Case Studies in Construction Materials 14 (2021) e00524

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Case Studies in Construction Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cscm

Case study

Comparative study on the performance of protein and

synthetic-based foaming agents used in foamed concrete
Manan Hashim*, Manzoor Tantray
Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Srinagar, 190006, Hazratbal, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Foamed concrete is a composite material with a density that is significantly lower than
Received 2 December 2020 standard concrete. The property of being lightweight is due to tiny air voids produced by the
Received in revised form 22 February 2021 addition of foaming agents in cement paste. The purpose of this research is to
Accepted 3 March 2021
experimentally investigate the influence of various types of foaming agents i.e., protein
versus synthetic-based foaming agents on the properties of foamed concrete. Foam
Keywords: stability, compressive strength, drying shrinkage of the foamed concrete specimen were
Protein
experimentally studied and analyzed. Also, the characterization of the microstructure i.e.
Synthetic
Foamed [53_TD$IF]Concrete
pores size and their distribution has been investigated in this study to gain insight into the
Compressive strength impact of foaming agent on the properties of foam concrete. The study comprises 60
Drying shrinkage foamed concrete specimens cast using protein and synthetic-based foaming agents. The
Microstructure constituents of the concrete mix were kept uniform for both the cases and the quantity of
foaming agents was increased from 30 to 112 kg/m3, this was done to produce foamed
concrete of density varying from 600 kg/m3 to 1200 kg/m3. The foam stability and strength
test depicted better results for protein-based foam rather than the synthetic-based foaming
agent. The experimental results of the SEM analysis showed protein-based foamed concrete
has unconnected isolated pores of smaller size, circular with a well-defined boundary as
compared to synthetic-based. The compressive strength of both the foamed concrete had
an increasing trend with a rise in density however the protein-based foamed concrete
showed better results i.e., 13 % higher strength than synthetic-based foamed concrete at
1200 kg/m3 density, but an inverse trend in drying shrinkage with dry density was
recorded. At low densities the shrinkage observed was less. The drying shrinkage of
protein-based concrete was observed to be 29 % lower than the synthetic-based foamed
concrete at the density of 1200 kg/m3. Hence this study reveals that the use of protein-
based foaming agents would result in improved characteristics of foamed concrete.
© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

In the construction industry foam concrete is an emerging material. It is a different form of concrete which includes
cement, water, foaming agents, fine material such as fine sand, flyash, and some researcher have also tried to include
materials like ground granulated blast furnace slag, silica fumes, and quarry fines [1,2]. The foaming agents create air voids
inside concrete in the form of small air bubbles that make it lightweight. The foam concrete density typically varies from
400 kg/m3 to 1600 kg/m3 and compressive strength 1 25 MPa thus being of considerable use [3]. At a density greater than

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: manan_42phd17@nitsri.net (M. Hashim), [52_TD$IF]matantray@nitsri.net (M. Tantray).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscm.2021.e00524
2214-5095/© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
4.0/).
M. Hashim and M. Tantray Case Studies in Construction Materials 14 (2021) e00524

