Search Results (2)

The development of self-compacting lightweight concretes is associated with solving two conflicting tasks: achieving a structure with both high flowability and homogeneity. This study aimed to identify the technological and rheological characteristics of the flow of concrete mixtures D1400…D1600 based on hollow microspheres in comparison with heavy fine-grained D2200 concrete and to establish their structural and physico-mechanical characteristics. The study of the concrete mixtures was carried out using the slump flow test and the rotational viscometry method. The physical and mechanical properties were studied using standard methods for determining average density and flexural and compressive strength. According to the results of the research conducted, differences in the flow behaviors of concrete mixtures on dense and hollow aggregates were found. Lightweight concretes on hollow microspheres exhibited better mobility than heavy concretes. It was shown that the self-compacting coefficients of the lightweight D1400...D1600 concrete mixtures were comparable with that of the heavy D2200 concrete. The rheological curves described by the Ostwald–de Waele equation showed a dilatant flow behavior of the D1400 concrete mixtures, regardless of the ratio of quartz powder to fractionated sand. For D1500 and D1600, the dilatant flow behavior changed to pseudoplastic, with a ratio of quartz powder to fractional sand of 25/75. The studied compositions of lightweight concrete can be described as homogeneous at any ratio of quartz powder to fractional sand. It was shown that concrete mixtures with a pronounced dilatant flow character had higher resistance to segregation. The value of the ratio of quartz powder to fractional sand had a statistically insignificant effect on the average density of the studied concretes. However, the flexural and compressive strengths varied significantly more in heavy concretes (up to 38%) than in lightweight concretes (up to 18%) when this factor was varied. The specific strength of lightweight and heavy concrete compositions with a ratio of quartz powder to fractional sand of 0/100 had close values in the range of 20.4...22.9 MPa, and increasing the share of quartz powder increased the difference between compositions of different densities. Full article

The production and servicing of cement-based building materials is a source of large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions globally. One of the ways to reduce its negative impact, is to reduce concrete consumption per cubic meter of building structure through the introduction of hollow concrete products. At the same time, to maintain the load-bearing capacity of the building structure, it is necessary to significantly increase the strength of the concrete used. However, an increase in strength should be achieved not by increasing cement consumption, but by increasing the efficiency of its use. This research is focused on the development of technology for the production of thin-walled hollow concrete blocks based on high-strength, self-compacting, dispersed, micro-reinforced, fine-grained concrete. The use of this concrete provides 2–2.5 times higher strength in the amount of Portland cement consumed in comparison with ordinary concrete. The formation of external contours and partitions of thin-walled hollow blocks is ensured through the use of disposable formwork or cores used as void formers obtained by FDM 3D printing. This design solution makes it possible to obtain products based on high-strength concrete with higher structural and thermal insulation properties compared to now existing lightweight concrete-based blocks. Another area of application of this technology could be the production of wall structures of free configuration and cross-section due to their division, at the digital modeling stage, into individual element-blocks, manufactured in a factory environment. Full article