Use of binary and ternary blends in high strength concrete

Combinations of cement additions may provide more benefits for concrete than a single one. In this study, 80 high strength concretes containing several types and amounts of additions were produced. In the first stage, silica fume contents in binary blends that give the highest strengths were determined for different binder contents. In the second stage, a third binder (Class F or Class C fly ash or ground granulated blast furnace slag) was introduced to the concretes already containing Portland cement and silica fume in the amounts found in the first stage. Results indicated that ternary blends almost always made it possible to obtain higher strengths than Portland cement + silica fume binary mixtures provided that the replacement level by the additions was chosen properly. Moreover, the performance of slag in the ternary blends was better than Class F fly ash but worse than Class C fly ash.