1200 kg/m3, the foamed concrete can be used as a structural material whereas at lower density it is used for nonstructural
elements like non-load bearing walls [4]. Foamed concrete due to its low density has serval advantages over conventional
concrete like, it helps minimize structural dead load, reduces the size of the foundation, less manpower, transport, and
operational cost [5], increases fire resistance, significantly decreases thermal conductivity, and lowers sound absorption [6],
makes a considerable reduction in CO2 emission [7]. At the same time, the foam concrete has a dis-advantages of high drying
shrinkage that warrants careful use in industrial applications [8].
Foamed concrete performance is significantly impacted by the nature and dosage of the foaming agent [9]. Protein and
synthetic foaming agents are widely utilized in the manufacturing of foamed concrete [10]. The protein-based foaming agent
is derived from animal blood gum and the synthetic foaming agent contains sodium laureth sulphate [11]. Several
researchers’ carried out preliminary studies on foaming agents and their effect on foamed concrete [12–14]. Under the helm
of these researches, the compressive strength is found to have a close relationship with density, capturing adverse effects on
compressive strength with reduced density [15]. The effect of water-cement ratio and foam volume [16] size of fine
aggregates [17], curing method [3], the addition of fiber [18], pore size [19], and replacement of cement with flyash and other
supplementary materials [20] on strength parameters have been studied. A study on the mechanical properties of foamed
concrete using various kinds of foaming agents has yield somewhat inconsistent results. The researcher [12] found a better
output of protein-based foam concrete, while the researcher [13] detected synthetic foamed concrete on the higher side,
thereby reinforcing the need for further study. Drying shrinkage is another important property limiting the use of foam
concrete [21]. Lack of coarse and fine aggregates results in 4–10 times greater drying shrinkage in foamed concrete than in
standard concrete [22]. Hydration products in foamed concrete predominantly governed its shrinkage [23]. Other factors
affecting the drying shrinkage are the cement-filler ratio and filler type [24], foam volume [25], different foaming agents
[26]. However, there is a dearth of research on drying shrinkage with varying density using different types of foaming agents.
The durability and mechanical properties are directly related to the pore size and their distribution in foamed concrete as the
air voids in-side play a major role in reducing the density [27]. Therefore, to gain insight into the fundamental properties of
foamed concrete, it is necessary to characterize the microstructure of foamed concrete.

1.1. Goal and outline of the paper

The focus of this work is to assess the impact of the various foaming agents (protein and synthetic) on the properties that
are critical for the manufacturing of foamed concrete. The foam stability, microstructure, and compressive strength of
foamed concrete were evaluated. In comparison to other researches, the dry shrinkage of foamed concrete at varying
densities has also been tested. Additionally, the results from previous studies are mixed and non-conclusive, this study
therefore will help to bridge the existing literature gap and add to this domain of research. To navigate the readers through
this study, there is a total of five sections. The next section presents experimental programs that contain a study of the
materials, mix design, and technique used for casting the specimens. Section three provides an idea of the evaluations carried
out in the study. Section four lists down the results obtained from various experiments and towards the trial are concluding
remarks.

2. Materials and compositions

The properties of various materials employed in this study for the production of foamed concrete are represented in
Tables 1 and 2 respectively. These properties have been experimentally obtained through laboratory testing of the material,
conducted in the Concrete Laboratory of the Department.
For analysis, four distinct targeted dry densities were investigated, i.e., 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 kg/m3 with a tolerance
limit of 50 kg/m3 [28] for both types of foaming agents. For the production of foam, the pre-foaming process has been
incorporated. The foam generated using this method is stable and can easily blend with the base mix [29]. In this method
initially, the foaming agents were diluted by adding water keeping the dilutions ratio for both the foaming agents was kept
constant at 1:30 by volume [30], then the compressed air is produced with the help of an air compressor keeping the
pressure maintained at 80 Psi. This compressed air is then mixed with a foaming solution in a foam generator to create foam.
Using the trial-and-error process, the water to cement ratio for a good base mixture was calculated to be 0.3. The base
mixture was prepared by combining the cement and water for 2 3 min in a mixer. Then foam was inserted into the cement
paste and mixed for 3 4 min to create the network of air bubbles within the blend. The slurry was then poured into the steel
moulds of desired dimensions for various test specified below. A total of 60 specimens were prepared. The demoulding of the
specimen was done after 24 h and were then kept for curing. The curing method adopted was moisture curing in which the
foamed concrete samples were covered with hessian bags and were periodically wetted till 28 days age. Based on previous
researches the moisture-curing was found to be the most effective method of curing foamed concrete. In the case of the air
and water curing method, a lower degree of hydration of foamed concrete specimen was recorded, leading to a decrease in
mechanical properties [3].
The mix proportioning for the development of foamed concrete was according to ACI 523.3R-93 1975 [31]. The mixtures
were developed based on the targeted plastic density method. To compare the characteristics of foaming agents, foamed
concrete was prepared in a simpler manner using cement, water, and foaming agent components. The additives like fly ash,

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M. Hashim and M. Tantray Case Studies in Construction Materials 14 (2021) e00524

Table 1
Properties of cement used.

