Evaluating the Effects of Sugarcane-Bagasse Ash

and Rice-Husk Ash on the Mechanical and

Durability Properties of Mortar
Alireza Joshaghani, S.M.ASCE 1; and Mohammad Amin Moeini, S.M.ASCE 2

Abstract: The influence of sugarcane-bagasse ash (SCBA) and rice-husk ash (RHA) as cement replacement materials on the mechanical
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and durability properties of mortars was investigated in this study. Portland cement was replaced by RHA and SCBA at a rate of 10–30% and
10–25% by weight of cementitious materials, respectively. Also, ternary mixtures were prepared by the incorporation of both additives.
Replacement dosages were selected based on the former research studies to cast the mortar. Additionally, a control mixture, containing
only cement, was prepared to clarify the effectiveness of replacement materials. Compressive strength tests were conducted to evaluate the
mechanical performances of the specimens. In addition, the transport tests (water absorption and capillary absorption), electrical resistivity,
rapid chloride migration test (RCMT), and acid resistance of mortars were evaluated in order to investigate the effect of SCBA and RHA on
the durability properties of mortar. Results showed that RHA was more effective at enhancing the mechanical properties of mortars than SCBA.
However, according to the durability tests’ results, both SCBA and RHA were found to be effective since ternary mixtures were more durable
when compared to the control mixture. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002317. © 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Mortar; Sugarcane-bagasse ash (SCBA); Rice-husk ash (RHA); Durability; Compressive strength; Rapid chloride
migration test (RCMT); Resistivity.

Introduction concentration of silica among all the agricultural wastes (Zahedi

Investigations of possible modifications to concrete’s components
will have a huge impact on the usage volume of those components
immediately around the world because of the massive amount of
concrete produced annually (Joshaghani et al. 2014). Researchers
have tried to investigate materials with similar properties to be used
as a replacement for cement or supplementary cementitious mate-
rials (SCMs) (Joshaghani et al. 2017a). SCMs can either be natural
or unnatural (commonly in the form of industrial by-products) (Gao
et al. 2015). Recently, the usage of agricultural by-products in mor-
tar has been increasing because of the acceptable pozzolanic prop-
erties of these materials. The main portion of wastes obtained from
agricultural activities is rice husk, sugarcane bagasse, jute fiber,
coconut husk, cotton stalk, and so on. Utilizing these by-products
as ecofriendly construction materials is found to be a practical ap-
proach for both environmental and economic purposes (Madurwar
et al. 2013; Ramezanianpour et al. 2014). Sugarcane bagasse is an
abundant waste product, produced in sugar manufacturing plants
after the extraction of juice from sugarcane. Rice husk is an agri-
cultural waste gained from the outer layer of rice grains during the
milling process. The amount of rice husk obtained annually ac-
counts for around 20% of the total rice production. RHA has a high
dosage of silica, typically more than 80%, which is the highest
1
Ph.D. Candidate, Zachry Dept. of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M
Univ., College Station, TX 77840 (corresponding author). ORCID: https://
orcid.org/0000-0002-7997-4267. Email: joshaghani@tamu.edu
2
Researcher, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Amirkabir Univ. of Technol-
ogy, 15875-4413 Tehran, Iran.
Note. This manuscript was submitted on August 14, 2017; approved on
January 2, 2018; published online on May 10, 2018. Discussion period
open until October 10, 2018; separate discussions must be submitted for
individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Materials in Civil
Engineering, © ASCE, ISSN 0899-1561.
et al. 2015; Balapour et al. 2018).
According to recent studies, both SCBA and RHA have shown
acceptable properties when used in concrete as an ordinary portland
cement (OPC) replacement. Kumar et al. studied the impacts of the
replacement of cement with SCBA and RHA (Kumar et al. 2016).
According to the test results, it was concluded that the incorpora-
tion of SCBA and RHA, as partial replacements of cement in plain
concrete, increased the compressive and tensile strengths of con-
crete. Krishnasamy et al. incorporated SCBA and RHA as cement
replacement materials in self-compacting concrete (Krishnasamy
and Palanisamy 2015). Ternary mixes with a different water-to-ce-
ment ratio, replacement percentage, and quantity of superplasticizer
(SP) were prepared and tested. The dosages of SCBA and RHA
were selected to be 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20% by weight with respect
to OPC. Since workability is among the most imperative properties
of self-compacting concrete, the authors of this paper conducted
several workability tests to assess the effect of SCBA and RHA
incorporation on specimens. The slump flow test showed promising
results, regarding the workability retention of binary and ternary
mixtures. Cordeiro et al. conducted a study in order to examine
the influence of residual SCBA and RHA in concrete properties
(Cordeiro et al. 2012). High-performance concrete specimens were
cast with 0 and 20% of ashes as cement replacement. Ternary mix-
tures containing cement, RHA, and SCBA (60–20–20%) were also
produced to investigate the benefits of using both ultrafine ashes on
concrete properties at the same time. The compressive strength test
(at 7, 28, 90, and 180 days) and rapid chloride ion penetrability test
were conducted to evaluate the mechanical and durability proper-
ties of mixtures. According to compressive strength test results,
mixtures fabricated with both types of ashes revealed either equiv-
alent or superior strengths as compared to the control mixtures. Re-
sults indicated that RHA is more efficient than SCBA in the case of
compressive strength improvement because of higher pozzolanic re-
activity. The ternary mixtures exhibited higher chloride resistance;

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 the authors concluded that this change was a result of the pozzolanic
reactivity of both ashes and the modification in the pore size distri-
bution when compared to the control concretes.
In the former studies, a larger range of replacement percentages,
up to 30% of RHA, was used (Balapour et al. 2017; Jamil et al.
2016; Miyandehi et al. 2016; Celik and Canakci 2015; Antiohos
et al. 2014). Recent studies have indicated that 25% RHA replace-
ment might be advantageously blended into the mortar mixture,
disregarding adverse effects to the strength and durability (Chao-
Lung et al. 2011). El-Dakroury and Gasser found out that 30%
RHA might be used as an optimum value for different W/C ratios
in studied mortars because of the high values of compressive
strength (Abbas et al. 2017; El-Dakroury and Gasser 2008).
Based on recent studies, additions of SCBA to cement mortar
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be even more effective than chemical reactions (Khan et al. 2017;
Gowthami et al. 2016).
Some studies have investigated the simultaneous effect of SCBA
and RHA in a mortar; however, the limited number of research stud-
ies show the necessity for more studies. In this study, SCBA and
RHA were selected in order to replace cement in mortars. Binary
and ternary blends containing portland cement, SCBA, and RHA
were produced in order to be compared with a control mixture con-
sisting of cement only. The effect of the aforementioned SCMs
on the mechanical properties of mortar was evaluated through a
compressive strength test. Because the real performance of mortar
through its lifetime cannot be evaluated only on the basis of com-
pressive strength, a number of durability tests, such as transport
tests (water absorption and capillary absorption), rapid chloride mi-

