Construction and Building Materials 85 (2015) 1–8

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Properties of concrete with pumice powder and fly ash as cement

replacement materials
Nihat Kabay ⇑, M. Mansur Tufekci, Ahmet B. Kizilkanat, Didem Oktay
Yıldız Technical University, Department of Civil Engineering, Construction Materials Division, Davutpasa Campus, 34210 Esenler-Istanbul, Turkey

h i g h l i g h t s

 The effect of pumice powder and fly ash on concrete properties was investigated.
 Pumice powder and fly ash improved physical properties of concrete.
 Strength of concretes with pumice powder and fly ash were comparable to reference.
 Pumice powder and fly ash contributed to sulfate resistance of concrete.
 Pumice powder can be used in concrete where sulfate resistance is desired.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Turkey is rich in natural pozzolan and pumice is abundantly found in several regions of the country. In
Received 20 June 2014 this study, pumice powder (PP) and fly ash (FA) were used as cement replacement materials and the
Received in revised form 23 February 2015 effect of partial replacement of PP, FA and their blends by cement on physical, mechanical and durability
Accepted 4 March 2015
properties of concrete was investigated. Test results showed both PP and FA addition resulted in lower
Available online 28 March 2015
mechanical strength at early ages, but comparable strength at later ages compared to the reference
concrete. Replacement of cement with PP, FA and their blends resulted in concretes with decreased water
Keywords:
absorption, sorptivity and void content and higher magnesium sulfate resistance compared to the refer-
Pumice powder
Fly ash
ence concrete. Since pumice is abundantly found in Turkey, this material might be used as an additive in
Strength development concrete applications or as a precaution against magnesium sulfate attack.
Physical properties Ó 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Magnesium sulfate

1. Introduction
Environmentally friendly cement-based materials is a topic of
interest and cement replacement materials play an important role
in the construction industry considering economical, technological
and ecological points of view [1,2]. Therefore, the search for
alternative binders or cement replacement materials has been
the subject of many publications. Concrete materials should not
only possess good workability, excellent mechanical properties
and durability, but also offer environmental and economic benefits
[3]. Besides cost reduction and enhancement of workability of
fresh concrete, the use of pozzolans might help improve the
durability of concrete such as resistance to thermal cracking,
alkali-aggregate expansion, and sulfate attack [4].
A pozzolana is defined as a natural or artificial material which
contains reactive silica [5]. A more detailed definition is given in
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 212 3835245; fax: +90 212 3835133.
E-mail address: nkabay@yildiz.edu.tr (N. Kabay).
Ref. [6] and pozzolans are defined as materials that have little or
no cementitious value by themselves, however, when finely
divided and in the presence of moisture they will chemically react
with alkalis to form cementing compounds. The silica in a poz-
zolana has to be amorphous, or glassy, to be reactive [6]. Natural
pozzolans are generally derived from volcanic rocks and minerals
[4]. Turkey is rich in natural pozzolan, where almost 20% of the
country is covered by Tertiary and Quaternary-age volcanic rocks
[1], and pumice can be found in several regions of the country.
Pumice is a natural lightweight material of volcanic origin pro-
duced by the release of gases during the solidification of lava.
The cellular structure of pumice is created by the formation of bub-
bles or air voids when gases contained in the molten lava flowing
from volcanoes become trapped on cooling [7]. When lightweight
aggregates of pozzolanic materials were ground to very fine
powder, they could possess certain cementitious properties. At
the same time, when they mix with a certain amount of cement
and lime, their binding property increases [8]. Therefore the use
of pumice powder (PP) as cement replacement material has been

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.03.026
0950-0618/Ó 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
2 N. Kabay et al. / Construction and Building Materials 85 (2015) 1–8

the topic of a number of studies in the literature [1,2,7–10]. As Table 2

reported in a previous paper [11], the importance of using natural Particle size distribution of aggregates.