Properties Experimental results Standard values (IS)

Grade and strength 43 N/mm2 Strength not less than 43 N/mm2
Specific gravity 3.10 –
Soundness 2.50  10 mm
Fineness modulus (m2/kg) 310 < 300 mm
Initial setting time 94 < 30 min
Final setting time 280  600 min
Standard consistency (%) 30 –

Table 2
Properties of foaming agents.

Foaming agent Appearance Foam density (Kg/m3) Acidity (pH) Specific gravity
Protein-based Brown 105.00 6.50 1.15
Synthetic-based Transparent 86.00 8.00 1.00

fine sand, and slags have not been added as the aim is only to compare the two types of foaming agents (protein and
synthetic). The design variables for the mixtures were foam type and their dosage and are listed in Table 3.

3. Experimental procedure

To expedite the behavior of foaming agents in the formation of foamed concrete an in-depth experimental investigation
has been carried out on both types of foaming agents. In total 60 samples have been prepared and tests were conducted on
foam stability, strength, and shrinkage in addition to the microstructure on foam concrete for both protein and synthetic
based foaming agents

3.1. Foam stability

To ensure the quality of foam concrete, first attention should be given to the choice of foaming agents and their stability.
The foam stability experimental studies concept was taken from the relevant literature of Chao et al. [13]. Both types of foams
were generated using a foam generator and each collected in a beaker of 1000 mL capacity. An identical ball of diameter
40 mm and weighing 2.7 g was gently placed on top. The amount of time the ball took to hit the bottom surface of the beaker
was recorded. Furthermore, an intermediate reading was also taken 5 min after the experiment began. The sinking time of
the ball provides an understanding of the stability of the foaming agents. Fig. 1 shows the foam stability test of different
foaming agents.

3.2. Microstructure

The mechanical, as well as physical properties of foamed concrete, are directly connected to the distribution and size of
the pore [32]. Therefore, in the case of foamed concrete, the characterization of the pore structure is very important.
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis was performed using the SEM machine (Hitachi S-3600n) to determine the
surface morphological features of the foamed concrete specimens. For the SEM analysis, samples were taken from the

Table 3
Composition details.

Target density (kg/m3) Average dry density (kg/m3) Cement (kg/m3) Water Foam
(kg/m3) (kg/m3)
Protein-based foamed concrete
600 564 550 165 112
800 775 750 225 79
1000 977 950 285 55
1200 1178 1150 345 35

Synthetic-based foamed concrete

600 557 550 165 99
800 773 750 225 68
1000 967 850 285 48
1200 1181 1150 345 30

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 M. Hashim and M. Tantray Case Studies in Construction Materials 14 (2021) e00524
[(Fig._1)TD$IG]

Fig. 1. Foam stability test, (a) protein foam, (b) synthetic foam where (T) is time.

interior of the cubic specimen of both the foamed concrete (protein and synthetic). Images used to analyze the
microstructures of the specimens were captured at 40 magnification. Fig. 2 portrays the microscopic image of the inner air
voids and their configuration for two different foamed concrete.

3.3. Compression strength test

The compression strength was calculated according to IS 6441-Part 5 (Indian Standards Bureau 1972) [33]. Samples of
150 mm cube were cast to assess the compression strength of the foamed concrete. For each density, three samples were cast
and the average was reported. Demoulding of samples from steel mould was done after 24 h and moisture curing under
hessian bag was done for 28 days at a stable ambient temperature at 21  5  C. The sample compression test was conducted
at a loading speed of 1000 N/s over a 100-ton automatic universal testing machine (UTM), installed in the structure lab of the
department and the peak load was observed for each sample.

3.4. Drying shrinkage test

The drying shrinkage experiment was performed in accordance with IS 6441-Part 2 (Indian Standards Bureau 1972) [34].
The specimens of 40  40  200 mm of foamed concrete were cast and spherical gauge plugs were attached on two ends to
measure the change in length of the specimen with a digital dial gauge up to an accuracy of 0.001 mm. The curing of the
specimen was done by immersing the sample in water for 72 h. Testing was done in an environment temperature of 21  5  C.
The readings were taken at an interval of 7 days up to 56 days. The photos of the samples and test configuration are displayed
in Fig. 3.

