasing amount of construction and demolishing waste has made the implementation of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) a popular topic; RCA can reduce the environmental pollution caused by the construction industry. This paper describes differences in physical, mechanical, and chemical properties between RCA and natural aggregate (NA). For the first time, the methods of interfacial transition zone (ITZ) improvement in RCA, including strengthening through carbonation, incorporation of mineral admixtures, and different mixing approaches, are extensively covered. In addition, the methods used to improve the adherent mortar regions of RCA are covered. This approach makes it possible to demonstrate the impact of different methods on these regions (ITZ and adhered mortar) and overall RCA enhancement. Lastly, a comparison of each of these methods in terms of their effectiveness is presented. The review of several studies concludes that the carbonation treatment method for ITZ and adherent mortar enhancement are the most efficient and sustainable methods compared to others. Summarizing, using RCA instead of NA provides a sustainable solution for the construction industry due to reducing the amount of produced waste and conserving landfill space.

Influence of stress-strain behaviour of quaternary blended self compacting concrete for sustainable construction

High Performance Concrete (HPC) had already gained in popularity throughout the last decade. Concrete strength is not synonymous with HPC. It has multiple criteria apart from strength. That includes the concrete’s elasticity, solidity, longevity & resistance towards certain varieties of assault. Raising structures in a harsh atmosphere really need adoption of HPC. For both the reasonable planning & assessment of a structural concrete, a complete stress-strain curve is important. Concrete buildings constructed in difficult climates, in especially, routine maintenance due to the cost of design and indeed the challenge of replacement. Like a consequence, for efficient planning & restoration, a very well stress-strain graph is recommended. Many research’s had also demonstrated the utility of fibres in strengthening the characteristics of concrete. self compacting concrete(SCC) integrates the capabilities of self compacting concrete in its fresh form with performance improvements in the hardened stage attributable towards the incorporation with fibres. An effort was made throughout this work to explore the stress-strain performance of SCC using quaternary blended self compacting concrete(QBSCC). Relying on the Nan-Su technique, a strength-based mix % of SCC was established & indeed the proportion got quite well employing Okamura’s parameters. Mixes with various admixtures such as fly ash, GGBS, Micro silica were investigated for 0.30 & 0.40 w/b ratios. In this work, incorporating mineral admixtures in SCC mixes to optimal content resulted in a max improvement in ultimate load at early ages of hardened concrete leading towards sustainable development all over the world.

Influence of mineral admixtures on structural behaviour of Quaternary Blended Self Compacting Concrete reinforced beams with addition of crimpled steel fibers

An effort is made to use supplementary cementitious material as a replacement in cement to improve the environmental friendliness of the concrete industry. In self-compacting concrete, fly ash, GGBS, and microsilica are also used to replace cement as much as feasible. However cement content in SCC is more which obviously causes environmental impacts such as emission of CO2 into the atmosphere is linked up with cement manufacturing and it is causing environmental pollution in terms of Green House Gases, Global Warming and is associated with climatic changes globally. To reduce these effects due to production of cement, introducing high volume mineral admixture or supplementary cementitious materials as a partial replacement to cement minimizes the binder content and improves the comparable properties with conventional self compacting concrete leading to Sustainable development in concrete industry. In the part of the investigation of QBSCC characteristics, steel fibres are added to Reinforced Self-Compacting Quaternary Blended Concrete (QBSCC). It improves flexural behaviour as that of control self compacting concrete for different water binder ratios. The findings shows that the strength of Fiber Reinforced QBSCC were increased w.r.t Control mixes. In this paper, experimental investigations were carried out on Flexural behaviour of Steel Fiber Quaternary Blended Self Compacting Concrete (SFQBSCC) by incorporating mineral admixtures or byproducts from industries such as Flyash (FA), Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and Micro silica (MS) with addition of steel fibers from 0% to 1.5% for 0.30 & 0.40 water binder ratios w.r.t SCC. Quaternary blended SCC mixes containing 40% cement, 25%, FA, 25% GGBS, &10% MS with w/b 0.40&0.30 ratios achieved consistency and strength w.r.t SCC of similar w/b ratios.