pozzolans in the cement industry requires a complete evaluation of Sieve opening (mm) Cumulative passing (%)
their effects on concrete and therefore there is still a need for fur- Fine aggregate Coarse aggregate
ther studies on the use of such natural pozzolans as cement
16 100 100
replacement materials, and their effects on concrete properties 11.2 100 87
should be investigated. In this study pumice is chosen as a natural 8 100 55
pozzolan because of its availability in Turkey and that it can be 4 100 0
easily grinded to obtain its powder without requiring high amount 2 75 0
1 50 0
of energy.
0.5 35 0
The most common artificial pozzolana is the fly ash (FA) which 0.25 15 0
is precipitated electrostatically or mechanically from the exhaust
gases of coal-fired power stations [5]. ASTM C 618 [12] classifies
FA into two groups as Class F and Class C, where Class F FA has poz- Table 3
zolanic properties and Class C FA in addition to having pozzolanic Chemical and physical properties of cement, pumice powder and fly ash.
properties, also has some cementitious properties.
Chemical compound (%) Cement Pumice Fly ASTM C 618
ASTM C 618 [12] presents chemical and physical requirements and physical properties powder ash requirements
for FA and natural pozzolana for use in concrete. ASTM 311 [13]
Natural F type
defines strength activity index to determine whether artificial pozzolana fly
(fly ash) or natural pozzolan results in an acceptable level of ash
strength development when used with hydraulic cement in con- SiO2 20.23 77.52 60.13 – –
crete. There is also a pozzolanic activity index with lime, which Al2O3 5.14 12.99 19.00 – –
determines the total activity of pozzolana [5,14]. EN 196-5 [15] Fe2O3 3.87 1.5 8.98 – –
defines a direct test for determining the pozzolanicity of poz- SiO2 + Al2O3 + Fe2O3 29.24 92.01 88.11 Min 70% Min
70%
zolanic cements which is also known in the literature as the
CaO 63.14 0.1 1.90 – –
Frattini test [16,17]. This test is based on chemical titration and MgO 1.25 0.4 4.77 – –
can accurately define the pozzolanic activity of blended Portland SO3 2.89 0.52 0.95 Max 4% Max
cements measuring the CH consumption released during PC hydra- 5%
Loss on ignition 1.55 5.42 1.69 Max 10% Max
tion [17].
6%
This study presents the results of the research conducted to Cl 0.0435 0.0096 – – –
assess the effect of partial replacement of PP, FA and their blends Na2O/K2O 0.27/ 0.12/ – – –
by cement on physical, mechanical and durability properties of 0.90 0.95
concrete. Therefore, seven concrete mixtures with various poz- Free CaO 1.2 – – – –
Specific gravity 3.14 2.32 2.21 – –
zolana contents up to 20% were cast and tested in order to evaluate
Specific surface (cm2/g) 3780 4400 3545 – –
the effect of PP, FA and their blends on standard consistency and
setting times of cement pastes and workability, void content, water
absorption, sorptivity, compressive strength, splitting tensile the limit value of 70%. Pozzolanic activity of PP and FA were also investigated
strength and magnesium sulfate resistance of concrete mixtures. according to the procedure explained in EN 196-5 [15]. Test results verified that
It should also be noted that chemical composition and properties both materials show pozzolanic activity (Fig. 1).
of pumice can vary place to place and might have different effects Polycarboxylic ether based superplasticizer was used in all mixtures at a con-
stant amount of 1.5% of the binder by weight and the slump values of concretes ran-
on concrete properties; therefore the results reported here repre-
ged between 18 and 25 cm.
sents the materials with particular properties. Table 4 summarizes the mix proportions and fresh concrete properties. Mixing
was performed in a 45 L capacity pan mixer with a vertical rotation axis and fresh
2. Experimental study concrete properties were determined after the mixing. A total of seven concrete
mixtures were prepared with constant water to binder ratio and binder content
2.1. Materials and mix proportions of 0.42 and 500 kg/m3, respectively. The mixtures were coded according to the poz-
zolanic material addition and content, where ‘‘R’’ defines the reference concrete
The materials used in the research consist of limestone coarse and fine aggre- with no pozzolana, ‘‘P’’ and ‘‘F’’ defines PP and FA inclusion, respectively, and the
gates, cement, chemical admixture, PP and FA. Physical properties and particle size numbers 5, 10 and 20 after P and F define the substitution ratio of regarding poz-
distribution of the aggregates are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The type zolana by cement by weight.
of cement used throughout the study was CEM I 42.5 R. PP was obtained by initially
oven drying the coarse pumice aggregates at around 100 °C to eliminate the free
water and then grinding them by a laboratory type disc grinder. The powder was
18
then sieved from 63 l and the passing material was used throughout the research.
16 PP
Physical properties of pumice aggregates used in this study can be found in Ref.
Calcium ion concentration

