Durability Properties of High Volume Mineral Admixture Cement Composite

Abstract

Cement is used to make cement composite, produces a large amount of CO₂ (870 kg/ton) during manufacturing. Hence, an approach to effectively reduce CO₂ emissions in the concrete industry is to reduce the amount of cement by increasing the amount of a mineral admixture such as blast furnace slag powder or fly ash. Here, we optimized the high volume mineral admixture binder composition by investigating the strength properties of a cement mortar made using binders with various admixtures and inorganic stimulus agents. We used a cement composite mix with a water/binder ratio of 26 % or 46 % to evaluate the compressive strength and durability of the cement composite with increasing amounts of admixture. The cement composite mixture with an inorganic stimulus agent showed outstanding chloride penetration resistance over all curing times and a durability factor of 90 % or more to freezing and thawing. A higher carbonation resistance was found when increasing the curing time for the high volume mineral admixture compositions with an inorganic stimulus agent added due to faster curing, resulting in a dense inner concrete structure. Consequently, when using an inorganic stimulus agent with a sufficiently long curing period, high volumes of the admixture can be used to produce concrete with suitable properties for various applications.