Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219

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Construction and Building Materials

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Properties of multi-strength grade EPS concrete containing silica fume and rice
husk ash
A. Sadrmomtazi a, J. Sobhani b,⇑, M.A. Mirgozar a, M. Najimi b
a
Faculty of Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
b
Building and Housing Research Center, Tehran, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper aims to study the possibility of producing multi-strength grade lightweight concrete contain-
Received 11 July 2011 ing expanded polyethylene beads and evaluate their mechanical and durability characteristics. To this
Received in revised form 7 February 2012 aim, various mixtures are produced by replacing 0%, 15%, 25%, 40% and 55% of natural aggregates volume
Accepted 25 February 2012
with EPS beads, substituting cement with 10% silica fume (SF) or 20% rice husk ash (RHA), and adding
Available online 23 April 2012
waste propylene fibers in the percentage of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 of cement volume (0.013%, 0.038%,
0.063% and 0.127% of concrete volume). These mixtures are evaluated through a comprehensive test pro-
Keywords:
gram including measuring compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, ultrasonic
Lightweight concrete
Expanded polystyrene beads
pulse velocity, drying shrinkage, water absorption and electrical resistivity. Generally, application of
Multi-strength grade concrete EPS beads decreases the strength properties; however, the results show the potential of EPS beads for
Strength properties producing structural grade, moderate strength grade and insulating lightweight concrete. Mixtures con-
Water absorption taining 15% EPS beads and 20% RHA as well as 25% EPS beads and 10% SF show acceptable strength and
Shrinkage density for structural lightweight concrete. In addition, application of 40% and 55% EPS beads lead to the
Electrical resistivity moderate strength grade and insulting lightweight concrete respectively. These results accompany by an
improvement in electrical resistivity, and increase in water absorption and drying shrinkage. Moreover,
except for toughness, addition of waste fibers has not improved lightweight concrete properties.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Polystyrene concrete is made from a mixture of cement, natural

Lightweight concrete (LWC) is a versatile material for construc-
tion, which offers a range of technical, economical and environ-
mental enhancing advantages and is destined to become a
dominant material for construction in the new millennium [1,2];
however, its first known application dates back over 2000 years
[3]. In fact, there are several lightweight concrete structures in
the Mediterranean region which built during the early Roman
Empire; the most famous of them are the Port of Cosa, the
Pantheon Dome, and the Coliseum [3].
Lightweight concrete can be produced by introducing: (i)
gassing agents such as aluminum powder or foaming agents, (ii)
lightweight mineral aggregate such as perlite, vermiculite, pumice,
expanded shale, slate, and clay, or (iii) plastic granules as aggre-
gate, e.g. expanded polystyrene foam, polyurethane or other poly-
mer materials [4]. Unlike the constrained resources of mineral
lightweight aggregates, expanded polystyrene aggregates are com-
mercially available worldwide [5,6], so polystyrene concrete can be
taken into account as a considerable lightweight aggregate
concrete.
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 88255942-6; fax: +98 21 88255941.
E-mail addresses: ja_sobhani@yahoo.com, sobhani@bhrc.ac.ir (J. Sobhani).
aggregates and polystyrene beads in the form of expanded polysty-
rene (EPS) or unexpanded polystyrene (UEPS) aggregates. By incor-
porating the polystyrene aggregate at different volumes in the
concrete, mortar or in the cement paste, a wide range of concrete
densities can be produced for building applications as well as other
specialized applications like the sub-base material for pavement
and railway track bed, construction material for floating marine
structures, sea beds and sea fences, energy absorbing material for
the protection of buried military structures and fenders in offshore
oil platforms [5–13].
Owing to the different applications of EPS concretes, studying
the mechanical and durability aspects of EPS concrete have been
an interesting and challenging topic for many researchers. The
importance of research studies in this area is emphasized by con-
sidering the hydrophobic nature and lower density of EPS beads
in comparison with the mineral lightweight aggregates [14–17].
Despite a number of research studies on the different properties
of EPS concrete, it has rarely investigated in a comprehensive study
as concrete with a potential of producing different grades of com-
pressive strength. In this regard, this paper aims to incorporate dif-
ferent percentages of EPS beads as part of aggregates replacement
to produce structural, moderate strength and insulating light-
weight concrete. Moreover, in view of the global sustainable devel-

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.02.049
212 A. Sadrmomtazi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219

opment, supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) including sil- Table 2

ica fume and rice husk ash are also considered in this research. In Natural aggregate properties.

