Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the mix design of pH reducing cement concrete which can be used for environment-friendly concrete. Cement pastes and concretes are prepared with water-binder ratios and various admixtures such as blast-furnace slag, fly ash and recycled cement, and tested for compressive strength and pH. pH is measured through pore solution expressed from hydrated cement paste by special apparatus. From the test results, regardless of water-binder ratio, The pH of expressed pore solution from hydrated cement paste which is made of ordinary portland cement with blast-furnace slag, fly ash is decreased with increasing of admixtures content, and compressive strength is also slightly improved. The compressive strength of cement paste made of recycled cement which is burnt at $1000^{\circ}C$, for 2 hours is considerably increased compared with that of none-burnt recycled cement due to restoration of hydraulic property, but pH is a little higher. Porous concrete with ordinary portland cement has high pH in the range of 12.22 to 12.59, however, that is reduced to the range of 8.95 to 10.39 by carbonation at the surface of porous concrete. The pH reduction of porous concrete is possible by various admixture addition, however their degrees are very slight. Therefore, to reduce the pH considerably, carbonation method of porous concrete is better in pH reduction methods for plant survival condition of pH of 9.0 or less. In this study, it is apparent that pH for the environment-friendly porous concrete products used in the construction field can be suppressed by this carbonation method and various admixtures addition.
