Title : EFFECT OF BIO-MATERIALS AS SELF CURING AGENTS IN FLY ASH BASED CONCRETE
Authors : Dr. R Malathy
Publication : 8 - 10, October 2015
Volume : 1
Pages :
Price : 250
Abstract : The curing of concrete plays a vital role in imparting strength to the concrete which maintains moisture in the concrete during early ages. This occurs specifically within 28 days of placing concrete to develop desired properties. The curing process plays a major role in developing the concrete microstructure and pore structure. Curing may be done either by the introduction of additional water for a period of time or by the reduction in the rate of evaporation from the surface. Ponding, spraying or using coverings of wet hessian or burlap are generally the methods used for curing. Ponding and spraying are, in fact, effective methods of curing. But such curing practices result in a number of practical problems. Also insufficient curing results in reduction of strength of concrete, which will end up in an increase in the cost of structures. Proper curing may not be possible by external means always and hence internal methods are coming up. The main aim of this paper is to utilize the vegetative polymeric materials extracted from Spinacia oleracea and Calotropis Gigantea as admixtures for internal curing. The dosage of admixtures to attain optimum strength of concrete was obtained as 0.24% and 0.6% by weight of cement for Calotropis gigantean and Spinacia oleracea respectively. To attain a good quality construction, this self cured concrete with vegetative admixtures will be effective, eco friendly and cost effective. In this paper, an attempt has been made with the fly ash based concrete at various replacement levels and the compressive strength tests and pulse velocity measurements were done and the results are found to be promising. The initiative on vegetative admixtures as self curing agents in this research work may lead to further extensive research in this area to make the concrete a sustainable one.