Concretes containing no cement: An investigation on
the effects of temperature curing on strength
Jeevaka Somaratna ‘12
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Mentor – Prof. Narayanan Neithalath
Portland Cement Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in the world. However,
production of each ton of cement results in the emission of a ton of carbon dioxide. The reduction of
concrete use is not realistic, especially with growing infrastructure needs, and hence focus has shifted to
means of producing concretes with minimal CO2 footprint. Development of cement-free binder (CFB)
concretes where industrial by-product or waste materials such as fly ash or ground granulated blast
furnace slag (GGBFS) is activated by alkaline media has been of interest to the cement-based materials
research community. The present study examines ways of improving the compressive strengths of CFB
concretes through high temperature curing methods. This study will investigate curing of the concrete
samples made using fly ash as the binder which is activated using sodium hydroxide solution through: (i)
the use of a microwave at different power levels, (ii) heat curing in a conventional oven at different
temperatures, and (iii) heat curing in an oven under 100% RH. Some preliminary results from these
experiments will be presented. The ultimate objective of this study is to understand the influence of these
curing methods on compressive strength and to provide alternate means of improving the mechanical
properties of cement-free binder concretes.
Jeevaka Somaratna (2012)
Honors Program
Mentor – Prof. Narayanan Neithalath