showed a high pozzolanic potential and a satisfactory compressive gration tests (RCMT), electrical resistivity, and acid resistance of
strength (González-Kunz et al. 2017). The compressive strength mortars, were applied to study the effect of SCBA and RHA on the
attained a value equivalent to that of the control mortar when SCBA durability properties of mortars. The tests were selected on the basis
was used up to 20% (Arif et al. 2016). Several authors have re- of literature gaps and parameters that can generally evaluate the fea-
ported that 20% replacement is the optimal limit replacement sibility of the usage of these two important pozzolans in mortars.
for SCBA since it increased the compressive strengths of mortar
(Arenas-Piedrahita et al. 2016; Ganesan et al. 2007; Chusilp et al.
2009b). They believed that increasing the replacement of cement Experimental Program
with SCBA beyond 20% decreased permeability, chloride ion in-
gress, and the diffusion coefficient by about 50%. Several studies Materials
were conducted to examine the chemical effect or pozzolanic ac-
Portland Type I cement was incorporated, which satisfied the
tivity of SCBA. The main products of the reaction between calcium ASTM C150 requirements for portland cement specification
hydroxide and SCBA are C-S-H. The free lime values in pastes and [ASTM C150 (ASTM 2016a)]. The chemical components and
the pozzolanic products of SCBA were decreased. The differential physical analysis of the cement, SCBA, and RHA utilized in this
scanning calorimetry (DSC) proved substantial amounts of C-S-H study are provided in Table 1. The retained amounts when wet-
in the presence of SCBA. The chemical effect of SCBA was re- sieved on a 45-μm (No. 325) sieve for SCBA and RHA were
ported by measuring SCBA/calcium hydroxide and SCBA/portland 23 and 25.4%, respectively—both below the target level of less
cement pastes (Payá et al. 2002). than 34%. SCBA is classified as a Type C pozzolan based on
The effectiveness of a pozzolan is mainly attributed to its silica ASTM C618, due to having a loss of ignition (LOI) of less than
content and the crystallinity of silica. Amorphous and partially 10% and a (SiO2 þ Al2 O3 þ Fe2 O3 ) value more than 50% [ASTM
crystalline silica is important for the progress of pozzolanic reac- C618 (ASTM 2015)]. The LOI indicates that the content of unburnt
tions with calcium hydroxide. Crystallinity starts in RHA when the carbon in the used ash was negligible and the pozzolanic activity
temperature of burning processes is higher than 800°C, which leads was high enough for hydration reactions. Some researchers re-
to poor pozzolanic properties (Nagataki 1994). This is because of ported that high values of the LOI in the SCBA had negatively
the fact that after 800°C, crystallization of the ash occurs from
amorphous SiO2 to cristobalite or tridymite (Ahmed and Adam
2007). Bie et al. reported that burning rice husk in a furnace at a Table 1. Chemical analysis and physical properties of portland cement,
lower temperature (600–700°C) results in highly active RHA with SCBA, and RHA
the potential for usage as a cement replacement material (Bie et al.
Portland cement
2015). The reason is attributed to the high SiO2 content and highly Chemical component (Type I) (%) SCBA (%) RHA (%)
pozzolanic reaction, with respect to the amorphous RHA. For the
SCBA, it was reported that that at 800°C, cristobalite and calcium SiO2 21.52 55.7 87.1
Al2 O3 5.24 2.86 0.13
were formed. Controlling the crystalline phases of SCBA might be
Fe2 O3 3.06 3.51 0.28
helpful to enhance the pozzolanic activity (Cordeiro et al. 2010). CaO 61.6 15.34 1.96
Since porosity is the major factor that influences the permeabil- SO3 2.12 — 0.34
ity of concrete, durability aspects of concrete also depend on the MgO 4.16 4.08 0.77
pore structure of the mixture. On the basis of a correlation made Na2 O 0.43 0.37 0.03
between pore volume obtained by the mercury intrusion porosim- K2 O 0.68 6.1 1.87
etry (MIP) test and chloride penetration obtained by rapid chloride P2 O5 0.23 — 0.71
permeability test (RCPT), it was found that capillary pore volume TiO2 0.04 — —
LOI 0.85 8.92 5.79
is associated to the RCPT charge values (Yang and Chiang 2005).
C3 S 47.59 — —
In another study, SCBA was also evaluated in the case of pozzo- C2 S 25.81 — —
lanic activity and the filler effect on the mortar. The authors re- C3 A 8.71 — —
ported that SCBA has physicochemical properties suitable for C4 AF 9.13 — —
usage in concrete and its reactivity changed significantly according Physical properties Portland cement SCBA RHA
to the particle size and fineness of the SCBA’s particles (Cordeiro (Type I)
et al. 2008). It was reported that RHA’s influence on mortar through Specific gravity (g=cm3 ) 3.19 2.34 2.09
chemical reactions is more profound than its physical effect (Jamil Retained on #325 sieve (%) 25.6 23 25.4
Surface area (cm2 =g) 3,035 2,895 2,982
2016). The physical contribution of pozzolan particles is known to

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J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(7): 04018144

 affected the pozzolanic activity since it decreased the compressive Table 2. Retained percentage of SCBA and RHA on the #325 sieve,
strength of mortars (Chusilp et al. 2009a). 45 μm (%)
Based on the chemical analysis of materials presented in Table 1, Retained on #325 sieve, 45 μm (%)
the RHA contained 87.1% silica, which was a greater amount than
Milling time (min) RHA SCBA
SCBA. According to the standard [ASTM C618 (ASTM 2015)],
RHA is classified as an F pozzolan since the total amount of SiO2 , 4 76.1 78.8
Al2 O3 , and Fe2 O3 is more than 70%. It was compliant with recent 8 52.2 58.4
10 43.7 44.9
research studies (Antiohos et al. 2014; Karim et al. 2014; Zain et al.
12 36.9 32.6
2011; Xu et al. 2012). Although it was observed that SiO2 (quartz) 14 31.2 23.0
is the main constituent in SCBA, the concentration was 55.7%, and 16 25.4 20.8
the amount of Al2 O3 was lower than 4%. The SCBA mainly con-
sisted of quartz and calcite. The amount of sulfur trioxide (SO3 ) in
RHA was less than 4%, which is the acceptable threshold according
to [ASTM C618 (ASTM 2015)]. RHA also had K2 O (less than 3%) 100
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because of the usage of fertilizers on rice crops (Mehta 1992). 90

To provide high-grade SCMs in terms of pozzolanic activity, the
80
burning conditions, such as the temperature and burning time, were

Cumulative Passing (%)