[18]. F type FA was also used in some mixtures as an artificial pozzolana. 14 FA

Chemical and physical properties of cement, PP and FA are presented in Table 3.
The curve of calcium ion
12 saturation concentration [15]
It can be clearly seen from the chemical analysis (Table 3) that the main com-
10
(mmol/L)

ponent of PP and FA is SiO2, where the main component of cement is CaO. ASTM C
618 [12] requires that the sum of SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 be more than 70% for natu- 8
ral pozzolans and F type FA. Table 3 shows that both PP and FA used in this study
confirm this and that the sum of the cementitious compounds is much above than
6
4
2
Table 1
0
Physical properties of aggregates.
35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Aggregate Particle size (mm) Particle density (kg/dm3)
Hydroxil ion concentration (mmol/L)
Fine aggregate 0–4 2.76
Coarse aggregate 2–11.2 2.81
Fig. 1. Diagram for assessing pozzolanicity of PP and FA.
 N. Kabay et al. / Construction and Building Materials 85 (2015) 1–8 3

Table 4
Mix proportions and fresh properties of concrete.

Mixture code Cement (kg) Pumice Fly ash (kg) Water (kg) Super Fine Coarse Slump (cm) Fresh density
powder (kg) plasticizer (kg) aggregate (kg) aggregate (kg) (kg/m3)
R 500 0 0 25 2472
P10 450 50 0 21 2444
P20 400 100 0 18 2406
F10 450 0 50 210 7.5 944.1 787.9 23 2456
F20 400 0 100 24 2428
P5–F5 450 25 25 18 2444
P10–F10 400 50 50 20 2406