this investigation various mixtures of EPS concrete were produced Aggregate type Specific gravity Absorption (%) Fineness modulus
by replacing 0%, 15%, 25%, 40% and 55% of aggregates volume with Fine (0–4.75 mm) 2.51 3.40 2.82
EPS beads and substituting cement with 10% silica fume or 20% rice Coarse (4.75–12 mm) 2.54 2.57 –
husk ash. The compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flex-
ural strength, water absorption, electrical resistivity, drying shrink-
age and ultrasonic pulse velocity of these mixtures were evaluated. Table 3
Furthermore, to modify the toughness of designated EPS concretes, EPS beads properties.
polypropylene fibers recycled from waste carpets were added to
Properties Values
the mixtures in the percentages of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1 of cement
volume. Density 25.7 Kg/m3
Maximum bead diameter 3.5 mm
Shear modulus (G) 2.92 Mpa
2. Materials Bulk modulus (K) 1.62 Mpa
Melting point 160 °C
Type I Portland cement meeting the requirements of ASTM C150, and two types Volatilization point 470–500 °C
of supplementary cementitious materials; i.e. silica fume (SF) and rice husk ash Average heat of degradation 800 J/g (191.08 cal/g)
(RHA); were used in this investigation. The chemical composition of these binders Water absorption 0
is presented in Table 1.
As can be seen, SF and RHA contained 91.1% and 91.62% silica, respectively;
exceeding the 85% limit of silica fume, according to ASTM C1240. Also, the summa-
tion of silica, alumina and iron oxide of RHA is about 92.84%; obviously exceeding Table 4
the 70% limit for Class N raw and calcined natural Pozzolans, according to ASTM Characteristics of waste carpet polypropylene fibers.
C618. It should be noted that the average size of SF and RHA particles are respec-
tively 7.38 and 15.83 lm. Properties Description
Natural rounded fine (0–4.75 mm) and coarse aggregates (4.75–12 mm) meet- Morphology Fibrillated or mono filament
ing the requirements of ASTM C33 were used in this investigation. The physical and Specific gravity (g/cm3) 0.95
mechanical properties of natural aggregates are reported in Table 2. In addition to Diameter (lm) 50
the natural aggregates, EPS beads (with properties summarized in Table 3) were Modulus of elasticity (GPa) 5
utilized as artificial lightweight aggregates for decreasing the weight of concrete Tensile strength (MPa) 450
and producing different grades of EPS concrete. The size of 85% of EPS particles were Ultimate strain (%) 5–15
about 3.5 mm and their density was evaluated to be 0.0257 g/cm3. Elongation of fracture (%) 20
Moreover, polypropylene (PP) fibers obtained from waste carpets were utilized Melting point (°C) 160
in this study to improve the toughness of EPS concrete. The properties of these fi- Aspect ratio (l/d) 120
bers are presented in Table 4. Also, owing to the necessity of lowering water to
cementing materials ratio for obtaining enough compressive strength and desired
fluidity, a polycarboxylate base super-plasticizer was incorporated in all mixtures.

