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AGGRESSIVE ENVIRONMENTS
R.N. Krishna, KC Contech Admixtures, India
37th Conference on OUR WORLD IN CONCRETE & STRUCTURES: 29 - 31 August 2012,
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R.N. Krishna
necessary cooling and can be done to any desired fineness. The author manufactures RHA and
adopts a fineness value of around 4200blaine.There is another difficulty in the manufacturing of RHA.
Namely burning of the raw husk to a high temperature for a sustained period makes it extremely
difficult to cool the ash to normal temperature. This is also compounded by the inherent nature of raw
husk to retain heat for a considerably long time. Therefore the method adopted is to allow the burnt
husk to stay for some time and subsequently cool with water. However, when this is done the Ash is
saturated with moisture and therefore grinding becomes a challenging task-especially with an
abrasive material like RHA. Therefore drying of RHA is a must. Among the several methods that are
possible normal sun drying and / or drying using paddy driers are the cheapest options.
Another point to be borne in mind is the variation in the raw material composition from
different sources and therefore the material has to be tested for chemical composition.
3. CONCRETE WITH RICE HUSK ASH
However the durability enhancement properties of RICE HUSK ASH
when blended with cement makes it the most eco-friendly versatile supplementary cementing
material to concrete. The following properties of concrete are considerably altered when blended with
RHA :
1. Reduced heat of hydration leading to minimal crack formation in higher grades of concrete.
2. Reduced permeability at higher dosages.
3. Increased chloride and sulphate resistance/mild acids.
Therefore RHA can be used as an effective and Green supplementary cementing material. RHA
can be used for a wide variety of applications starting from a simple water proof coating to an
admixture for cement to resist a wide variety of chemicals including mild acids like lactic acid(milk)
alkalies, etc. in bathroom floors, swimming pools, Industrial factory floorings, foundation concreting
when concrete is exposed to both chlorides and sulphate attack and as an effective repair mortar to
resist chlorides.
4. LABORATORY INVESTIGATION
A small study was conducted to assess the chloride resistance of RHA concrete and proves that
RHA can be used as an effective corrosion inhibitor in concrete:
An ideal corrosion inhibitor has been defined as a chemical compound, which, when added in
adequate amounts to concrete, can prevent corrosion of embedded steel and has no adverse effect
on the properties of concrete. Corrosion inhibitor admixtures are used to delay or retard corrosion of
reinforcing steel in concrete.
In this part of the study, corrosion resistance of Ordinary Portland Cement concrete with
commercially available zinc rich epoxy coatings for reinforcing bars was studied and compared with
RCC specimens using rice husk ash.
The commercially available rice husk ash (Hyper 2000
manufactured by the author) was used for the study to prove its efficacy as an effective corrosion
inhibitor. Details of chemical composition are given in Table 1 for three different samples from
different places in the country.
M 30 and M 35 grades of concrete with Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and Rice Husk Ash
Cement (replacing OPC 30% by weight) have been used. Polymer based coating and Zinc rich
coating were the two different coatings applied on the surface of steel rebars.
Sl. No
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
Sample Marked as :
2
(Percent By Mass)
Loss on ignition
8.71
7.00
Silica (as SiO2)
83.60
84.00
Aluminium (as Al2O3)
3.05
3.84
Iron (as Fe2O3)
1.10
0.60
Titanium (as TiO2)
Nil
Nil
Calcium (as CaO)
1.80
2.85
Magnesium (as MgO)
1.28
1.35
Sodium (as Na2O)
0.17
0.13
Potassium (as K2O)
0.29
0.23
Table : 1 Chemical Composition of Rice Husk Ash samples.
3
3.07
90.47
3.13
0.32
Nil
1.96
0.35
0.22
0.48
R.N. Krishna
Initial
Weight
(gms)
Final
Weight
(gms)
Loss of
Weight
(gms)
Loss in
Percentage
1086.9
942.4
144.5
13.29
2.
M30 OPC Z*
1108.6
1062.0
46.6
4.20
3.
1062.3
1047.5
14.8
1.39
M30 RH control
1063.5
993.4
70.1
6.59
5.
M30 RH Z*
1092.7
1051.0
41.7
3.82
6.
M30 RH IP**
1073.5
1065.8
7.7
0.72
1086.7
1004.2
82.5
7.59
8.
M35 OPC Z*
1105.7
1089.9
15.8
1.43
9.
1075.6
1063.3
12.3
1.14
M35 RH control
1065.5
1017.4
48.1
4.51
11.
M35 RH Z*
1091.5
1076.6
14.9
1.37
12.
M35 RH IP**
1074.8
1068.3
6.5
0.60
R.N. Krishna
S.No.
Beam Designation
M30 Grade OPC Concrete
pH Value
1.
11.3
0.600
2.
M30 OPC Z
11.6
0.540
3.
M30 OPC IP
11.3
0.490
M30 RH control
11.7
0.340
5.
M30 RH Z
11.7
0.490
6.
M30 RH IP
11.4
0.325
11.5
0.485
8.
M35 OPC Z
11.4
0.620
9.
M35 OPC IP
11.5
0.285
M35 RH control
11.8
0.340
11.
M35 RH Z
11.9
0.630
12.
M35 RH IP
11.7
0.255
R.N. Krishna
R.N. Krishna
Field observations done by the author for concrete blended with RHA (Hyper 2000) at 10% by
weight has shown that RHA is intact on the concrete floor subjected to constant salt water usage
Even after more than 2 years of exposure.
Neither plastic shrinkage cracks nor long term drying shrinkage cracks were observed.
8. CONCLUSION
The production and use of RHA in India should be considerably increased given the fact that
RHA contributes significantly to a green building. It not only reduces the consumption of cement due
to blending but also solves the waste disposal problem.
Rice husk ash therefore can be effectively used as a sustainable concrete option in severe
environments and can be considered a class apart from all other mineral admixtures due to its unique
microstructure and the resultant benefits in concrete and its multi various application possibilities.
Considerable study needs to be done on applications of RHA as repair mortars, coatings and soil
stabilization.
REFERENCE
[1]
Role of Rice-Husk Ash and Silica Fume in Sustainable Development by P.K.Mehta and
I.Nakagawa, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Concrete Technology for Sustainable
Development in the twenty first century, Hyderabad, India, Feb.1999
[2] Pyrolysis of rice husk by Anshu Bharadwaj, *, Y. Wang, S. Sridhar and V. S. Arunachalam ;
Center for Energy and Environment Studies and Department of Material Science and Engineering,
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA