Study on the Frost-Thaw Behavior of Self Compacting Concretes with Fly Ash and Ceramic Powder

A big problem nowadays is the excessive pollution caused by the high demand for construction materials. The most used material in the world is concrete, therefore, great efforts are made to produce environmentally friendly, sustainable concrete. The main objective of the research represents the analysis of the frost – thaw behavior of the self-compacting concrete (SCC) containing fly ash and ceramic wastes. The fly ash was used for cement replacing in a proportion of 5 and 10% and the ceramic wastes for aggregates replacing in a proportion of 20 and 30%. Using these components, the frost – thaw behavior, the influence of the fly ash and ceramic wastes on the environment and the mode in which the materials properties are maintained in time under environmental factors, were experimentally determined. A number of 6 cubic samples having the dimension of 100 mm were prepared, preserved 28 days according to a standard program. After the 28 days 3 of the samples were tested for compressive strength and the other 3 were subjected to 50 frost - thaw cycles in a refrigerating chamber and then the compression strength was determined in order to assess the strength losses for each mix.