Development of high performance concrete using natural admixture

Abstract

Worldwide, concrete is the most flexible construction material and it has been broadly used in all types of construction activities. Several researches are being carried out in different aspects to make the concrete construction materials as an eco-friendly one. Now a days, the environmental conditions are deteriorating due to rampant mining of sand from rivers. Furthermore a number of researchers have studied the possibility of utilizing industrial waste materials as a replacement for cement, fine and coarse aggregates to produce concrete. The results revealed that partial replacement of cement, fine aggregate and coarse aggregate by industrial waste materials resulted in enhanced strength and durability properties of concrete. Hence, the production of special concretes by incorporating industrial waste materials, mineral admixtures and natural plant extracting admixtures are highly suggested by the researchers. Over a few decades, the use of High Performance Concrete (HPC) receives a focused attention and has a wide range of applications. It has been used due to the financial benefits that can be achieved from the earlier strength gain of HPC. It also reduces the permeability and increases wear or abrasion resistance of concrete. But for the production of HPC, it requires mineral admixtures as well as natural plant extracting admixtures in addition to pozzalonic materials. The mineral admixture increases the pozzolanic activity in the cement paste. In addition, the natural plant extracted admixtures improves the durability performance of the concrete. So, HPC contributes more towards the environmental friendly concrete. In this present research, the effect of (i) control concrete with Natural Admixture, (ii) Natural Admixture added concrete with Partial replacements of cement by fly ash, silica fume; Metakaoline and Steel slag were studied. In the experimental study, the natural admixtures were added to control concrete by increments from 25 ppm to 125 ppm of P.juliflora bas on the different trials for fresh an