Performance of concrete containing blended cement and artificial lightweight aggregate

Abstract

The limitation of natural resources and the increasing of industrial waste materials have been a main concern in many develop countries. Therefore, many studies have been developed to investigate the feasibility of industrial by-product to be used as lightweight aggregate in concrete manufacturing. This study examined the influences of using different lightweight aggregate materials as replacement of natural aggregate and pozzolan blended cement as binder in concrete. Numbers of test were performed to investigate fresh and hardened concrete properties in terms of workability (slump), compressive strength, flexural strength, expansion and shrinkage, density, ultrasonic pulse velocity and mode of failure. The specimens consist of cube and prism were prepared and tested after 3, 7 and 28 days of water curing and air curing. Results recorded lower workability due to the high water absorption of aggregates, lower density of lightweight concrete, lower drying shrinkage due to the reduced free water content and lower pulse velocity due to air voids in concrete. However, the compressive and flexural strengths were improved by achieving 45.7 MPa and 6.7 MPa, exceeded the target strength of 30 MPa at 28 days. Therefore, the results obtained from this study might be used to produce lightweight concrete in construction industries especially for structural members.