70
controlled. A furnace was built to burn raw sugarcane bagasse and
rice husk at the Concrete Technology and Durability Research 60
Center at Amirkabir University (Ramezanianpour et al. 2009). The 50
burning temperature, oxygen rate, and burning time are relevant 40
parameters in the production of pozzolanic materials. Thus, two
30
fans were used to supply the required air for burning. The first fan,
with a power of 3,700 W and 2,950 cycles per minute, was placed 20

in the lower part of the furnace with a maximum flow ventilation of 10

745 m3 =h. The second fan, with a power of 75 W and 2,900 cycles
per minute, was installed on the basic framework of a cylindrical
body, which brought in the required air from the internal shells to
the furnace via the embedded holes on the mixer rods. The maxi-
mum output flow of the second fan was 245 m3 =h. The temperature
inside the furnace was measured by three thermocouples in three
different parts of the furnace (Ramezanianpour et al. 2009).
To produce RHA and SCBA with suitable pozzolanic activities,
different specimens have been burned in various conditions of
time and temperature. According to the previous studies, it was
confirmed that burning at moderate temperatures (500–800°C) will
produce amorphous silica (De Soares et al. 2016). In addition to
temperature change, the duration of ignition was another variable
parameter, which was studied. Considering the system perfor-
mance, it was identified that all specimens in different temperatures
complete the burning process in 30 min.
Grinding is one important process that controls the particle size
distribution of RHA and SCBA since it affects the crystalline com-
pounds and pozzolanic reactivity. Grinding is reported to be highly
effective when the goal is to deploy RHA and SCBA as a SCM in
the same size with the OPC. Therefore, the produced ashes were
milled to achieve the average cement particle size using a vibrating
ball mill for a particular period. To determine the time required for
grinding RHA and SCBA particles, different samples of ash were
prepared in periods of 4, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 min. For this purpose,
the residue of materials on the sieve’s particle size of 45 μm was
compared to the OPC, and the results are shown in Table 2.
According to Table 2, it can be observed that the amount of RHA
particles remaining on the sieve of 45 μm with a milling time of
16 min corresponded to the OPC that is 25.6. The same period for
SCBA was 14 min. Therefore, the optimal milling time of 16 and
14 min was employed to prepare RHA and SCBA, respectively.
The particle size distribution curve for both RHA and SCBA is
shown in Fig. 1. The particle size distribution of RHA and SCBA is
similar, but the SCBA is slightly coarser. The average particle size
of RHA and SCBA was similar to OPC, which is important for
the effective contribution in the pozzolanic reactions (Nehdi et al.
2003). The results confirmed the other studies on particle size dis-
tribution (Cheerarot et al. 2004; Tangpagasit et al. 2005).
0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Particle Size (µm)
RHA SCBA OPC
Fig. 1. Cumulative curves of particle size distribution of OPC, RHA,
and SCBA.
In the next step, to determine the crystalline composition in dif-
ferent specimens, an X-ray diffraction (XRD) test was carried out to
analyze the development procedure of the crystalline peaks. Fig. 2
shows the XRD of burning the bagasse at various temperatures of
500, 600, 700, 800, and 1,000°C. As illustrated in Fig. 2, at 800°C,
the maximum amount of amorphous silica was reached, since at
this temperature the crystallized silica was the lowest when com-
pared to other temperatures. By using the relative intensity method,
the intensity of the main peaks of the formed phases was measured
in comparison with the quartz phase, and the results have been pre-
sented in Table 3. To calculate relative intensity, the absolute inten-
sity of every peak by the absolute intensity of the most intense
peak was divided and then presented as a percentage. As shown in
Table 3, the percentage of the quartz compared to other elements,
such as calcite and iron oxide, was higher. As a result, the bagasse
ash produced at an 800°C temperature and time duration of 30 min
would be optimal. Diffraction peaks of ettringite and C-S-H phases
were observable in samples with SCBA replacement (Joshaghani
and Moeini 2017).
However, the rice husk was burned at 700°C for 60 min. At this
temperature and burning time, RHA had a lower density and a
higher surface area, which increased pozzolanic reactivity. The fi-
nal results of the XRD of the SCBA and RHA are given in Fig. 3.
The broad peak appeared of 2θ equal to 21.8 in the RHA pattern,
which determined that a high amount of silica, more than 88.2%, in
rice-husk ash was in the amorphous phase. High amorphous silica
content contributes significantly to increase the pozzolanic activ-
ities (Vosoughi et al. 2015).
After the burning, the organic parts turn into carbon dioxide,
while the silica is retained in the ash residue. As indicated in the

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Fig. 2. Available stages in the bagasse ash under different temperatures. Q = Quartz, C = Calcite, and FeO = Iron oxide.

Table 3. Relative intensity of the formed phases RHA had a higher reactivity because of the CaðOHÞ2 dehydroxy-
Relative lation. These reactions produced additional amounts of C-S-H gel
intensity 500°C 600°C 700°C 800°C 1,000°C that made microstructures denser (Kar et al. 2012; Van et al. 2013).
Generally, a high fineness ash can improve the pozzolanic reactiv-
IQ/IC 19.07 19.9 24.59 38.42 39.65
IQ/IT — — — 17.57 — ity (Rukzon et al. 2009).
IQ/IF 13 10.19 — 32 23.5 The microstructure of the cement, RHA, and SCBA was studied
through a scanning electron microscope (SEM), which is shown
in Fig. 4. The cement particles were mostly spherical, as shown in
1000 Fig. 4(a). Some areas were rounded and entirely crystallized. The
900 microstructure of the RHA is very porous because of the higher
800
specific surface area. The RHA particles were distributed with
700
cellular, angular, and spongy particles as shown in Fig. 4(b). This
irregularity in appearance resulted in the porous microstructure.
600
Intensity

The RHA particles were comparatively finer than the SCBA par-
500
ticles. It is expected that higher amounts of RHA as cement re-
400
placement materials will provide better pozzolanic reactions. Most
300
particles in the SCBA image are sporadically shaped with a few
200 spherical particles, as shown in Fig. 4(c) (Cordeiro et al. 2016).
100 However, there were some particles with a specific shape (chiefly
0 box shaped). The observation of irregularly shaped particles of
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
2θ (Degree) SCBA was also reported by Bahurudeen and Santhanam (2015)
RHA SCBA
and Bahurudeen et al. (2015). The authors suggested that irregularly
shaped particles are rich in silica and also that the observation of
Fig. 3. XRD patterns of SCBA and RHA. spherical-shaped particles may be attributed to melting at high
temperature. The formation of needle-shaped particles, which are
mostly crystalline silica, was inevitable since a minimum level
XRD results, RHA is a siliceous material, which is mainly a con- of crystalline compound was achieved by the chosen temperature.
centrated source of amorphous SiO2 (Joshaghani et al. 2016). In Moreover, irregular silica with minor amounts of hematite exists
addition, this high reactivity is attributed to the high content of around amorphous silica. As a matter of fact, each material will
amorphous silica and the large surface area formed by the porous participate in hydration reactions based on the particle’s size and
structure of the particles, as shown in Fig. 4. The reactivity of RHA microstructure type. It was reported that spherical ash particles
results in the strength improvement of cement-based materials are mainly aluminosilicates, whereas box-shaped particles are
by pozzolanic reactions between amorphous silica and calcium silica and fibrous particles are carbon (Aigbodion et al. 2010; Batra
hydroxide liberated during the cement hydration process. The poz- et al. 2008; Bahurudeen et al. 2014). Smaller particles that pre-
zolanic reactivity of RHA and SCBA was studied with TGA. The sented rough surfaces appeared because of the removal of organic

