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Structs 2016
Conventional concrete need water curing for a minimum of 28 days to achieve its target strength.
Hence water curing is very much essential to prevent unsatisfactory properties of cement concrete. In
order to have good curing, excess of evaporation from the surface need to be prevented. Self-curing
concrete is one of the special concretes which is gaining importance in recent days as it avoids errors
which were caused by human, structures which are not accessible, terrains where curing becomes
difficult and in places where the fluoride content badly influences the property of concrete. This kind
of curing technique can widely be practiced in places where there is scarcity of water. Polyethylene
glycol is non-toxic, odorless, neutral, lubricating, non-volatile and non-irritating and is used in a variety
of pharmaceuticals. Thus, it is a shrinkage reducing admixture. The aim of this investigation is to study
the strength and durability properties of concrete using water soluble Polyethylene Glycol (PEG 400)
0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and 2% as self-curing agent and 10% of silica fume in common using for M25 grade
concrete. The compressive strength at 3 days, 7 days and 28 days have been obtained with normal
curing and self curing condition. It was found that a maximum compressive strength of 47.8 N/mm 2
and split tensile strength 5.16 N/mm2 with 1% of PEG-400 was observed. The durability of self curing
concrete with PEG 400 when exposed to 10% of HCl, H2SO4 and Na2SO4 showed a promising effect.
Thus the self curing concrete ensures a remarkable effect on strength and durable property.
Keywords: Durability, PEG-400, Self-curing concrete, Compressive strength, Split tensile strength, Water retention
INTRODUCTION
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Mailam Engineering College, Mailam, Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu 604304,
India.
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Mailam Engineering College, Mailam, Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu 604304, India.
MATERIALS
Cement
The Ordinary Portland cement of 43-grade
PPC was used in this study conforming to
IS: 12269-1987. The specific gravity of cement
is 3.15. The initial and final setting times were
found as 30 minutes and 600 minutes
respectively. Standard consistency of cement
was 29%.
Fine Aggregates
The river sand is used as fine aggregate
conforming to the requirements of IS: 3831970, having specific gravity of 2.54 and
fineness modulus of 3.25 has been used as
fine aggregate for this study.
Coarse Aggregate
Coarse aggregate obtained from local quarry
units has been used for this study,
conforming to IS: 383-1970 is used. Maximum
size of aggregate used is 20mm with specific
gravity of 2.6 and fineness modulus of 7.3.
The aggregates were tested as per IS: 23861963.
Silica Fume
The specific gravity of silica fume is 2.2. It
Water
The water used for experiments was potable
water conforming as per IS: 456-2000.
Polyethylene Glycol-400(PEG-400)
The polymers added in the mix mainly form
hydrogen bonds with water molecules and
reduce the chemical potential of the
molecules of water which in turn reduces the
vapour pressure, thus reducing the rate of
evaporation from the surface. The physical
and chemical properties of PEG-400 are
shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Physical and Chemical
Properties Polyethylene Glycol
Appeara nce
Odo ur
Mild odour
Solubility
Soluble in water
Density range
METHODOLOGY
The collection of material for the self curing
concrete such as PEG 400 (HCl, H 2SO 4,
Na2SO4) are obtained and for M25 concrete
mixes were collected and casted. The
conventional concrete was cured in water.
M25 Grade mixes were designated in
accordance with IS: 10262-2009. Conventional
concrete was casted with M25 mix and made
to water curing. Another set of cubes were
casted using PEG-400 of 0.5%, 1%, 1.5% and
2% with M25 concrete and allowed for
atmosphere curing. Similarly cubes were
% of PEG 400
7 days
28 days
1.69
2.73
4.95
0.5
1.76
2.84
5.09
1.98
2.92
5.16
1.5
1.8
2.62
4.72
1.6
2.47
4.35
% of PEG 400
7 days
28 days
0%
13.56
21.96
33.3
0.50%
18.76
32.6
44.5
22.3
36.4
47.8
1.5
19.54
32.1
43.1
14.76
26.82
38.3
References
% of W t. Loss
Curing
Type
0%
0.50%
1%
1.50%
2%
HCL
4.23
0.31
1.73
1.54
1.28
H 2SO4
1 6.46
16.92
21.05
20.96
20.81
Na2SO4
1.47
0.46
1.81
0.86
3.69
CONCLUSION
For M25 grade concrete the optimum dosage
of PEG-400 for maximum Compressive
strength was found to be 1.0% by weight.
Also the strength achieved by the PEG 400
is comparable to the conventional M25 grade
of concrete. The split tensile strength with
1% showed a similar maximum value with
1% of PEG 400. This highlights that the self
curing concrete of PEG 400 with 1% showed
a better performance with respect to its
strength properties. Also the durability
characteristics of the self curing concrete with
PEG 400 showed a promising effect when
they were exposed to 10% of acidic
conditions as shown in Figure 3.