Development of sustainable self-compacting concrete utilising silico manganese fume

Abstract

This study investigated the possibility of developing self-compacting concrete (SCC) utilising silicomanganese fume (SMF), an industrial waste material. SCC was produced by replacing cement with 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90% SMF. First, an assessment of the fresh properties of 10 SCC mixtures was carried out, and then mixtures satisfying the fresh requirements were selected for further evaluation. Plastic shrinkage and setting time of the fresh SMF-SCC mixtures were measured, and thereafter the mechanical properties and drying shrinkage were evaluated. The incorporation of SMF increased the dosage of superplasticizer required for a certain flow, but it enhanced the filling ability and passing ability of SCC. In addition, the incorporation of SMF increased the plastic and drying shrinkage, as well as initial and final setting times. Although there was an improvement in mechanical properties of SCC mixtures containing 10 and 20% SMF, increasing the quantity of SMF beyond 20% negatively affected the mechanical properties. Furthermore, the use of SMF decreased the cost of SCC by 7–42% and the CO₂ emission decreased by 10–68%.

Keywords:

• Self-compacting concrete
• sustainable
• silico manganese fume
• limestone powder
• fresh properties
• hardened properties
• plastic shrinkage
• CO₂ emission

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the support provided by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Construction and Building Materials, and the Applied Research Centre for Metrology, Standards, and Testing at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. We also thank Saudi BASF, Al-Khobar and SABAYEK company, Al-Jubail, for generously supplying the chemical admixtures and silico-manganese fume.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.