Characterization and workability of rice husk ash-calcium nitrate blended cement concrete
Akeem Ayinde RAHEEM, Isaiah Oluwafemi OGUNTOLA, Favour Wuraola KOLAWOLE, Oludayo Ajani AKINTOLA
Abstract. Blended cement is a type of cement that is produced by blending different supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with Portland cement clinker. Ash from agricultural residues which are typically classified as waste, is found to exhibit pozzolanic qualities and are being employed in place of cement in the search for an alternative binder. This study investigates the characterization and workability of Rice Husk Ash (RHA)-calcium nitrate (CN) blended cement concrete. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC), RHA and CN were characterized using X-ray fluorescence analysis. Concrete mixes using a fixed content of 15% RHA as replacement for cement and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5% CN as substitute by weight of OPC with mix ratio 1:2:4 was produced. The water-to-cement ratio of 0.6 was adopted. Concrete without RHA and CN serves as control 1, while concrete with only RHA serves as control 2 mix. Workability (slump and compacting) and setting times of the concrete were determined. RHA was found to be a pozzolanic material because the sum of SiO2, AlO3, and Fe2O3 was 75.36% ≥ 70%. The CaO content present in CN, OPC and RHA were 81.95, 68.76 and 5.62%, respectively. The slump and compacting factor ranged from 14 to 34 mm and 0.72 to 0.84 mm, respectively. The initial and final setting time ranged from 129 to 231 minutes and 221 to 379 minutes, respectively. The addition of CN improved the workability and setting times of fresh concrete made with RHA-CN.
Keywords
Rice Hush Ash, Calcium Nitrate, Supplementary Cementitious Materials, Blended Cement, Workability
Published online 3/25/2025, 10 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Akeem Ayinde RAHEEM, Isaiah Oluwafemi OGUNTOLA, Favour Wuraola KOLAWOLE, Oludayo Ajani AKINTOLA, Characterization and workability of rice husk ash-calcium nitrate blended cement concrete, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 51, pp 28-38, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903537-4
The article was published as article 4 of the book Advances in Cement and Concrete
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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