2.2. Sample preparation and testing procedure
The effect of substituting cement by PP, FA and their blends on concrete proper-
ties was evaluated by several physical, mechanical and durability tests. Workability
of concretes was assessed by slump test. Initial slump values were taken at around
15 min (this time includes the duration of mixing) and the test was repeated at
15 min intervals until 60 min to determine slump loss. Setting time and standard
consistence tests were also determined on cement paste specimens that contain
the same amount of PP and FA as in the concrete mixtures according to EN 196-3
[19]. The water to binder ratio of the pastes was adjusted for each mixture to get
the standard consistency. In order to determine the initial and final setting time
of the pastes, Vicat mould was filled with the corresponding paste and the needle
was lowered gently until it was in contact with the paste and then the moving parts
were released quickly and the needle was allowed to penetrate vertically into the
paste. The scale readings were recorded at 10 min intervals and the time at which
the distance between the needle and the base-plate is 6 ± 3 mm was considered as
the initial setting time of the cement. The time at which the needle first penetrates
only 0.5 mm into the specimen was considered as the final setting time.
Physical tests consisted of determining sorptivity, bulk dry density, water
absorption and void content of concretes and the mechanical tests were compres-
sion test and splitting tensile test. Physical and mechanical properties were deter-
mined at 7, 28, 90 and 180 days. The specimens were cured in water until the test
date. Durability of concretes was evaluated by exposing the concrete specimens to
magnesium sulfate solution.
Sorptivity test was performed on two disc specimens with dimensions of Ø100/
50 mm according to ASTM C 1585 [20]. The side surfaces of each specimen were
sealed with paraffin and the top of the specimen not contacting with water was
sealed by using a loosely attached plastic sheet. The mass of the sealed specimen
was measured and then placed in a pan with supports. The pan was filled with
water so that the water level is 1 to 3 mm above the top of the support. The mass
of the specimen was measured at 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60, 120, 180, 240, 300 and 360 min
and the sorptivity was calculated according to ASTM C 1585 [20].
Bulk dry density, water absorption and void content of concretes were deter-
mined according to ASTM C 642 [21] on two disc specimens with dimensions of
Ø100/50 mm. The specimens were initially oven dried at 105 ± 5 °C for at least
24 h, cooled to room temperature in a desiccator and weighed (A). Afterwards they
were placed in a suitable container, covered with tap water and boiled for 5 h. The
specimens were then kept in the container to naturally cool and the soaked, boiled,
surface-dried mass (C) was recorded. After immersion and boiling, the apparent
mass of the specimens in water were recorded (D). Bulk dry density (Dd, kg/m3),
water absorption (Wa, %) and void content (Vc, %) of the concretes were determined
by Eqs. (1), (2) and (3), respectively.
A
Dd ¼ ð1Þ
ðC  DÞ
ðC  AÞ
Wa ¼
A
 100 ð2Þ
ðC  AÞ
Vc ¼  100 ð3Þ
ðC  DÞ
were placed in sulfate solution, and further weighed at 7, 14, 21, 28, 90, 180, 300
and 360 days. Compressive strength of the specimens exposed to magnesium sul-
fate solution and their references that were kept in water are determined at 180
and 360 days.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Setting time and workability
The variation of standard consistency and setting times of
cement pastes with different percentage of PP, FA and their blends
are presented in Table 5. Paste specimens were coded as C, C–P10,
C–P20, C–F10, C–F20, C–P5–F5 and C–P10–F10 where C represents
the reference paste whose binder is cement only, P and F repre-
sents PP and FA addition, respectively, and numbers 5, 10 and 20
represents the substitution ratio (%) of pozzolana by cement by
weight. The results show that PP addition results in an increase
in the water content to achieve the standard consistency, which
could be due to the rough and porous structure of PP (Fig. 2).
Similar results were also observed on C–P5–F5 and C–P10–F10
pastes where cement was replaced by a blend of PP and FA. On
the other hand FA addition did not have an adverse effect on the
consistency of the pastes due to its spherical shape (Fig. 2); in
C–F10 and C–F20 paste mixes, standard consistency was obtained
with the same water content as in reference paste (C).
Effect of pozzolana addition on setting times of pastes is shown
in Table 5. Pozzolana addition increased both the initial and final
setting times of the pastes, indicating a slower hydration process
compared to the reference paste. As indicated by Hossain [2], the
slow hydration means low rate of heat development which is of
great importance in mass concrete construction. Therefore the
replacement of PP, FA and their blends with cement at specific
ratios might be useful in such mass concretes, besides other gen-
eral use.
Table 6 presents the variation of slump values of the concrete
mixtures by time and Fig. 3 visually presents the slump forms of
the mixtures. Since the superplasticizer content, binder content
and water to binder ratios were constant in the mixtures, Table 6
and Fig. 3 provides information about how PP, FA and their blends
affect the workability and cohesiveness of concrete. Fig. 3 shows
that the test yielded a true slump [24] in all mixtures and that
the mixtures preserved their plasticity and cohesiveness even at
60 min.

Compressive strength and splitting tensile strength were determined on three

150 mm cube and Ø100/100 mm cylinder specimens according to EN 12390-3
Table 5
[22] and EN 12390-6 [23], respectively.
Standard consistency and setting times of cement pastes.
The resistance of concrete mixtures to magnesium sulfate attack was evaluated
by visual examination, mass change, and compressive strength change. After Mix code C C– C– C– C– C–P5– C–P10–
28 days of curing in water, the concrete specimens with dimensions of 70  70  P10 P20 F10 F20 F5 F10
70 mm were divided into two groups. One group was continuously cured in water
Water content 26 28 31 26 26 28 29
while the second group was placed in containers where magnesium sulfate concen-
(% of binder)
tration was 10%. Magnesium sulfate solution in the containers was renewed every
Initial setting 70 100 140 130 120 130 120
2 weeks in the first 3 months and every month for the remaining time of period.
time (min)
Photographs of the specimens were taken before exposure to magnesium sulfate
Final setting time 180 190 240 230 210 200 220
solution, and then after 180 and 360 days of exposure for visual examinations. In
(min)
order to determine the mass changes, the specimens were weighed before they
4 N. Kabay et al. / Construction and Building Materials 85 (2015) 1–8

(a) (b)

Fig. 2. SEM image of fly ash (a) and pumice powder (b) particles.