gradually added while the mixing was in progress. To obtain a uni-

3. Experimental program
form mixture and well distribution of EPS beads, the mixing was
continued and then the slump and fresh densities was measured
3.1. Mixture proportion
(Fig. 1). Proper specimens for designated experimental program
including cubes, beams and cylinders were casted and wet cured
Table 5 shows the details of mixture proportions of this study.
for 24 h. Finally, the specimens demolded and stored in standard
As shown, the mixtures include substituting 0%, 15%, 25%, 40%
basin until the time of testing. It should be noted that the slump
and 55% of aggregate volume by EPS beads and partial replacement
for all the concretes controlled to be between 50 and 70 mm.
of cement weight with 10% silica fume or 20% rice husk ash.
Moreover, in order to investigate the effect of polypropylene fi-
bers on mechanical properties of EPS concrete, they were added to 4. Results and discussion
the mixtures in four percentages; i.e. 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5% and 1% of ce-
ment volume (0.013%, 0.038%, 0.063% and 0.127% of concrete 4.1. Mechanical/physical properties
volume).
4.1.1. Compressive strength
3.2. Production The compressive strength of different EPS concretes without PP
fibers are presented in Table 6 for 3, 7, 14, 28, 90 and 150 days.
The mixing of materials was done in a specific sequence; firstly Generally, by application of EPS as aggregate substitution, the com-
a part of water with superplasticizer were poured into the mixer, pressive strength decreased. The more EPS beads substituted, the
then dry EPS beads added and thoroughly mixed for about 2 min more decrease occurred. Similar to the normal concrete, the com-
to get wetted with water and plasticizer. After that the remaining pressive strength of EPS concrete increased during time; however,
materials were poured to the mixer and the remaining water was the rate of increasing is different. In this regard, EPS concrete con-
Table 1
taining only Portland cement develop averagely 67% of the 28 days
Chemical composition and properties of cement, silica fume and rice husk ash. strength in 7 days in comparison with 61% for normal concrete.
This phenomenon can be attributed to the thermal resistivity of
Chemical composition (%) Cement Silica fume (SF) Rice husk ash (RHA)
EPS concrete which retained the heat of hydration and increased
SiO2 21 91.1 91.62 the cement reactions.
Al2O3 4.6 1.55 0.49
Fe2O3 3.2 2.0 0.73
By replacing 10% of cement with SF, the compressive strength
CaO 64.5 2.42 2.51 increased for concretes containing up to 25% EPS. For 40% and
MgO 2.0 0.06 0.88 55% EPS replacement, the compressive strength of silica fume con-
SO3 2.9 0.45 – tained EPS concretes were respectively equal to and lower than EPS
Na2O + 0.685K2O 1.0 – 2.39
concrete with just Portland cement. In silica fume contained EPS
Loss on ignition 1.5 2.1 –
concretes, the concrete gained averagely 70% of 28 days strength
 A. Sadrmomtazi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219 213

Fresh density (kg/m3)

in 7 days which can be attributed to the high reactivity of silica
fume.
On the other hand, by using 20% of RHA as cement replacement,
the compressive strength decreased which can be related to its
slow reactivity, in particular at early ages. The compressive
strength of rice husk ash contained EPS concrete at later ages, i.e.
1350

1650

2250
1850

1250
2400
1900
1700

2300
1900

1300

1600
90 and 150 days, are almost near that of EPS concrete with Port-
979

949

890
land cement, especially for concretes contained higher percentages
of EPS. This phenomenon can be attributed to the pozzolanic activ-
EPS (% of total aggregates)

ity of rice husk ash. It should be noted that the average ratio of
7 days to 28 days compressive strength for EPS concrete containing
RHA is about 69%.
Fig. 2 shows the crashed cube specimens under compressive
strength test. The failure mode of the concrete specimens contain-
ing EPS aggregates under compressive loading observed to be grad-
ual and the specimens were capable of retaining the load after
15
25

55

15
25

55

15
25

55
40

40

40
0

failure without full disintegration.

In this study, all the EPS concretes were also made by adding
6–12 mm (kg/m )
3

0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5% and 1% waste carpet polypropylene type fibers.

The results of compressive strength for EPS concretes containing
PP fibers are presented in Fig. 3. As can be observed, the application
of fibers up to 0.3% exhibited minor changes in the compressive
957
777

423
222

755

895

555
352
118
620

940

607
406
202

670

strength, while using higher amount of fibers resulted in to some

extent decrease. This phenomenon which was observed in differ-
3–6 mm (kg/m )
3

ent research studies could be attributed to the higher entrapped

air and inefficient compaction in concrete mixtures with higher
amount of fiber [18]. It should be noted that the failure mode ob-
served to be more gradual by adding polypropylene fibers.
118

115

110
95
76
52
27

93
75

25

68
43
15
50

80

Along with the comparative study on the application of supple-

mentary cementitious materials and fibers in EPS concrete, this pa-
0–3 mm (kg/m )

per mainly aims to investigate various combinations of EPS

3

concrete for producing different grades of compressive strength.

