Development of concrete mixtures with fine lime-pozzolan binder as supplementary cementitious material

Abstract

The very high concrete strength and durability achieved in high and ultra-high-performance concrete is associated with a very dense matrix, accomplished through the use of high volumes of very fine mineral additions, such as fly ash, silica-fume, metakaolin and ground quartz sand. The paper reports on a study where a finely ground lime-pozzolan binder (LPB) is used as active mineral addition in concrete. The very fine lime particles, having size between 0.1-lOum, can fill the gaps between cement grains, while the larger pozzolan particles, having size between 10-lOQim, can fill the gaps between fine aggregate grains; this results in a much denser matrix. The addition of lime during concrete mixing also increases the Ca⁺² and OH ion concentration, which results in a better and faster hydration of both ordinary portland cement (OPC) and pozzolanic reaction products. The use of LPB as an active addition in some ultra-high performance concretes could lowe the cost of the product for equivalent strength and durability performance, through the use of less cement, thus improving the ecologic profile of the material. Results from an initial series of tests are examined in this paper; further testing is required to establish the benefits of the use of LPC in High Performance Concrete. Examples of applications of this work in concretes are also presented.