Table 6
15 min
Slump test results. 100
30 min
Test time (min) R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5–F5 P10–F10
90 45 min

Relative slump (%)

15 (initial) 25 21 18 23 24 18 20 60 min
30 21 19 12 20 19 15 15 80
45 18 17 11 17 17 14 13
60 17 16 10 16 15 13 12 70

60

Reference concrete (R) possessed the highest initial slump value 50

of 25 cm and substitution of PP with cement resulted in a decrease R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10
in the slump values. This effect increased with the increase in the
Concrete mixtures
PP content where P20 mix possessed the lowest slump value of
18 cm. On the other hand, only a slight decrease occurred in the Fig. 4. Relative slump of concretes.
slump of concretes when FA was used. This could be due to the
spherical shape of the FA particles (Fig. 2). Since PP particles exhi-
bit a porous structure and irregular shape (Fig. 2), this might have 72% and 70% of their initial slump value at 60 min, respectively,
resulted in a decrease in the slump values of concretes. which are slightly higher than that of the reference (68%).
Fig. 4 presents the relative slump of concrete mixtures. It can be Highest slump losses occurred in the mixtures P20, P10–F10 and
noticed that concrete mixtures P10, P5–F5 and F10 preserve 76%, F20 as 42%, 40% and 37%, respectively, which were also higher than

Time
R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10
(min)

15

30

45

60

Fig. 3. Slump photographs of the concrete mixtures at 15, 30, 45 and 60 min.
 N. Kabay et al. / Construction and Building Materials 85 (2015) 1–8 5

that of the reference (32%). This result shows that the replacement 7
of PP, FA and their blends by 20% of cement by weight has a nega-

Water absorption (Wa, %)

7 days
tive effect on long term (60 min) concrete workability, and this 6 28 days
should be well considered when using such materials where a
90 days
longer time of slump preservation is desired. 5 180 days

3.2. Physical properties 4

Figs. 5–7 present the void content, water absorption and bulk 3
dry density of concretes at 7, 28, 90 and 180 days, respectively. R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10
Figs. 5 and 6 indicate that the void content and water absorption
Concrete mixtures
of concretes gradually decreases with an increase in concrete
age, while the bulk dry density of concretes increase with concrete Fig. 6. Water absorption of concretes.
age (Fig. 7). Void content of the concretes varied between 13.4%
and 15.6% at 7 days, where P20 mixture possessed the lowest
value. At this early age (7 days), both the replacement of PP and 7 days
FA with cement provided slightly lower void contents compared 28 days
to the reference. This could be explained by the filling up of pores 2400
90 days

Bulk dry density (Dd, kg/m3)

and voids by PP and FA. Void content of the mixtures continued to
180 days
decrease at later ages and P10–F10, P20 and P5–F5 mixtures had 2350
clearly lower void content values than the other concrete mixtures
at 180 days as 8.2%, 8.7% and 8.8%, respectively, where this value
2300
was 11.2% for the reference concrete. This can be attributed to
the pozzolanic reactions which results in more dense structure in
2250
concrete. In general, it can be noted that the effect of PP and FA
replacement on the void content of concrete was more significant
at 180 days where the void content of pozzolana added concretes 2200
were 4.1–26.5% lower than the reference concrete. R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10
The water absorption results showed a similar trend with void Concrete mixtures
content, where the absorption values of concretes decreased by
curing time. Test results (Fig. 6) show that the major effect of PP Fig. 7. Bulk dry density of concretes.
and FA addition on absorption takes place at 180 days, where the
lowest values were observed. At this age P10–F10 mix possessed
200
the lowest water absorption value as 3.4%, where the highest value 7 days
180
Sorptivity (x10-4 mm/s0.5)

