Effect of curing conditions and Ca(OH)2-treated aggregates on mechanical properties of rice husk and hemp concretes using a lime-based binder

Results show that lime-water treatment improved compressive strength of rice husk-based concrete but halved that of hemp concrete. As regards the impact of curing conditions, it was shown that compressive strength of hydraulic lime mortars after 28 days can be strongly increased with moist curing and elevated temperature. However, plant-based concretes suffer from a high leaching of polysaccharides in the binder and from a transition zone between aggregates and binder of very poor quality when they are subjected to moist curing. This led to unchanged or even lower mechanical performances of plant-based concretes in the case of high RH and elevated temperature compared to 20 °C-50%RH.