Workability, Mechanical Properties and Durability of Sustainable Ultra-High Performance Concrete Incorporating Mineral Admixtures

Workability, Mechanical Properties and Durability of Sustainable Ultra-High Performance Concrete Incorporating Mineral Admixtures

Preparation of durable magnesium oxysulfate cement with the incorporation of mineral admixtures and sequestration of carbon dioxide

To reduce the consumption of energy and raw materials caused by the production of Portland cement and enhance the carbon dioxide sequestration of building materials, this paper aims to manufacture durable and green magnesium oxysulfate cement based on incorporating mineral admixtures (fly ash (FA) or ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS)) and CO2 curing treatment. Compressive strength, flexural strength, resistance to water and wetting-drying cycles of magnesium oxysulfate (MOS) were evaluated. Phase compositions and microstructures of typical samples were measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC-TG), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques. The results showed that mechanical strength and strength retention after wetting-drying treatment of MOS cement was increased by the sequestration of carbon dioxide. Both FA and GGBFS could improve the water resistance due to restrainting the phase conversion of MgO into Mg(OH)2. However, the addition of FA or GGBFS deteriorated the compressive strength of MOS cement samples after wetting-drying treatment, owing to the formation of more magnesium hydroxide crystals and decomposition of 5 Mg(OH)2·MgSO4·7H2O (5·1·7 phase). Furthermore, about 5% carbon dioxide can be captured by MOS cement paste during 24 h accelerated carbonation treatment. Therefore, the incorporation of mineral admixtures and sequestration of carbon dioxide was suggested as an effective method in manufacturing the highly durable and cleaner magnesium oxysulfate cement.

Experimental study of performance of repair mortar: Evaluation of in-situ tests and correlation analysis

This study investigated the performance of repair mortar incorporating mineral admixtures under different curing conditions. The mechanical properties, hydration degree and pore characteristics were taken as basic properties, the transport properties of capillary water absorption, chloride ion diffusivity and gas permeability were measured. The results show that mineral admixture and the external curing conditions have a great influence on the internal pore structure and transport performance of the mortar. In addition, surface gas permeability and water intentional spraying tests were used to evaluate the surface quality of cement-based material. It was found that these indices of in-situ tests have a strong correlation with the pore structure, mechanical properties and permeability of the mortar. Meanwhile, some new equation was established showing the correlation between surface quality index of in-situ tests and the laboratory performance of mortars, in order to establish a generalized approach. This provides an effective approach to solve the in-situ evaluation of the quality and durability of cement-based materials.

Foamed concrete incorporating mineral admixtures and pulverized ceramics: Effect of phase change and mineralogy on strength characteristics

Different microstructural changes occur in cement based materials as a result of the interaction between the aggregate particles and paste matrix, during mixing, compaction and placement. Such intrinsic modifications, in terms of paste density, interfacial transition zone, permeability and others, tend to improve or lessen the strength properties of concrete. This study evaluates the microstructure, mineralogy, phase change and strength characteristics of foamed concrete containing fly ash and pulverized ceramics. Portion of ceramics, which were generated from floor and wall tile wastes, and finer than 4.75 mm sieve, along with fly ash, were used as a partial replacement of river sand and cement, respectively. The foaming agent used was aluminum powder. However, other constituents were kept constant. Samples of 150 mm concrete cubes and 100 × 100 × 500 mm prisms were prepared, and cured in water for 3, 7, and 28 days, for compressive strength and flexural strength determination at the stipulated days. The microstructure, mineralogy and phase change of selected samples were determined using Scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and Thermogravimetric Analyzer-Differential Scanning Calorimeter, respectively. The ceramics based foamed concrete exhibited lower slump compared to conventional mixture, mainly due to its aggregate higher water absorption capacity. A 100% ceramics based mix gave strength in somewhat closeness to that of conventional mixture, and it was evidently shown by a lower amount of Portlandite (Ca(OH)2) dehydroxylated between 420 and 550 °C burner temperature for this mixture. The study demonstrates the possibility of incorporating ceramics along with mineral admixtures such as fly ash and aluminum powder for production of foamed concrete.

Experimental study on the resistance of basalt fibre-reinforced concrete to chloride penetration

This paper presents the simultaneous effect of basalt fibre (BF) and mineral admixtures (fly ash and silica fume) on the resistance of concrete to chloride penetration at different curing ages. Fifteen mixtures with five BF volume contents and three types of cementitious materials were fabricated and cured for 28 or 56 days. The apparent density, compressive strength, charge passed and chloride diffusion coefficient were tested and analysed. The results show that the maximum compressive strength of basalt fibre-reinforced concrete (BFRC) is obtained when the BF content is 0.15%. The addition of BF decreases the chloride resistance of concrete, and the higher the BF volume is, the lower the resistance. Incorporating mineral admixtures and increasing the curing age not only improve the resistance of BFRC to chloride penetration but also mitigate the adverse effect caused by BF, especially when fly ash and silica fume are simultaneously used. Moreover, the microstructure of concrete was explored to elucidate the macro-properties of BFRC in terms of its fibre bonding performance, fibre-matrix interfacial transition zone (fibre-ITZ) characteristics, pore size distribution and porosity.

