Strength and microstructural characteristics of palm oil fuel ash and fly ash as binary and ternary blends in Self-Compacting concrete

• Published in: Construction & building materials 2019-03, Vol.202, p.103-120
• Main Authors: Nagaratnam, Brabha Hari, Mannan, Muhammad Abdul, Rahman, Muhammad Ekhlasur, Mirasa, Abdul Karim, Richardson, Alan, Nabinejad, Omid
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Binary blend; Chemical properties; Concretes; Differential thermal analysis; Fly ash; Mechanical properties; Microstructural properties; Scanning electron microscopy; Scanning microscopy; Self-compacting concrete; Ternary blend
• ISSN: 0950-0618; 1879-0526
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.12.139

•SCC produced using binary and ternary blend of POFA and FA up to 40% replacement produced high strength and medium strength concrete.•All binary and ternary blended samples had acceptable splitting tensile strengths and a strong correlation exists between the compressive and tensile strength of the SCC.•The TGA and SEM analysis of samples with replacement demonstrate lower Ca(OH)2 content than the Control SCC.•FA SCC exhibit large amount of ettringite at 90 days unlike POFA SCC. This paper evaluates the feasibility of utilising palm oil fuel ash (POFA) and fly ash (FA) as an Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) replacement in self-compacting concretes (SCC). The level of OPC replacement is up to 40% based on a 540 kg/m3 mix design. All concrete mixtures were restricted to the following consistency parameter; slump flow of 750 ± 100 mm, T500 of 1.5–4.0 s, J-Ring diameter of 650 ± 100 mm, step height of 5–15 mm and sieve segregation resistance of