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Fig. 4. SEM images for (a) OPC; (b) RHA; and (c) SCBA.
substances from bagasse, leaving the inorganic fraction, such as
silicon and potassium.
The TGA was carried out to measure weight losses of OPC,
SCBA, and RHA pastes at 1, 3, 7, and 28 days, as shown in Fig. 5.
Three rapid weight losses were seen in the TGA plots because of
several reasons. The initial weight loss happened at 150–250°C as a
result of C-S-H dehydration. The next weight loss occurred be-
tween 460 and 500°C, which might be attributed to the portlandite
dihydroxylation. One of the pozzolanic reactivity criteria is how
quickly the pozzolanic material reacts with portlandite after mixing.
The first and the second weight loss can be considered as a con-
troller of the pozzolanic reactivity and hydration reaction degree of
the SCMs (Alarcon-Ruiz et al. 2005). The last weight loss appeared
at 730°C due to the decarbonation of calcium carbonate (Xu
et al. 2016).
The weight losses of OPC, RHA, and SCBA were calculated,
as displayed in Table 4. The weight loss of the OPC was increased
from 39.73 to 48.68%, with the curing age from 1 to 28 days at the
first stage. The same trend was observed for RHA as the weight loss
for RHA was increased from 47.76–52.98%. This range for SCBA
was obtained as 43.16 to 51.28%, which is attributed to dehydra-
tion reaction. Among all three SCMs, the dehydration weight losses
of the RHA were higher at all ages. The SCBA had a higher value
compared to the OPC; however, the rate of hydration of SCBA was
lower than that of RHA. In the second stage, weight losses of the
OPC, RHA, and SCBA at 28 days were 43.21, 33.90, and 35.97%,
respectively. The main reason for the second-stage weight loss
was attributed to dehydroxylation. The RHA and SCBA indicated
a lower weight loss percentage in the dehydroxylation reaction
compared to the OPC. This weight loss, which was attributed to
CaðOHÞ2 dehydroxylation, indicates a better pozzolanic reactivity
of the RHA and SCBA.
The river sand gradation was conducted in accordance with
ASTM C778 (ASTM 2016b). The water absorption, fineness mod-
ulus, and specific gravity were 2.03%, 3.41, and 1,925 kg=m3 , re-
spectively. A polycarboxylic-ether type SP with a specific gravity
of 1.06 was used to attain the target workability of 110  5% in all
mixtures.
Mixture Design
Sixteen mortar mixtures were proportioned with a particular water-
to-binder ratio of 0.475 and a sand-to-binder ratio of 2.75 according
© ASCE 04018144-5
J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(7): 04018144
to the ASTM C109 standard. The proportion of mixtures contain-
ing RHA and SCBA are presented in Table 5. Portland cement was
replaced by RHA and SCBA at the rate of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30%
and 10, 15, 20, and 25% by weight of cementitious materials, re-
spectively. Replacement dosages were selected on the basis of for-
mer research studies to cast the mortar. Also, ternary mixtures were
prepared by incorporation of both additives. According to previous
studies, RHA is reported to be more effective at higher dosages,
while no advantage was observed for SCBA incorporation at dos-
ages higher than 20%.
The needed SP dosage to achieve the desired workability of
110  5% in all mixes is shown in Fig. 6. The required SP content
for the RHA specimens was more than that of other mixtures. The
higher the dosages of RHA and SCBA, the more SP was required,
which probably can be attributed to the large amount of pores in the
structure and high surface area that increased the water demand. A
mixture having a greater surface area demands more water to obtain
a specific slump flow; thus, greater amounts of SP are needed to
keep the content of water at a constant level (Ardalan et al. 2017b;
Joshaghani et al. 2017b). The workability of SCBA and RHA was
tested by Joshaghani (2017). He studied the relative slump flow
loss by comparing to the control sample after 50 min of mixing.
He found that the slump flow loss increased over time for all mixes
as expected compared to the control sample. At 50 min, the mix-
tures containing RHA showed loss of workability compared to the
SCBA and of increased replacement levels, more slump loss was
observed. Thus, mixtures containing SCBA had better performance
in terms of maintaining the initial slump. The mixtures with high
water demand were counteracted by using the relatively large
amount of SP and showed better slump retention. The addition of
SP contributes to better fluidity and less slump loss.
To prepare mortar samples, the components were weighed.
Then, cement, SCBA, and RHA were mixed inside a plastic bag in
dry conditions. Subsequently, the SP was added into water, and then
the mixture of SCBA and cement was poured into this gel gradually.
The gel, cement, and remaining water continued to be mixed until
the sand was added, and mixing continued until the proper integrity
was achieved. The final part was the mechanical mixing to ensure
consistency of the mixture design. Mortar specimens with dimen-
sions of 5 cm were made per ASTM C109 (ASTM 2016d). Spec-
imens were cast in two layers and the vibration table was used for
entrapped air removal. Then, specimens were demolded after 24 h
J. Mater. Civ. Eng.
 100
98 Table 5. Mortar mixture design
96
Mixture identifier Cement Water Sand SCBA RHA
94
Control 580 310 1,527 — —
TGA (%)

92
90 10SCBA 522 331 1,527 58 —
15SCBA 493 331 1,527 87 —
88
20SCBA 464 331 1,527 116 —
86 25SCBA 435 331 1,527 145 —
84 10RHA 522 310 1,527 — 58
82 15RHA 493 310 1,527 — 87
80 20RHA 464 310 1,527 — 116
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 25RHA 435 310 1,527 — 145
Temperature (C) 30RHA 406 310 1,527 — 174
(a) 1-day 3-day 7-day 28-day 5SCBA þ 15RHA 464 283 1,527 29 87
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10SCBA þ 15RHA 435 260 1,527 58 87

100
5SCBA þ 25RHA 406 283 1,527 29 145
98 10SCBA þ 25RHA 377 260 1,527 58 145
96 15SCBA þ 15RHA 406 255 1,527 87 87
94 20SCBA þ 15RHA 377 244 1,527 116 87
TGA (%)

92
90
88
3
86
84
82 2.5
80
SP dosage (% by binder weight)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Temperature (C) 2
(b) 1-day 3-day 7-day 28-day
100 1.5
98
96
1
94
TGA (%)

92
90 0.5
88
86 0
84 Control 10 15 20 25 30
Replacement Level (%)
82
SCBA RHA
80
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Temperature (C)
Fig. 6. SP dosage of binary concrete mixes to obtain target fluidity.
(c) 1-day 3-day 7-day 28-day

Fig. 5. TGA analysis at 1, 3, 7, and 28 days for (a) OPC; (b) RHA; and
and cured in calcium hydroxide–saturated water at 24  2°C until
(c) SCBA.
testing time.