belongs to the reference concrete as 4.7%. At 7 days, P20, F10 and 160 28 days
F20 mixes had lower absorption values than the reference con- 140 90 days
crete, P20 mix possessing the lowest as 5.8%. 120 180 days
Fig. 7 shows that the density of concretes increased with curing 100
time where the highest values are obtained at 180 days. At 7 days 80
the density of PP and FA added concretes showed slightly lower den- 60
40
sity values than the reference. At the other ages, however, density
20
values of concretes were similar and in some cases PP and FA added 0
concretes possessed higher density values than the reference. R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10
Sorptivity test results of the concrete mixtures are plotted in
Concrete mixtures
Fig. 8, where it can be noticed that the sorptivity of concretes
decrease by curing time and the lowest values are observed at Fig. 8. Sorptivity of concretes.
180 days. Pozzolana addition resulted in a decrease in sorptivity
of concretes at 7 days and 90 days when compared to the refer-
ence, where the lowest values belong to P10 at 7 days as 180 days, sorptivity of F10 and F20 mixtures yielded the highest
136  104 mm/s0.5 and P20 at 90 days as 77  104 mm/s0.5. At values as 87  104 and 80  104 mm/s0.5, respectively, however
sorptivity of the other mixtures including the reference were
similar and P10–F10 mixture possessed the lowest value as
16 59  104 mm/s0.5.
7 days The results of physical properties indicate that the use of both
Void content (Vc, %)

14 28 days PP and FA, in most cases, results in a denser microstructure with

90 days lower porosity and absorption characteristics and therefore is
12 180 days expected to contribute to the durability of concrete by preventing
the absorption of detrimental chemical solutions. The enhance-
10 ment in the physical properties can be attributed to the pore filling
effect of fine PP and FA particles.
8
R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10 3.3. Mechanical properties
Concrete mixtures
The average of compressive and splitting tensile strength of
Fig. 5. Void content of concretes. concretes is presented in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively, where it
6 N. Kabay et al. / Construction and Building Materials 85 (2015) 1–8

95 7 days
that the relative strength development is higher in mixtures which
90 contain PP and/or FA when compared to that of the reference, at
Compressive strength (MPa)

85 28 days 28, 90 and 180 days. At 180 days P20, F20 and F10 mixtures
80 90 days possessed more than 50% of their strength at 7 days as 56%, 54%
75
and 51%, respectively, where this value was only 36% in the
70 180 days
reference concrete. Test results showed that after possessing a
65
60 lower strength at 7 days (Figs. 9 and 10), the continued pozzolanic
55 activity of PP and FA contributed to increased strength gains at
50 later ages.
45 Although PP had a higher pozzolanic activity than FA (Fig. 1), the
R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10 compressive strength of concretes with PP were found to be lower
Concrete mixture than those with FA at early and later ages. This can be due to the
fact that; at early ages, the pH of the Portland cement system is
Fig. 9. Compressive strength of concretes.
about 12.5 and not enough alkalinity is available for the dissolution
of the PP and FA particles, therefore these particles might be con-
5.5 sidered as relatively inert to the hydration mechanism and would
7 days
Splitting tensile strength (MPa)

only contribute to the physical properties such as particle packing

28 days
5.0 of the structure. F10 mix possessed the highest final compressive
90 days
strength amongst all mixes. Relatively considering PP and FA; the
4.5 180 days
FA has spherical particles (Fig. 2) which contribute to ball bearing
4.0
effect that gives a good workability and a denser packing at early
ages which on hydration gives a denser microstructure with C–S–
3.5 H. Thus FA gains more strength than PP at early and later ages.