Aggregates

In this regard, the produced EPS concretes can be categorized as

follows (see Fig. 4):
666

431
294
154
652
524
422
282

385
245
540

140
620
470

82

4.1.1.1. Structural lightweight concrete. According to ACI 213, struc-

0.45
0.43
0.41

0.42
0.48
0.44
0.44
0.43
0.42
0.52
0.51
0.51

0.53
0.40

0.50
w/b

tural lightweight-aggregate concrete has a minimum 28 day com-

pressive strength of 17 MPa, an equilibrium density between 1120
and 1920 Kg/m3, and consists entirely of lightweight aggregate or a
Water (kg/m3)

combination of lightweight and normal-density aggregate. There-

fore the mixtures E15, E15SF10, E25SF10 and E15RH20 are located
in this group. As it can be seen, by utilizing 15% EPS beads as aggre-
165

175
175

167
180
170

160
160
190

170

210
205
205

210
200

gate and 10% silica fume or 20% rice husk ash as supplementary
cementitious materials, the structural lightweight concrete were
RH (kg/m )
3

obtained. The beneficiary of using silica fume became apparent

in the mixture of E25SF10, so that by replacing 25% of EPS beads
as aggregate and 10% silica fume as supplementary cementitious
80
80
80
80
80
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

materials, compressive strength is 24.4 MPa; however, the mixture

E25 presented the compressive strength of 16.7 MPa slightly lower
SF (kg/m )
3

than the structural requirements.

40
40
40
40
40
–
–
–
–
–

–
–
–
–
–

4.1.1.2. Moderate strength lightweight concrete. Lightweight con-

crete with the strength of 7–17 MPa are usually well-known as
Cement (kg/m )
3

moderate strength lightweight concrete [3,19], so the mixtures

E25, E40, E40SF10, E25RH20 and E40RH20 showed the properties
Mixture proportion of the specimens.

of moderate strength lightweight concrete. In this regard, applica-

Binder

tion of 40% EPS as aggregates or using 25% EPS and 20% rice husk
360
360
360
360
360
320
320
320
320
320
400
400
400
400
400

ash lead to the production of moderate strength lightweight

concrete.
Mixture identification

4.1.1.3. Insulating lightweight concrete. The use of lightweight con-

crete may also be necessary when better insulating qualities are
needed in thermally sensitive applications like hot water,
E15RH20
E25RH20

E55RH20
E40RH20
E15SF10
E25SF10

E55SF10
E40SF10

E0RH20
E0SF10

petroleum storage or building insulation [3]. For insulation

Table 5

E15
E25

E55
E40

purposes, it is recommended to use concretes with density of

E0

800 Kg/m3 or lower [14]. In this regard, the mixtures E55,

214 A. Sadrmomtazi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219

The beneficiary of utilizing fibers in tensile strength becomes

more apparent by considering improvement of fracture mecha-
nism presented in Fig. 6. Unlike the non-fibrous samples (Fig. 6a)
which separated in two parts, the ones containing fiber experi-
enced a gradual mode of failure without complete splitting
(Fig. 6b).