Table 4. Weight losses of OPC, RHA, and SCBA at the ages of 7 and
Testing Methods
28 days
Compressive Strength Test
Weight loss with
respect to the total Three 50 × 50 × 50-mm3 samples were produced according to
Weight loss (%) weight loss (%) ASTM C109 (ASTM 2016d). The compressive strength test was
Cementitious applied using a hydraulic testing jack with the loading rate of
material Stage 7 days 28 days 7 days 28 days
1,300 N=s after 3, 7, 28, and 90 days of curing in accordance with
OPC 1 6.10 6.77 43.85 48.68 ASTM C39 (ASTM 2016c). Also, the strength activity index (SAI)
2 4.40 6.06 31.37 43.21 was measured in accordance with ASTM C311 (ASTM 2017).
3 4.50 4.53 25.56 25.72
Transport Tests
RHA 1 5.12 5.50 49.29 52.98
2 4.00 5.05 26.84 33.90 Water absorption was evaluated on the basis of BS 1881-Part 122
3 3.49 3.48 23.66 23.59 (BSI 1983). This method would evaluate water absorption that
happened in pores. These tiny voids were emptied by oven drying
SCBA 1 5.60 6.12 48.75 51.29 and occupied again with water after the immersion. In another
2 4.19 5.49 27.44 35.97 approach, capillary absorption was evaluated through the non-
3 4.05 4.03 25.85 25.72
saturated mortar specimens. The test was performed to measure

© ASCE 04018144-6 J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(7): 04018144

 capillary water absorption in accordance with BS EN 480-5 at the
ages of 7 and 28 days for testing the capillary absorption of spec-
imens [BS EN 480-5 (BS 2005)].
RCMT
One of the primary purposes of RCMT is to determine the durabil-
ity performance of mortar. The chloride resistivity of mortar mix-
tures was examined at ages of 28 and 90 days. A 100 × 200-mm
cylindrical specimen was cast for each mixture design and divided
into three disks 50 mm thick. The three disks were subjected to a
10% NaCl solution in the left side and a 0.3-M NaOH solution on
the right side. To investigate the chloride penetration depth, a
0.1-M AgNO3 solution was sprayed on the surface of split halves
to quantify the chloride ions’ penetration by observing the purple
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color through the chemical reaction. The chloride penetration was
then implemented to measure the migration coefficient according
to NT BUILD 492 (1999), ASTM C1202 (ASTM 2012), and Pilvar
et al. (2016)
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi !
0.023ð273 þ TÞL ð273 þ TÞLxd
Dnssm ¼ xd − 0.0238
ðU − 2Þt U−2
where Dnssm = nonsteady-state migration coefficient
(×10−12 m2 =s); T = mean value of early and final temperatures
in the anolyte solution (°C); U = absolute value of applied voltage;
L = thickness of the sample (mm); t = duration (hours) of experi-
ment; and xd = average of penetration depths (mm).
Electrical Resistivity
The electrical resistivity was performed on water-saturated mortar
cylinders of 100 × 200 mm in the lime water tank after 7, 28, and
90 days of curing. Experiments have been done with the Wenner
4-probe meter (Proceq Asia Pte. Ltd., Singapore). Three readings
were gathered from the data logger for each cylinder sample. The
bulk resistivity was calculated as follows [Eq. (2)]:
   
V A A quick consumption of crystalline CaðOHÞ2 . Both pozzolanic reac-
ρ¼ × ¼R× ð2Þ
I L L tivity and the filler effect are the main decisive parameters for op-
where ρ = electrical resistivity (kΩ · cm); R = bulk electrical resis-
tance (kΩ); A = cross-sectional area (cm2 ); L = distance between
two electrodes (cm); I = measured current; and V = voltage. It is
important to keep all the testing circumstances, such as moisture
and temperature, constant to reduce the test errors.
Acid Resistance of Mortars
In order to resemble the sewer environment, sulfuric acid was
selected with 1% solution (Soroushian et al. 2010). The sulfuric
acid resistance of mortars with SCBA and RHA was evaluated by
weight and strength loss of the mortar cubes before and after acid
exposure. The compressive strengths of mortars subjected to sul-
furic acid for 28 and 90 days were examined. The weight loss of
the mixtures that received no acid exposure was compared with the
acid-exposed samples after 7, 28, and 90 days. Weight loss in the
acidic solution was used to determine the resistance of 10-cm cubic
specimens against sulfuric acid (pH ¼ 1). The acid solution was
circulated to keep pH constant everywhere.
Results
Compressive Strength
The results of the compressive strength test are displayed in Fig. 7.
According to Fig. 7, the compressive strength was improved in
all mortar mixtures with time. However, samples prepared with
© ASCE
J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(7): 04018144
SCMs revealed lower compressive strength compared to the spec-
imens fabricated without SCMs. The compressive strength in-
creased slightly with increasing SCBA and RHA content from
10 to 20%, while there was a significant decline in the compressive
strength at the replacement levels of 25 and 30%. This finding is in
agreement with other works (Jamil et al. 2016; Miyandehi 2016;
Celik and Canakci 2015, Antiohos et al. 2014). The compressive
strength of mixtures containing both SCBA and RHA was lower
than the control sample at early ages. However, specimens had
higher compressive strength at later ages. The rate of decrease in
strength for samples with RHA was much lower compared to the
case of SCBA, which is due to the higher pozzolanic reactivity of
RHA than that of SCBA. The compressive strength of mortar con-
taining both SCBA and RHA was lower than the OPC controls, and
this trend was reported previously (Kumar et al. 2016). The low
strength of ternary mixtures may be attributed to the high water ab-
sorption capacity of both pozzolans, which resulted in a higher poros-
ity in the mentioned mixtures. In addition, the reduced compressive
strength at early ages may be happened due to the low free lime dur-
ð1Þ ing the process of hydration. This might result in excess silica dis-
charge and cause a strength loss. The compressive strength of
concrete containing both SCBA and RHA also relatively improved
in the long term because of the filler effect and the use of CaðOHÞ2
formed during hydration reactions of the cementitious materials.
As shown in Fig. 7, the compressive strength was increased by
replacing cement with SCBA up to 20%. According to the results,
low SCBA replacement compressive strength increased because
of the pozzolanic reaction and reduction of capillary pores. The
greatest increase in compressive strength was mortar with a 20%
replacement of SCBA, which achieved the strength of 70.1 MPa
after 90 days, which was 5% larger than the reference sample.
Replacing by more than 20% SCBA decreased the compressive
strength compared to the control mixture because of the slow re-
activity of SCBA particles.
RHA usage resulted in improved strength, which is due to the
timum cement replacement dosage, in which the progress of RHA
hydration will result in gel formation and thus an increase in com-
pressive strength. The mortar mixtures with RHA show equivalent
strength values to that of the control sample, as displayed in Fig. 7,
rather than SCBA. At 28 days, the compressive strength of mixtures
containing RHA was slightly higher than the control sample, with
replacement levels up to 20%, which was previously reported by
other researchers (El-Dakroury and Gasser 2008). Afterward, there
was a considerable reduction in strength by increasing the RHA
dosage.
The compressive strength of concrete containing both SCBA
and RHA also relatively improved in the long term. The progress
of compressive strength was because of the filler effect and the
use of CaðOHÞ2 formed during hydration reactions of the cementi-
tious materials. SCBA recovered the particle packing density and
bridged the gel pores, which resulted in the volume of larger pores
reduction. The high pozzolanic reactivity of RHA results in a
relatively high impact in the case of compressive strength devel-
opment. The RHA particles are relatively coarse, which looked
clumped. It was expected that the higher amounts of small particles
would result in an active pozzolanic reaction. These observations
were in accordance with previous studies (Venkatanarayanan and
Rangaraju 2015; Antiohos et al. 2014; Karim et al. 2014). A
15SCBA + 20RHA mix showed the most substantial influence on
improving the compressive strength at late ages (11% increase in
strength at 90 days compared to the control mixture), while the
early age compressive strength is still lower than the control
04018144-7 J. Mater. Civ. Eng.
 80