3.0
3.4. Sulfate resistance
R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10
Concrete mixture
Sulfate resistance of concrete is of great importance and has
Fig. 10. Splitting tensile strength of concretes. been the topic of many studies in the literature [1,25–36]. Mehta
and Monteiro [4] reported that due to magnesium sulfate attack,
the conversion of calcium hydroxide to gypsum (Eq. (4)) is accom-
panied by the simultaneous formation of magnesium hydroxide,
Relative compressive strength (%)

160 7 days
150
and that in the absence of hydroxyl ions in the solution, C–S–H is
28 days
no longer stable and is also attacked by the sulfate solution
140 90 days
(Eq. (5)). A similar explanation was given by [35] and it is noted
130 180 days by [37] that magnesium sulfate attack on the cement matrix
120
results with the disintegration of the C–S–H gel to a non-
110
cementitious M–S–H gel.
100
90 MgSO4 þ CaðOHÞ2 þ 2H2 O ! CaSO4  2H2 O þ MgðOHÞ2 ð4Þ
80
R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10 3MgSO4 þ 3CaO  2SiO2  3H2 O þ 8H2 O
Concrete mixtures ! 3ðCaSO4  2H2 OÞ þ 3MgðOHÞ2 þ 2SiO2  H2 O ð5Þ
Fig. 11. Relative compressive strength development of concretes. In this study, magnesium sulfate resistance of concrete
mixtures was evaluated by visual observations, mass change mea-
surements and compressive strength variation of the specimens.
can be seen that the strength of concretes with PP, FA and their
blends possessed lower values at 7 days when compared to the
3.4.1. Visual inspection
reference. This could be explained by the substitution of cement
Photographs of the specimens were taken after 0, 180 and
by a relatively slow reacting material (PP and/or FA). Hossain [7]
360 days of magnesium sulfate exposure for visual evaluations
reported that compressive strength of cement mortars with
(Fig. 12). In all concrete series the first sign of magnesium sulfate
volcanic pumice powder replaced by cement by various contents
effect was the deterioration of the corners of the specimens. The
(up to 25% by weight) resulted in a decrease at 1, 3, 7 and 28 days.
effect was more obvious at 360 days where in some cases deteri-
The author also pointed out that the strength reduction is
oration of the edges and the surfaces of the specimens were
decreased with the increase of age. In this study, a gradual increase
noticed. Dehwah [35] reported that due to sulfate attack, formation
by curing time was observed for each mixture and strength values
of gypsum would show signs of etching of the concrete skin and
were comparable to the reference at later ages.
that this would ultimately lead to the exposure of aggregates.
The compressive strength of the mixtures containing PP, FA and
This type of deterioration was clearly observed after 360 days of
their blends decreased when the pozzolanic material content was
exposure on the reference specimens (R), where Fig. 12 shows that
increased at all ages, the exception was however P20 mixture,
at the edges of the reference specimen, the mortar layer was
where a slight increase was observed at 180 days when compared
softened and destroyed and the aggregates were exposed. Similar
to P10.
degradation was also observed on other specimens, especially
Fig. 11 presents the relative compressive strength development
which contain FA (F10 and F20) but the degree of the degradation
of concrete mixtures by curing time. Strength development was
was lower than the reference. On the other hand, after 360 days
calculated separately for each mixture by dividing their strength
of exposure, specimens belonging to P10 and P20 mixtures
at 28, 90 and 180 days by their strength at 7 days. The results show
performed best, showing only a slight degradation. Visual
 N. Kabay et al. / Construction and Building Materials 85 (2015) 1–8
Time of
R P10 P20
exposure
180
360
Fig. 12. Visual appearance of specimens before and after exposed to magnesium sulfate.
observations showed that when exposed to magnesium sulfate
attack, the use of FA had no significant contribution to concrete
compared to those with PP, however, in concrete mixtures where
part of the cement was replaced with a blend of FA and PP
(P5–F5 and P10–F10), degradation of the concretes was observed
to be lower than that of the concretes only with FA (F10 and F20).
3.4.2. Mass change
Fig. 13 presents the mass change of the specimens exposed to
magnesium sulfate solution, where it shows that the mass of all
specimens increase until 90 days. The increase in mass can be
attributed to the filling up of pores and voids through the ingress
of sulfate ions, by crystals of gypsum and/or ettringite [33,38].
After 90 days, a decrease in the mass of reference concrete (R)
can be noticed while the other mixtures showed none. However
after 180 days mass loss is obvious in all mixtures and at 360 days
F20 mixture possessed the highest mass loss followed by R, P10
