• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.301-307
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• 2014

Rice husk ash (RHA) is classified as a highly reactive pozzolan. It has a very high silica content similar to that of silica fume (SF). Using less-expensive and locally available RHA as a mineral admixture in concrete brings ample benefits to the costs, the technical properties of concrete as well as to the environment. An experimental study of the effect of RHA blending on workability, strength and durability of high performance fine-grained concrete (HPFGC) is presented. The results show that the addition of RHA to HPFGC improved significantly compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and chloride penetration resistance. Interestingly, the ratio of compressive strength to splitting tensile strength of HPFGC was lower than that of ordinary concrete, especially for the concrete made with 20 % RHA. Compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of HPFGC containing RHA was similar and slightly higher, respectively, than for HPFGC containing SF. Chloride penetration resistance of HPFGC containing 10-15 % RHA was comparable with that of HPFGC containing 10 % SF.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.279-295
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• 2016

A new innovative composite material is textile reinforced cementitious composite (TRCC). To achieve high flexural performance researchers suggest polymer modification of TRCC matrices. In this study, nine ready mix repair mortars commonly used in construction industry and the production of TRCC elements were examined. Mechanical properties such as compressive and flexural strength, drying shrinkage were studied. Being a significant durability concern, alkali silica reaction tests were performed according to related standards. Results showed that, some ready repair mortar mixes are potentially reactive due to the alkali silica reaction. Two of the ready mortar mixes labelled as non-shrinkage in their technical data sheets showed the highest shrinkage. In this experiment, researchers designed new matrices. These matrices were fine grained concretes modified with polymer additives; latexes and redispersible powders. Two latexes and six redispersible powder polymers were used in the study. Mechanical properties of fine grained concretes such as compressive and flexural strengths were determined. Results showed that some of the fine grained concretes cast with redispersible powders had higher flexural strength than ready mix repair mortars at 28 days. Matrix composition has to be designed for a suitable consistency for planned production processes of TRCC and mechanical properties for load-carrying capacity.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.121-146
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• 2022

In the recent years, the use of agricultural waste in green cement mortar and concrete production has attracted considerable attention because of potential saving in the large areas of landfills and potential enhancement on the performance of mortar. In this research, microparticles of palm oil fuel ash (POFA) obtained from a multistage thermal and mechanical treatment processes of raw POFA originating from palm oil mill was utilized as a pozzolanic material to produce high-performance cement mortar (HPCM). POFA was used as a partial replacement material to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) at replacement levels of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40% by volume. Sand with particle size smaller than 300 ㎛ was used to enhance the performance of the HPCM. The HPCM mixes were tested for workability, compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), porosity and absorption. The results portray that the incorporation of micro POFA in HPCMs led to a slight reduction in the compressive strength. At 40% replacement level, the compressive strength was 87.4 MPa at 28 days which is suitable for many high strength applications. Although adding POFA to the cement mixtures harmed the absorption and porosity, those properties were very low at 3.4% and 11.5% respectively at a 40% POFA replacement ratio and after 28 days of curing. The HPCM mixtures containing POFA exhibited greater increase in strength and UPV as well as greater reduction in absorption and porosity than the control OPC mortar from 7 to 28 days of curing age, as a result of the pozzolanic reaction of POFA. Micro POFA with finely graded sand resulted in a dense and high strength cement mortar due to the pozzolanic reaction and increased packing effect. Therefore, it is demonstrated that the POFA could be used with high replacement ratios as a pozzolanic material to produce HPCM.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.543-551
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• 2015

Quick-hardening track (QHT) is a construction method which is used to change from old ballast track to concrete track. Sufficient time for construction is important, as the construction should be done during operational breaks at night. Most of the time is spent on exchanging the ballast layer. If it is possible to apply the ballast non-exchange type of quick-hardening track, it would be more effective to reduce the construction time and costs. In this paper, pouring materials with high permeability are suggested and a construction method involving a layer separation pouring process considering the void condition is introduced in order to develop ballast non-exchange type of QHT. The separate pouring method can secure the required strength because optimized materials are poured into the upper layer and the lower layer for each void ratio condition. To ensure this process, a rheology analysis was conducted on the design of the pouring materials according to aggregate size, the aggregate distribution, the void ratio, the void size, the tortuosity and the permeability. A polymer series was used as the pouring material of the lower layer to secure the void filling capacity and for adhesion to the fine-grained layer. In addition, magnesium-phosphate ceramic (MPC) was used as the pouring material of the upper layer to secure the void-filling capacity and for adhesion of the coarse-grained layer. As a result of a mechanics test of the materials, satisfactory performance corresponding to existing quick-hardening track was noted.