70

60

Compressive Strength (MPa) 50

40

30

20
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10

3 days 7 days 28 days 90 days

Fig. 7. Compressive strength results of mortar mixtures (MPa).

specimen. Incorporating both RHA and SCBA at the same time between its compressive strength and the strength of the control
does not necessarily increase the strength. The reduced compres- samples. Samples with a significance factor greater than 0.05 have
sive strength in early stages may be explicated in low free lime an eligible difference with the control sample (Tabatabaeian et al.
during the process of hydration. This might result in excess silica 2017). The significance factor of SCBA samples was more than
discharge and cause a strength loss. 0.05 for all replacement levels. Therefore, the incorporation of
The values of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) are displayed SCBA did not improve the compressive strength considerably com-
in Table 6. The data show that the compressive strength difference pared to the control sample. By replacing 25 and 30% RHA, the
between the samples fabricated by the incorporation of SCBA and compressive strength was increased in samples significantly, and
RHA and the control sample is significant. On the basis of a defined there was a great difference between the samples with RHA and the
level of 0.05, when the significance factor of specimens with SCBA control sample.
and RHA is less than or equal to 0.05, a significant difference exists
Strength Activity Index
Fig. 8 shows the results of SAI. The SAI increased by aging in both
SCBA and RHA. For example, mixtures containing 10% of SCBA
Table 6. Results of water absorption versus time
exhibited a SAI of 70 and 94% at 7 and 90 days, respectively. Re-
Time (h) sults indicated that SAI improved with higher replacement dosages
0.5 1 3 24 72 168 for both RHA and SCBA mixtures having 10–20%. However, mix-
tures with 25 and 30% of RHA exhibited lower SAIs. According to
Mix design identifier Water absorption (%)
ASTM C311 (ASTM 2017), any material can be considered as an
Control 2.39 3.2 4.11 4.53 4.91 5.32 active pozzolan if SAI is more than 75%. All mixtures incorporat-
10SCBA 2.36 3.14 4.09 4.35 4.84 5.28 ing RHA and SCBA up to 25% showed SAI greater than the stated
15SCBA 2.35 3.12 4.09 4.28 4.83 5.26 limit. This conclusion was strongly supported by previous studies
20SCBA 2.35 3.11 4.08 4.23 4.81 5.19
(Antiohos et al. 2014; Abbas et al. 2017). In addition, RHA can be
25SCBA 2.31 3.08 4.03 4.23 4.72 5.09
10RHA 2.31 3.09 3.98 4.31 4.78 5.23 more effective than SCBA in strength enhancement, in the same
15RHA 2.27 3.04 3.92 4.19 4.68 5.19 cement replacement percentage. Similarly, it was reported that mor-
20RHA 2.26 3.01 3.88 4.11 4.62 5.19 tars with a 10% replacement level showed SAIs above the required
25RHA 2.21 2.28 3.85 4.09 4.57 5.11 75% (Sirirat and Supaporn 2010).
30RHA 2.15 2.24 3.81 4.02 4.52 5.07
10SCBA þ 15RHA 2.3 3.03 3.89 4.25 4.66 5.08
15SCBA þ 15RHA 2.24 2.9 3.75 4 4.46 4.91 Transport Tests
10SCBA þ 20RHA 2.11 2.71 3.52 3.7 4.17 4.61 For measuring transport performance, the water absorption and
15SCBA þ 20RHA 2.07 2.28 3.43 3.6 4.06 4.46 capillary absorption of the mortar samples containing RHA and
20SCBA þ 15RHA 2.17 2.35 3.56 3.74 4.19 4.61 SCBA were measured at different time intervals. The performance
25SCBA þ 15RHA 2.19 2.38 3.59 3.78 4.23 4.65
of RHA was slightly better than SCBA in absorption. As shown

© ASCE 04018144-8 J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(7): 04018144

 120%

100%

Strength Activity Index (%)

80%

60%
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40%

20%

0%
10SCBA 15SCBA 20SCBA 25SCBA 10RHA 15RHA 20RHA 25RHA 30RHA

3 days 7 days 28 days 90 days

Fig. 8. SAI of SCBA and RHA at 3, 7, 28, and 90 days.