4.1.3. Flexural strength

The flexural strength of EPS concrete was determined according
to the ASTM C1018 and the results are presented in Fig. 7. More-
over Fig. 8 shows load–deflection curve of fiber contained EPS con-
crete. The area under this curve is the representative of the amount
of energy absorption of specimens.
Similar to the other strength properties, the flexural strength
decreased by replacing aggregates with EPS beads and cement with
rice husk ash, while increased by substitution of cement with silica
fume (Fig. 7a). In addition, according to Fig. 7b the flexural strength
of EPS concretes was slightly increased by adding polypropylene fi-
bers; however, the fibers effectively increased toughness of EPS
concrete (Fig. 8). As it can be observed in Fig. 8, E0 denoted the con-
crete mixture without EPS and fiber, exhibited lower toughness
comparing with E0-0.3%PP and E0-0.5%PP referring to the concrete
mixtures containing respectively 0.3% and 0.5% of fibers. The
toughness of E0-0.3%PP and E0-0.5%PP were calculated as 13231
Fig. 1. Distribution of EPS beads through specimen.
and 21100 N mm, respectively in comparison with 5828 N mm
for E0, so the addition of 0.3% and 0.5% of fibers led to about
120% and 260% enhancement, respectively.
On the other hand, using EPS beads as aggregates resulted in
Table 6
Compressive strength of non-fibrous EPS concretes. substantial decrease in toughness of concrete as well as reduction
in flexural strength. In this regard, the mixture E15-0.5%PP refer-
Mixture Compressive strength (MPa)
ring to the mixture containing 15% EPS and 0.5% fibers experienced
identification
3 days 7 days 14 days 28 days 90 days 150 days lower toughness in comparison with E0-0.5%PP which showed the
E0 24.5 26.4 35.7 43 48.8 51.2 inappropriate effects of EPS beads on toughness. Mixtures E15-
E15 18.1 24.7 25.7 33 34.7 36 0.5%PP and E0 exhibited almost equal toughness. It seems that
E25 8.6 10.7 13 16.7 19.6 20.5
somewhat adverse effects of EPS beads in toughness could be com-
E40 5.4 6.5 8.6 9.8 11 11.7
E55 3.1 3.4 4.4 5.4 – –
pensated by adding fibers to the EPS concrete.
E0SF10 26.4 31.1 42.7 47.6 58.7 63.4 Mixtures E15-0.5%PP and E0 exhibited almost equal toughness,
E15SF10 20.4 22.1 31.1 35 36 39 while E0-0.5%PP exhibited toughness of nearly twice of them. It
E25SF10 13.4 18.2 21.4 24.4 27.2 28.7 can be interpreted that EPS resulted in a substantial decrease in
E40SF10 5.4 6.9 8.6 10.2 – –
toughness of concrete. On the other hand, it can be inferred that
E55SF10 1.5 2.2 2.4 2.9 – –
E0RH20 15.1 20.1 25.3 29.5 45.2 48.7 to some extent adverse effects of EPS beads in toughness could
E15RH20 12.4 14.8 19.5 22.4 27.4 28.4 be compensated by adding fibers to the EPS concrete.
E25RH20 5.3 7.5 8.8 10.6 20.1 21
E40RH20 3.9 4.9 6 7.1 8.3 9.1
4.1.4. Ultrasonic pulse velocity
E55RH20 1.9 2.3 3.1 3.5 – –
Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) is a non-destructive technique
which involves measuring the speed of sound through materials
in order to predict material strength. This technique has been
E55RH20 are proposed for insulating purposes. While using silica widely used for the nondestructive evaluation of concrete quality.
fume increases the cost of EPS mixture, E55SF10 showed lower com- In this research, the ultrasonic pulse velocity of structural grade
pressive strength than E55 and E55RH20. So, mixture E55SF10 could EPS concretes were measured as per ASTM C 597 at age of 28 days.
be also categorized in this group, but due to the use of silica fume, it Fig. 9a–c shows the relationships between UPV and compressive,
is not recommended. tensile and flexural strength of EPS concretes respectively. Power
models fitted to the UPV-compressive strength, UPV-tensile
4.1.2. Tensile strength strength and UPV-flexural strength are respectively presented in
Split tensile strength of EPS concretes was determined based on Eqs. (1)–(3).
ASTM C 496 [20] and the results are presented in Fig. 5. As seen, the
tensile strength decreased by application of EPS beads, so that by CS ¼ 0:000232  UPV7:5 þ 9:01 ð1Þ
replacing 15%, 25%, 40% and 55% of aggregates volume with EPS
where CS is 28 days compressive strength in MPa and UPV is ultra-
beads, the tensile strength decreased 12.5%, 28.1%, 43.7% and
sonic pulse velocity in Km/s.
68.7%, respectively. Effect of using SCM on tensile strength is similar
to the effects observed for compressive strength. Fig. 5a demon- TS ¼ 2:4  105  UPV7:063 þ 1:698 ð2Þ
strates the contribution of SF in tensile strength enhancement of
EPS concrete, whereas RHA decreased the tensile strength. The where TS is 28 days splitting tensile strength in MPa.
effect of PP fibers on tensile strength was almost similar to the
FS ¼ 0:004265  UPV4:02 þ 1:943 ð3Þ
compressive strength; however, incorporating 0.1% and 0.3% of
fibers slightly increased tensile strength. where FS is 28 days flexural strength in MPa.
 A. Sadrmomtazi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219
Fig. 2. Failure mode of (a) normal concrete and (b) EPS concrete.
Fig. 3. 28 day compressive strength of EPS concretes versus the percentage of PP
fibers; (a) EPS concrete containing Portland cement, (b) EPS concrete containing
10% SF and (c) EPS concrete containing 20% RHA.
R-square norms of the models were evaluated as 0.869, 0.717,
and 0.743 for UPV-compressive strength, UPV-tensile strength
and UPV-flexural models. It can be seen the most fitted model is
for the relation between UPV and compressive strength. Moreover,
215
Fig. 4. Classification of different grades of EPS concrete.
95% prediction bound lines in two side of predicted model were de-
picted in Fig. 9. As depicted, most of the samples which were not
located between the aforementioned boundaries were made by
adding 1% PP fiber.
4.1.5. Dying shrinkage
Various factors influence the drying shrinkage of hardened con-
crete but the most important influence for lightweight concrete,
especially EPS concrete is exerted by the aggregate itself, which re-
strains the amount of shrinkage of the cement paste that can be
actually realized in the concrete [21,22]. Partial replacement of
aggregates having normal modulus of elasticity with EPS beads
with lower modulus of elasticity could be resulted in a substantial
increase of drying shrinkage. Fig. 10 demonstrates the drying
shrinkage of selected EPS concretes with different proportions of
EPS and fibers. This figure confirms the aforementioned hypothe-
sis, so that using EPS beads increased drying shrinkage. While
application of 0.3% and 0.5% of PP fibers surprisingly increased
the drying shrinkage, silica fume could compensate a portion of
drying shrinkage. Unlike silica fume rice husk ash resulted in
increasing the drying shrinkage.
4.2. Durability properties
4.2.1. Water absorption
The water absorption of EPS concretes was evaluated and the
results are presented in Table 7. Also linear trendlines are fitted
to the measured water absorptions versus percentage of utilized
216 A. Sadrmomtazi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219

