Title:
Resistance of Condensed Silica Fume Concrete to the Combined Action of Freezing and Thawing Cycling and Deicing Salts
Author(s):
A. Bilodeau and G. G. CaretteI
Publication:
Symposium Paper
Volume:
114
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
945-970
Keywords:
air entrainment; compressive strength; concretes; deicers; freeze-thaw durability; plasticizers; scaling; silica fume; Materials Research
DOI:
10.14359/2477
Date:
5/1/1989
Abstract:
Presents results of investigation to determine the combined effect of deicing salts and repeated cycles of freezing and thawing on condensed silica fume concrete. The concrete mixtures tested in this phase included mixtures incorporating silica fume as an 8 percent replacement by mass for cement, along with control mixtures (no silica fume), both covering a range of water-to-cementitious materials ratio of 0.40 to 0.65. All mixtures were air entrained and some contained a superplasticizer. For each mixture, freeze-thaw resistance and scaling resistance to deicing salts were determined using ASTM standard procedures. For some selected mixtures, scaling resistance was also determined using slight variations in the testing procedures. In general, concrete incorporating silica fume is slightly more susceptible to scaling than concrete without silica fume. Preliminary results clearly indicate that the methods of preparing and curing the test specimens has a significant influence on the scaling resistance of the concrete, but further investigations are needed to establish possible correlations between the degree of scaling, type of curing, method of specimen preparation, and percentage of silica fume in the concrete.