in Table 6, increasing the curing time and percentages of RHA re- Table 7. Results of capillary absorption index values of mortar mixtures
sulted in a reduction in the volume of permeable gel pores because (compared to the control sample)
of the filler effects of pozzolan particles that close the connections 7 days 28 days
between the pores. The percentage of water absorption of RHA
Mix design identifier 3h 6h 24 h 72 h 3h 6h 24 h 72 h
mortar decreased by 0.19% when the percentage replacement of
RHA was increased from 10 to 25% at 168 h. Water absorption 10SCBA 1.05 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.98 0.91 0.91 0.92
of both RHA and SCBA mortars was lower than the control sample 15SCBA 1.04 0.99 0.99 0.97 0.94 0.81 0.88 0.88
20SCBA 1.04 0.98 0.99 0.96 0.81 0.78 0.88 0.88
because of the filler effects, pozzolanic activity of RHA particles,
25SCBA 1.03 0.98 0.99 0.96 0.76 0.76 0.88 0.86
and secondary C-S-H products, which fill the pores (Ardalan et al. 10RHA 0.98 0.97 0.99 0.97 0.83 0.77 0.88 0.89
2017a). The same conclusion about the water absorption of con- 15RHA 0.98 0.96 0.98 0.97 0.79 0.74 0.86 0.87
crete with RHA as cement replacements was reached in previous 20RHA 0.97 0.95 0.98 0.95 0.75 0.73 0.86 0.84
investigations (Jamil et al. 2016; Memon et al. 2011; Kartini 2011). 25RHA 0.96 0.95 0.98 0.94 0.68 0.72 0.85 0.83
The total specific pore volumes of mortar decreased. The effect of 30RHA 0.96 0.94 0.97 0.94 0.67 0.7 0.81 0.82
SCBA on the sorptivity of the specimen was insignificant, and the 10SCBA þ 15RHA 0.87 0.95 1.01 1.02 0.72 0.83 0.89 0.88
further replacement of SCBA in mixtures had a slight effect on the 15SCBA þ 15RHA 0.81 0.91 0.96 0.97 0.79 0.86 0.95 0.93
10SCBA þ 20RHA 0.84 0.93 0.99 0.99 0.6 0.77 0.83 0.81
improvement of capillary absorption.
15SCBA þ 20RHA 0.78 0.87 0.9 0.93 0.65 0.73 0.86 0.83
The results of the capillary absorption tests at 7 and 28 days for 20SCBA þ 15RHA 0.76 0.82 0.86 0.83 0.72 0.72 0.8 0.8
various time intervals are displayed in Table 7. It also shows that 25SCBA þ 15RHA 0.69 0.77 0.84 0.84 0.74 0.79 0.91 0.91
every mortar mixture’s water absorption decreased at both ages
compared to the control sample. Although the effect of incorporat-
ing RHA into mortar mixtures is very slight at early ages, it signifi-
cantly decreases the amount of capillary absorption into specimens had the maximum drop in capillary absorption at 7 and 28 days,
at both ages because of gel pore reduction. which were 17.2 and 20.4% less than the control sample.
In mixtures with SCBA, capillary absorption of mortar speci-
mens improved slightly from 7 to 28 days. Moreover, increasing
the SCBA rate from 10 to 25% led to a higher loss in capillary Rapid Chloride Migration Test
absorption, which means getting a development in gel properties; The RCMT was carried out consistently with the NordTest Build
however, the differences are not significant. A greater reduction in 492 method at 28 and 90 days. Fig. 9 displays the nonsteady-state
the capillary absorption test by increasing RHA and SCBA content chloride migration coefficients calculated for each mixture at differ-
indicates denser gel pores, which is probably due to the early age ent ages, up to 90 days. The results agreed with other tests, such as
pozzolanic reaction. These kinds of reactions, which are very ef- water absorption, where penetrability decreased by using RHA and
fective based on pozzolanic performance, may lead to the develop- SCBA. Thus, both replacement materials improved the migration
ment of the C-S-H gel. The binary specimens have shown better coefficient at 28 and 90 days. In addition, by increasing the replace-
performance compared to other mixture designs at both the early ment level, the migration coefficient decreased considerably. This
and late ages. Among the ternary mixtures, 20SCBA þ 15RHA is attributed to a higher amount of SCBA, which delivers more SiO2

© ASCE 04018144-9 J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(7): 04018144

 35

30

Migration coefficient (×10−12 m2/s)

25

20

15

10

5
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by University of Exeter on 05/10/18. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

28 days 90 days

Fig. 9. Migration coefficients from RCMT at different ages up to 90 days.

to react with CaðOHÞ2 because of a larger volume of C-S-H gel and Table 8. Electrical resistivity of different mixtures of all ages
denser microstructure. Resistivity (Ω · m)
In binary specimens, RHA decreased the migration coefficient
more than SCBA and had better performance in durability improve- Mixture identifier 7 days 28 days 90 days
ment. This is due to the fact that the RHA had higher pozzolanic Control 50 61 113
activity than SCBA, which led to the quicker cement hydration and 10SCBA 31 80 151
greater magnitudes of hydration products, resulting in a denser mi- 15SCBA 34 103 199
20SCBA 37 124 242
crostructure. Therefore, the ability of RHA as a cement replacement
25SCBA 39 142 293
to enhance the chloride ions’ penetration resistivity in mortars is 10RHA 41 94 147
excellent. It seems that 28 days did not meet the criterion for a de- 15RHA 43 132 221
cision on the durability impact of RHA and SCBA. The further 20RHA 48 141 289
performance of cement replacement materials marginally emerged 25RHA 49 152 340
after 28 days of curing and was evident at later ages due to the 30RHA 41 188 364
progression of hydration reactions. Based on Fig. 9, the increasing 10SCBA þ 15RHA 38 111 229
rate of chloride resistivity is more perceptible between the ages of 15SCBA þ 15RHA 40 115 237
10SCBA þ 20RHA 43 137 354
28 and 90 days. The RCMT results obtained in this study were
15SCBA þ 20RHA 41 141 379
found to be in agreement with previous results obtained for the re- 20SCBA þ 15RHA 40 152 340
sistance of mixtures containing SCBA and RHA against chloride 25SCBA þ 15RHA 42 149 331
ion ingress (Cordeiro et al. 2012).
The ternary blended mixtures containing both SCBA and RHA
showed that SCBA and RHA enhanced the migration coefficient
better in comparison with other mixtures. Based on the obtained The values of all the samples were increased with aging, pri-
results, it is apparent that a 15SCBA þ 20RHA mixture design marily in the initial days. This high rate increase was attributed to
proved to have relatively higher resistance against chloride penetra- hydration and hardening. The porosity of mixtures reduced gradu-
tion in all cases, whereas the migration coefficient was enhanced by ally, and the electrical resistivity growth decreased. The samples
375% compared to the control mixture specimen at the age of used in this evaluation were cured by keeping the samples in lime-
90 days. This improvement in durability was attributed to the de- saturated water between test measurements. The replacement levels
velopment of the gel pore structure by the addition of pozzolanic of SCBA improved the electrical resistivity and showed incremen-
materials. tal trends. By adding 25% SCBA as a cementitious replacement
material, electrical resistivity increased up to 159% at the age of
90 days, whereas the RHA showed better durability in respect to
Electrical Resistivity
electrical resistivity with a 222% increase at the age of 90 days in
The bulk electrical resistivity of the mortar is a crucial factor that the 30RHA mixture design.
specifies the permeability of the mortar to harmful agents. It had a Another fact about electrical resistivity is its dependency on
significant correlation with the mortar microstructure, pore struc- sample age. Based on the obtained results, samples had lower elec-
ture, and conductive ions. The electrical resistivity results for mix- trical resistivity than the control mixture at the age of 7 days be-
tures are shown in Table 8. cause of their slow reactivity and low pozzolanic activity at earlier

