Studies on Early-Age Characteristics of Self-cured GGBFS-Based Concrete Mixes

The most widely used and widespread building material in infrastructure construction is concrete. Concreting as well as curing requires a lot of potable water, but it is not always possible to have access to it. Self-curing concrete is one of the best alternative solutions for this problem. Since water is becoming a rare material day by day, there is an essential requirement to conduct research work relating to water saving in concrete manufacturing and in construction. Concrete curing is ensuring an acceptable amount of moisture in concrete during its initial periods in order to achieve the desired characteristics. But good curing cannot be practiced in most cases. Curing of the concrete contributes significantly to the formation of the concrete microstructure and pore structure and therefore enhances its durability and performance. In the interest of keeping this in mind, an effort has been made to promote internal-curing concrete by employing polyethylene glycol (PEG-400). In this experimental research, the mechanical properties of the hardened concrete were tested employing M25 grade concrete with partial cement substitution of 0, 50 and 70% GGBFS and self-curing admixture of 0.5, 1 and 1.5% polyethylene glycol. At 7 and 28 days, cubes and cylinders are molded and tested for compressive strength and split tensile strength. For M25 concrete, the result of regular concrete is compared with concrete made with GGBFS and Polyethylene glycol 400. The test results indicated that the addition of 1.5% of self-curing agent enhanced strength when 50% of cement was replaced with GGBFS, and the addition of 1% of self-curing agent enhanced performance when 70% of the M25 grade concrete was replaced.