4. Results and discussions

4.1. Foam and density relationship

The association between the dosage of foaming agents to reach the target for protein and synthetic-based foamed
concrete is represented in Fig. 4. The increase in foam content is followed by a rise in the amount of fresh foamed concrete,

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 M. Hashim and M. Tantray Case Studies in Construction Materials 14 (2021) e00524
[(Fig._2)TD$IG]

Fig. 2. Microscopic images (a) protein-based foamed concrete, (b) synthetic-based foamed concrete.

[(Fig._3)TD$IG]

Fig. 3. Dying shrinkage test (a) specimens of foamed concrete (b) drying shrinkage test setup.

which in turn causes a decline in the density. The dosage of the foaming agents to attain a certain target density depends
upon the density of the foam produced. Analytical equations were derived and compared with another researcher [12] as
shown in Table 4. The findings for a protein-based foaming agent were within the tolerance limit (50 kg/m3) but variation
was higher for the synthetic foaming agent.

4.2. Foam stability result

Fig. 1 shows the foam stability pictorially for both kinds of foaming agents. The ball location at 5 min and the time taken by
the ball to reach the bottom of the beaker are reported. The sinking speed of the ball was 0.13 mm/sec and 0.2 mm/sec
respectively for protein and synthetic-based foaming agents. The protein-based foaming agent exhibited higher viscosity
and density than the other. In protein foaming, agent air bubbles are formed by degradation of the protein. As the peptide
bond of large protein molecules separates, smaller hydrophobic molecules are formed. This method not only reduces the
surface tension of the solution but also creates hydrogen bonds between the molecular groups that help to develop higher

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 M. Hashim and M. Tantray Case Studies in Construction Materials 14 (2021) e00524
[(Fig._4)TD$IG]

Fig. 4. The density of foamed concrete specimens as a function of foam density.

Table 4
Dry density comparison with previous research.

Foamed concrete Foaming agent (kg/m3) Dry density equation (kg/m3) Dry density Falliano et al.,(kg/m3) Variation (kg/m3)
Protein 93 741 774 33
Protein 120 591 640 49
Synthetic 50 978 817 161
Synthetic 63 853 597 256

strength [14]. Also, in protein-based foaming agents, the protein adsorbed at the interface builds a viscoelastic layer having
high surface shear viscosities resulting in Plateau Borders leading to stable air bubbles [35]. For the same analysis, a graph
between sinking time and sinking depth was plotted as shown in Fig. 5. The graph reveals that the protein-based foaming
agent provides greater resistance to ball sinking and thus more stable relative to synthetic foaming agents.

4.3. Scanning electron microscopy analysis

Fig. 6 depicts the relation between air-void diameter and its distribution for both types of foamed concrete specimens at
various dry densities. The results showed that the size of the air voids in the specimens increased sharply as the density was
reduced for both types of foamed concrete i.e., by the addition of foam, as shown in previous studies of relevant literature
[36]. This may be due to the reason that at lower densities the volume of air bubbles are more which causes overlapping and
merging of the bubbles. Also, from the microscopic images in Fig. 2(a) of protein-based foamed concrete, the pores were
smaller in size, circular in shape with a well-defined boundary wall accompanied by a few larger air voids randomly
scattered. The pore diameter was observed ranging mostly up to 500 microns. Simultaneously in Fig. 2(b) for the synthetic-
based foamed concrete specimens the pore size distribution ranged up to 650 microns. Also, in synthetic-based foamed
concrete coalescence and disproportionation of the pores caused merging and distortion of neighboring pores as visible.