© ASCE 04018144-10 J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(7): 04018144

 40
Acid Resistance of Mortars
Migration coefficient (×10−12 m2/s)
35

30 Weight Loss
The results were submerged at 28, 56, 90, 120, and 180 days sub-
25
y = 4148.8x-1.153 merged in acid after 28 days curing. The weight of the specimens
20 R² = 0.8639 after submersion was compared with their weight before exposure
15 to acid, and the weight loss was obtained, as shown in Fig. 11.
Almost all the specimens had the same weight loss until the 56th
10
day of exposure to acid. As shown in Fig. 11, the control sample
5 had the highest weight loss, which was more than 49%. The spec-
0
imens with SCBA experienced less weight loss, which may be be-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 cause of a high resistance of SCBA to loss of cement bonding in
Electrical Resistivity (Ω.m) the presence of an acid attack. The optimum dosage for SCBA in-
corporation was found to be 20%, which confirmed the results ob-
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Fig. 10. Scatter diagram of RCMT and electrical resistivity test results. tained in previous studies (Arenas-Piedrahita et al. 2016; Ganesan
et al. 2007). In RHA specimens, a composition of silica and poz-
zolans performed better than SCBA specimens. Among all the sam-
ages. This is principally attributed to the combined effect of poz- ples, ternary mixtures had better durability during the acid attack
with respect to weight loss. The slope of diagrams for the second
zolanic activity and filler packing. At the age of 7 days, pozzolanic
month of exposure was the highest rate, and then the slope de-
materials have little meaningful activity, and therefore fillers could
creased gradually. In Fig. 12, visible changes of specimens caused
not develop the mortar durability (Ramezanianpour et al. 2013).
by the acid attack are displayed. The dissolved sulfate ions may
However, the electrical resistivity values improved at later ages.
enter the capillary samples by placing them in a solution of sulfate,
Over time, pozzolanic materials’ hydration became higher at the
which expedites the process of degrading.
ages of 28 and 90 days in comparison to the control mixture. The
In high sulfate concentrations and pH conditions, the possibility
ternary blended mixtures have a higher resistivity, corresponding to
of transforming gypsum to ettringite exists, and the ettringite struc-
using both SCBA and RHA at the ages of 28 and 90 days, com-
ture is stable. Therefore, it can be concluded that fewer changes in
pared to binary mixtures.
pH could be the reason for more degradation in a sulfate solution.
To show the relationship between rapid chloride migration and
electrical resistivity test results at the two ages of 28 and 90 days, a Strength Reduction
parabolic curve is plotted as a scatter diagram in Fig. 10. As shown The compressive strengths of the mortars exposed to 1% sulfuric
in Fig. 10, the R2 value is 0.864, which indicates a high correlation acid solution after curing for 28 days in lime water are shown in
between the RCMT and electrical resistivity test results. It implies Table 9 at 3, 7, 28, and 90 days. The compressive strength of mor-
that high chloride migration coefficients correspond to the low elec- tars exposed to acid decreases for all mixtures compared to spec-
trical resistivity of mortars. imens cured in water at the same age.

50

45

40

35
Weight Loss (%)

30

25

20

15

10

28 days 56 days 90 days 120 days 180 days

Fig. 11. Weight loss test results caused by acid attack.

© ASCE 04018144-11 J. Mater. Civ. Eng.

J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 2018, 30(7): 04018144

 Control 7 days 28 days 56 days 90 days 120 days 180 days

Fig. 12. Mortars with SCBA and RHA replacing cement at 20% by mass exposed to 1% sulfuric acid solution for 7, 28, 56, 90, 120, and 180 days.

Table 9. Compressive strength results of mortar mixtures both RHA and SCBA at the same time does not necessarily in-
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Mixture identifier 3 days 7 days 28 days 90 days crease the strength.

• The results obtained from transport tests (water absorption and
Control 32.8 29.3 19.7 15.7
capillary absorption) revealed that the percentage of water ab-
10SCBA 23.8 21.9 17.1 14.8
15SCBA 26.3 23.4 20.1 17
sorption and the capillary absorption were reduced using the
20SCBA 25.8 22.7 21.4 16.5 RHA and SCBA. Similar to strength results, transport tests also
25SCBA 22 22.4 19.7 15.6 indicated that RHA is more effective.
10RHA 24.7 24.1 18.7 16.6 • According to RCMT test results, both replacement materials
15RHA 28 24.1 20.2 17.6 improved the migration coefficient at the ages of 28 and 90 days.
20RHA 27.6 23.6 20.6 19.3 In addition, by increasing the replacement level, the migration
25RHA 22 20.1 18.9 18.2 coefficient considerably decreased. The reason is mainly due to
30RHA 18 17.8 17.6 15.9 the fact that the higher amount of SCBA delivers more SiO2 to
10SCBA þ 15RHA 26.2 22.9 18 17.3 react with CaðOHÞ2 .
15SCBA þ 15RHA 29.2 26.4 18.9 16.9
• Electrical resistivity test results of mortars showed that electrical
10SCBA þ 20RHA 25.6 24.5 21.5 19.2
15SCBA þ 20RHA 24.2 23.4 20.2 19
resistance values increased with the incorporation of SCBA and
20SCBA þ 15RHA 22.6 21.5 20 19.4 RHA. However, aging was found to be a crucial factor, since the
25SCBA þ 15RHA 23.4 22.4 19.6 18.7 electrical resistance of mortars at the age of 7 days was relatively
lower than the control mixture. The 15SCBA þ 20RHA mix
had the highest electrical resistance among all the mixtures.
• The weight of specimens after submersion was compared with
The greatest loss in compressive strength among all the mixture their weight before exposure to acid, and the results indicated
designs belongs to the control sample. The losses at 3, 7, 28, and that almost all the specimens had the same weight loss until
90 days were over 3, 40, 66, and 76%, respectively. This means that 56 days exposed to acid. However, the results obtained at
using SCBA and RHA as cement replacement materials improved 180 days showed that the control sample had the highest weight
acid resistance and caused less strength loss. The strength reduc- loss, which was more than 49%. Incorporating SCBA and RHA
tion at early ages was greater than that at later ages. RHA speci- was found to be effective in the case of strength loss, since the
mens experienced less strength reduction in comparison to SCBA, greatest loss in compressive strength among all the mixture de-
indicating that under the same acidic conditions, using RHA as a signs was found to be for the control sample.
cement replacement could improve durability during an acid attack
and better resist the compressive loss. This is due to pozzolanic
reactions, which reduced both the permeability of the mortar and References
the penetration of sulfate ions into the capillary pores of the mortar.
In addition, using too much cement replacement showed adverse Abbas, S., S. M. Kazmi, and M. J. Munir. 2017. “Potential of rice husk ash
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