Influence of type of binder on high-performance sintered fly ash lightweight aggregate concrete

Concrete industry consumes natural resources in a massive manner. As the demand for concrete is growing, one of the effective ways to minimize the harmful effect of concrete is to improve its structural efficiency and durability performance. In the current study, the possibility of making high performance structural lightweight aggregate concrete using sintered flyash aggregate was investigated. The study also identifies the influence of silica fume and metakaolin on the performance of the lightweight aggregate concrete. The mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, splitting tensile, elastic modulus and drying shrinkage, and the durability properties like surface resistivity, chloride migration, carbonation rate and corrosion rate were investigated. All the developed concretes attain the strength required to qualify them as high strength concretes. The results demonstrate that the improvements in mechanical properties are marginal by the inclusion of silica fume and metakaolin, whereas significant enhancement to durability was observed. The carbonation results indicates that carbonation is no longer a concern for the developed concretes. It was also noticed that the mechanical and durability properties enhanced with age of curing.