High-Durability Concrete with Supplementary Cementitious Admixtures Used in Corrosive Environments

Abstract

Durability of concrete is of great significance to prolong the service life of concrete structures in corrosive environments. Aiming at the economical and environment-friendly production of concrete by comprehensive utilization of the supplementary cementitious materials made of industrial byproducts, the resistances to chloride penetration, sulfate attack, and frost of high-performance concrete were studied in this paper. Fifteen concretes were designed at different water–binder ratio with the changes of contents of fly ash (FA), silica fume (SF), ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), and admixture of sulfate corrosion-resistance (AS). The compressive strength, the total electric flux of chloride penetrability, the sulfate resistance coefficient, and the indices of freezing and thawing were measured. Results indicate that, depending on the chemical composition, fineness, and pozzolanic activity, the supplementary cementitious admixtures had different effects on the compressive strength and the durability of concrete; despite having a higher fineness and pozzolanic activity, the GGBS gave out a negative effect on concrete due to a similar chemical composition with cement; the SF and FA presented beneficial effects on concrete whether they were used singly with GGBS or jointly with GGBS; the AS improved the compressive strength and the sulfate corrosion resistance of concrete. In general, the grade of durability was positively related to the compressive strength of concrete. Except for the concretes admixed only with GGBS or with GGBS and FA, others had super durability with the compressive strength varying from 70 MPa to 113 MPa. The concretes with water to binder ratio of 0.29 and total binders of 500 kg/m3 admixed with 7% FA + 8% SF + 8% GGBS or 7% FA + 8% SF + 8% GGBS + (10~12)% AS presented the highest grades of resistances specified in China codes to chloride penetration, sulfate corrosion, and frost, while the compressive strength was about 100 MPa.