Influence of mineral admixtures on carbonation curing of cement paste

Abstract This paper aims to investigate the influences of limestone powder, fly ash and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) on carbonation curing of cement pastes. These three mineral admixtures were incorporated at percentage of 20% by weight to replace cement and compressive strength and chloride ion permeability test were performed to evaluate the carbonation curing effects. On the other hand, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), mercury intrusion porosimeter (MIP) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements were performed on typical samples. Experimental results show that the addition of mineral admixture decreased the compressive strength of uncarbonated specimens but strengthened the improvement effect of carbonation curing on compressive strength. This better improvement effect can partly compensate the decreasing strength induced by the incorporation of mineral admixtures. Among those mineral admixtures, fly ash exhibited the best improvement effect and GGBS ranked second. The chloride ion permeability of cement mortars were decreased by the addition of mineral admixtures but improved by the carbonation curing. The formation of CaCO3 upon carbonation curing refined the pore structure and presented a higher effectiveness for filling pores with diameters of 0.1 ∼ 1 μm. Therefore, carbonation curing provides a good method for both efficiently recycling industrial wastes as mineral admixtures and capturing more greenhouse gas.

Comparison of fluidity of cement paste incorporating mineral admixtures with polycarboxylate superplasticizers

In this study, the effects of five commercially available polycarboxylate superplasticizers (PCEs), which are WP30/RM, SR/RM, ACE 8109, SKY 8705 and MG 8728 on ternary blended cement system have been studied based on the marsh cone test. Results are presented for cement pastes with Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA) as mineral admixtures. The ratio of GGBS and PFA was fixed at 4:1 according to the optimization. The water to binder ratio was fixed at 0.30. It was observed that the behaviour of polycarboxylate superplasticizers varies from one brand to another even though their chemical family are same. By using marsh cone test, the properties of those commercial polycarboxylate superplasticizers have been compared and the optimum dosages of certain polycarboxylate superplasticizers were defined as well. Based on the result, WP30/RM possesses the best fluidity performance compared to others with the solid content of 53%.

Effect of mineral admixtures on properties of recycled aggregate concrete at high temperature

This study presented experimental results of mechanical properties of RAC containing mineral admixtures at 500 °C. Four different mineral admixtures (fly ash (FA), waste paper sludge ash (PSA), silica fume (SF), metakaolin (MK)) were used in RAC containing 100% coarse RCA through the addition or replacement method. The results indicated that mineral admixtures significantly enhanced the resistance of RAC to the high temperature. The addition method increased the resistance of RAC to the high temperature better than the replacement method. FA improved the residual compressive strength of heated RAC the most followed by MK, PSA, cement, and SF although SF, MK, and PSA concrete showed the higher improvement of compressive strength than others at 20 °C. The addition of 5% and 10% FA in RAC increased 38.45% and 35.23% the residual compressive strength of heated RAC, respectively. The mineral admixtures had an insignificant effect on the UPV values and density of RAC. The addition of mineral admixtures in RAC substantially improved the slope of ascending branch of stress-strain curves of heated RAC. Moreover, the incorporation of mineral admixtures in RAC contributed to an increase in the elastic modulus, toughness, and critical strain of RAC at the elevated temperature. The study also proposed the equations to predict the residual compressive strength and elastic modulus of heated RAC, which can provide references for practical application of RAC.

Behavioural study of pavement quality concrete containing construction, industrial and agricultural wastes

This study proposes the use of industrial and agricultural wastes as mineral admixtures for enhancing the mechanical and durability aspects of concrete containing recycled concrete aggregates derived from concrete waste. The study was carried out by testing specimens prepared from concrete mixes with and without recycled concrete aggregates and three different mineral admixtures viz: fly ash (an industrial waste), rice husk ash and bagasse ash (agricultural wastes) for their compressive strength, flexural strength, split tensile strength, workability, chloride ion concentrations, carbonation, sorptivity and abrasion resistance in order to assess the variations and improvements. It was observed that concrete mix upon incorporating mineral admixtures showed significant improvement in both mechanical and durability properties when compared to concrete mix with recycled concrete aggregates alone.Fly ash admixed mixes showed a gain of 15% and 24% for compressive and flexural strength parameters, while the gain for rice husk ash mix and bagasse ash mixes was observed to be 12% and 25%, 13% and 20% respectively when compared to recycled aggregate concrete mix without mineral admixtures. Improvements in durability aspects were observed by incorporating mineral admixtures supported by lower parameters for water absorption, sorptivity coefficients and chloride ion concentrations and increased hydration products as concluded from scanning electron microscopic investigations.