and F10, while P20, P5–F5 and P10–F10 had the lowest mass loss
values.
3.4.3. Compressive strength change
Fig. 14 presents the average relative compressive strength
values of concretes exposed to magnesium sulfate solution at
180 days and 360 days, respectively. Relative compressive strength
values were obtained by dividing the compressive strength of con-
cretes exposed to magnesium sulfate solution by the compressive
strength of the specimens cured in water. It is clear from the figure
that magnesium sulfate exposure results in a decrease in the com-
pressive strength of concretes and its effect increases with the
1.2
1.0
0.8
Mass change (%)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2 0 90 180 270 360
-0.4
-0.6
Days
Fig. 13. Mass change of specimens exposed to magnesium sulfate.
7
F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10
100
Relative compressive strength (%) 180 days
90
360 days
80
70
60
50
R P10 P20 F10 F20 P5-F5 P10-F10
Concrete mixture
Fig. 14. Relative compressive strength of mixtures exposed to magnesium sulfate.
exposure time. At both ages, the detrimental effect of sulfate solu-
tion was mostly observed on the reference concrete (R) specimens.
On the other hand pozzolana addition provided a significant con-
tribution, and P20 and P10–F10 mixtures showed the lowest
strength losses as 23% and 22% at 360 days, respectively, where
this value was 44% in the reference specimens. The literature
presents conflicting results, where some report that pozzolana
addition increases the magnesium sulfate resistance of concrete
[25,30–32,34,36,39,40], and others report the opposite [9,26,
35,37]. In this study, concrete mixtures with the addition of PP,
FA and their blends performed well against magnesium sulfate
attack and the increase in the replacement ratio of pozzolans from
10% to 20% contributed to the relative compressive strength of con-
cretes after 180 and 360 days of exposure to magnesium sulfate.
The overall results obtained from magnesium sulfate exposure
showed that the replacement of Portland cement with pozzolanic
R
materials had beneficial effects on concrete. This enhancement
P10 can be attributed to the reduction in the cement content. More
specifically, the replacement of part of the cement by a pozzolan
P20
results in a reduction in the C3A content and therefore the
F10 aluminate-bearing phases reduce and the formation of ettringite
is mitigated. The secondary C–S–H formed by the pozzolanic reac-
F20
tions create a film on the alumina-rich and other reactive phases
P5-F5 thereby hindering the formation of ettringite which also results
in the densification of the hardened cement paste since it is depos-
P10-F10
ited in the pores thereby making blended cements impermeable
and, therefore, sulfate ions cannot easily diffuse through the con-
crete matrix [41].
8 N. Kabay et al. / Construction and Building Materials 85 (2015) 1–8
4. Conclusions
This study reports the test results on the use of PP, FA and their
blends in concrete as cement replacement materials. The main
conclusions of the study may be summarized as follows:
1. The addition of PP decreased the slump value of concrete, while
FA addition had no significant effect. On the other hand the
inclusion of PP, FA and their blends, in some cases (at 10%
replacement ratio), contributed to the preservation of slump
values of concrete up to 60 min.
2. Replacement of PP, FA and their blends with cement resulted in
concrete with lower water absorption, sorptivity and void
content values compared to the reference.
3. The addition of PP, FA and their blends in replacement with
cement, as expected, decreased the early age compressive and
splitting tensile strength of concretes, however at later ages
(28, 90 and 180 days) the strength values were comparable
with that of the reference concrete.
4. Magnesium sulfate resistance of all mixtures containing PP, FA
and their blends were higher than that of the reference concrete
after 180 and 360 days of exposure considering the compressive
strength change. P20 and P10–F10 mixtures turned out to be
the ones performing best against magnesium sulfate attack
after 360 days of exposure to magnesium sulfate.
5. In the scope of this study, PP addition provided contributions to
concrete properties considering physical, mechanical and dura-
bility test results. Since pumice is abundantly found in many
parts of Turkey and can easily be grinded to obtain its powder,
Turkish cement and concrete industry might consider using this
material as additive in general concrete applications or as a
precaution against magnesium sulfate attack.
Acknowledgements
This research was carried out in the Faculty of Civil Engineering
at Yıldız Technical University. The authors would like to acknowl-
edge the laboratory staff for their helps.
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