Study on the Physico-Mechanical and Durability Characteristics of Synthetic Ammonium Surfactant-Based Foam Concrete
摘要
As a leading energy-efficient building material, nowadays, foam concrete has become extensively used as a building block in the construction of buildings at seismic zones, to reduce the impact on livelihood. Due to the difficulties in selecting the right combination of materials and the instability in the bubble formation, the production process of foam concrete remains challenging. To address these issues, this research primarily focuses on identifying the most suitable commercially available ammonium-based synthetic surfactants, possessing superior foam stability behaviour in the production of foam concrete specimens. As an outcome, the foam concrete specimens were developed with a density of around 1100–1500 kg/m3 using two novel ammonium-based synthetic surfactants. With a compressive strength of around 4.0–11 MPa, the developed foam concrete specimens possess excellent mechanical and durability behaviour. Fit-normal linear regression curves were employed to analyze the dependency of fresh foam characteristics on the hardened foam concrete characteristics. The research infers that the newly formed fly ash-based foam concrete blocks have a superior durability property than the cement-sand blended foam concrete blocks owing to the formation of stable air voids. Further, the improved microstructure formation of fly ash-based foam concrete results in relatively 50–70% higher compressive strength when compared to the commercially available Autoclaved Aerated concrete blocks. The results of this study point to the suitability of utilizing alternate synthetic surfactants in the production of foam concrete blocks without compromising the mechanical and durability characteristics of the developed concrete blocks.