The effect of eggshell powder as an accelerator for blended cement concrete

Abstract

Blended concrete has later strength development with long maturity strength development. An accelerator is thus needed to enhance the early strength development of concrete. This paper shows the combination of ground palm oil fuel ash and eggshell powder that was designed for later and early strength development, respectively. Two types of eggshell powder were utilised in concrete: uncarbonised eggshell powder and decarbonised eggshell powder. The study was initiated with compression test for concrete curing at age 1, 3, 7, and 28 days followed by rapid evaluation test of setting time to investigate the preliminary performance between materials. The results revealed decarbonised eggshell powder as a high accelerator that can improve the early age of concrete strength development. Meanwhile, despite showing the best performance, uncarbonised eggshell powder is a very low accelerator thus not fit the purpose. In conclusion, the combination of ground palm oil fuel ash (rich with silica oxide) and decarbonised eggshell powder (rich with calcium oxide) provided dual function, where ground palm oil fuel ash and decarbonised eggshell powder took later and early strength development, respectively. The combination between silica oxide and calcium oxide in cementitious materials has potential to be utilised to enhance the early age of a blended concrete strength development.