A Review of Effect of Mineral Admixtures on Appearance Quality of Fair-Faced Concrete and Techniques for Their Measurement

Abstract

The appearance of fair-faced concrete is crucial, and it can be enhanced by incorporating an appropriate amount of mineral admixture. Different mineral admixtures have varying effects on the appearance quality of fair-faced concrete. For instance, the addition of fly ash helps control color differences and bubble formation on the concrete surface, while slag powder effectively controls its color and finish. In this review, the impact of using various mineral admixtures, such as silica fume, rice husk ash, limestone powder, and seashell powder, in fair-faced concrete on its appearance quality is examined. The effective combination of mineral admixtures made from industrial by-products or solid waste with fair-faced concrete can pave the way for new directions in the green and sustainable development of construction materials. This review also discusses the difficulties in objectively measuring the appearance quality of concrete and the various methods for the acquisition and evaluation of appearance images. New techniques for acquiring and evaluating information about concrete surfaces have been developed with advancements in image acquisition and processing technology. These techniques complement traditional manual inspection methods. The 3D Alicona system is advantageous for identifying air bubbles on concrete surfaces, the atomic-force microscope detects surface roughness, and the Orbital large-format scanner is ideal for use in large-scale engineering applications. Also, evaluation methods for different image processing software are presented in this article. This information offers a useful reference for future research and practical application.