4.4. Compression strength

The 28th-day compressive strength of foamed concrete mix at different densities from 600 to 1200 kg/m3 prepared with
protein and synthetic foaming agents are shown in Fig. 7. The decrease in compressive strength and density was observed
with an increase in foam content in both types of the mix. The decrease in strength is found to be well correlated with the
decrease in density i.e., increase in foam content. In this study, the decrease in strength was found to be 55, 48, 11 percent,
and 48, 44, 10 percent respectively for protein and synthetic foamed concrete. This is due to the heavy use of foam to reach
the target density of foamed concrete, air bubbles in enormous numbers in the mixture which causes a reduction in the
binder material volume hence depleting the compressive strength [37]. However, there is a substantial increase in the
strength of protein-based foamed concrete as compared to synthetic-based foamed concrete at the same densities. A
difference of 13 % in compressive strength at 1200 kg/m3 was recorded. The compressive strength of foamed concrete
primarily dependents on two factors i.e., the hardening phase of the binding matrix and the size of the pores. All the
conditions from the start to the hardening phase were identical for two types of foamed concrete. The quality and size of air
voids must be responsible for the substantial rise in the strength. As the air bubbles in protein-based foamed concrete

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 M. Hashim and M. Tantray Case Studies in Construction Materials 14 (2021) e00524
[(Fig._5)TD$IG]

Fig. 5. Foam stability.

[(Fig._6)TD$IG]

Fig. 6. The pore size distribution of foamed concrete.

continue to be on the smaller side, therefore they are more stable than the other. These small air bubbles appear to coalesce
until their surfaces are covered with a stabilizing particulate layer causing a marginal increase in compressive strength [38].

4.5. Dry shrinkage

The percentage variance of drying shrinkage with the time for protein and synthetic-based foamed concrete is shown in
Fig. 8. Drying shrinkage in both types of the foamed concrete specimen with densities 1000 kg/m3 and 1200 kg/m3 was
affected until a span of 21 days, whereas for densities 600 kg/m3 and 800 kg/m3 shrinkage were prominent until 15 days. It
can be inferred that as the density of foamed concrete increases, the drying shrinkage values also increase. The presence of
high quantity hydration product i.e., cement and absence of aggregate, result in higher drying shrinkage in foam concrete. At
lower densities foam quantity i.e., air bubbles in the specimen are high causing a reduction in cement quantity and hence less

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[(Fig._7)TD$IG]

Fig. 7. Protein and synthetic-based foamed concrete compressive strength.

hydration reaction which induces a low shrinkage [22]. The drying shrinkage of synthetic foamed concrete was documented
to be higher than that of protein-based foamed concrete. The explanation for higher drying shrinkage of synthetic foamed
concrete is linked to pore size distribution and pore stability. From SEM analysis, it is clear that the synthetic-based foam
concrete had a higher number of large-sized pores. The large pores in contact with the small pore create a slight amount of
pressure on the small pores inside the mix. The additional pressure created on the small bubble is greater than the pressure
of the large bubble due to which the small bubble tends to break making the large bubble larger. Bursting of multiple bubbles

[(Fig._8)TD$IG]

Fig. 8. Drying shrinkage for both the type of foamed concrete specimens.

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M. Hashim and M. Tantray Case Studies in Construction Materials 14 (2021) e00524

to form a single bubble continues. This process induces further shrinkage in the total surface area of synthetic-based foamed
concrete [39].
Due to the bursting of bubbles, a part of the surfactant must be adsorbed on the surface of cement particles which causes
surface roughness and coagulation between cement and cement due to which flaws such as internal channeling and
hollowing in synthetic foamed concrete were observed.

5. Concluding remarks

In this research, a major experimental program was undertaken to equate protein efficiency with synthetic-based foamed
concrete following conclusions have been drawn.

[54_TD$IF]1 The protein-based foaming agent possesses higher strength and stability as compared to the synthetic foaming agent.
2 The kind of foaming agent used influences the mechanical and physical properties of foamed concrete. The compressive
strength of protein-based foamed concrete was greater than synthetic-based foamed concrete at all densities considered
in the study.
3 The value of drying shrinkage in foamed concrete is lower at low densities, as it mainly depends on paste content in the
mix.
4 From microstructure analysis, the protein-based foamed concrete had finer pore size, narrower pore size spectrum, and
reduced pore connectivity with defined boundaries leading to better performance.
5 The relationships were established between the foam dosage and dry density. The derived equations will help to get an
understanding of the amount of foam volume to be used to obtain the desired dry density.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

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