(a) (a)

(b) E0 E15 E25 E40 E55

(b) 8
E0 E15 E25 E40 E55
4

Flexural Strength (MPa)

Tensile Strength (MPa)

6
3

4
2

2
1

0
0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Fiber (%)
Fiber (%)
Fig. 7. Effects of SCM and PP fibers on flexural strength of EPS concretes, (a) effects
Fig. 5. Effects of SCM and PP fibers on split tensile strength of EPS concretes, (a) of SCM, (b) effects of PP fibers.
effects of SCM and (b) effects of fibers.

EPS beads which is depicted in Fig. 11. As it can be observed in

Table 7 and Fig. 11, by increasing the amount of EPS beads the
water absorption increased. While using SF and RHA led to a reduc-
tion and increment in water absorption respectively, both of them
decreased the slope of water absorption-EPS content trendline.
The increase of water absorption in concretes containing higher
amount of EPS beads indicates an increase in internal porosity of
concretes which could be related to the presence of higher air bub-
bles in the EPS contained concrete and microcracking resulted by
compression of EPS beads under the process of absorption test. In
concrete mixtures having high amount of EPS beads, the distance
between the grains and thus the thickness of matrix is very low.
Consequently, the reduction of EPS beads during the oven drying
for absorption test might lead to some microcracking of surround- Fig. 8. Load–deflection curves of fiber contained EPS concrete.

Fig. 6. Failure mode of EPS concrete under splitting tensile test; (a) without fibers and (b) containing fibers.
 A. Sadrmomtazi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219 217

(a) 60
Model
95% prediction bounds
50 Experimental

CS=0.000232 UPV7.5 +9.01

Compressive strength (MPa)

R2 =0.869
40

E15 with 1% PP
30

20

E0SF10
with 1% PP
10
Fig. 10. Drying shrinkage of EPS concretes.

0
3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5
related to a high volume of entrapped air voids entering the con-
Ultrasonic pulse velocity (Km/s)
crete due to hydrophobicity of EPS beads. It should be noted that
these phenomena could not be quantified. To sum up, EPS beads
(b) 4.5 Model utilization increases the amount of porosity of concrete due to
95% prediction bounds hydrophobicity and microcracks generated during the absorption
4 TS28 vs. US28 test, and consequently increases the water absorption of concrete.
E25SF10
TS=2.4*10 -5 UPV7.063 +1.698 with 0.% PP EPS concretes containing SF has lower porosity than EPS con-
3.5 R2 =0.717 cretes containing only Portland cement, while lower pozzolanic
Tensile strength (MPa)

reactivity of RHA resulted in the mixtures with higher porosity

3 and water absorption. Moreover, using PP fibers increase the poros-
ity and water absorption. As seen in Table 7, the more amount of
2.5 fiber used in production of EPS concerts, the more increase in water
absorption could be observed. This trend could be related to the
2 induced porosity of concrete resulted by fiber utilization.

1.5 4.2.2. Electrical resistivity

The resistivity of concrete is an important parameter in the cor-
1 rosion of reinforced concrete structures [23]. High-resistivity con-
3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5
crete has little possibility of developing reinforcement corrosion
Ultrasonic pulse velocity (Km/s)
and vice versa low-resistivity concrete is prone to be a well envi-
ronment for corrosion of embedded reinforcements. In this regard,
(c) 8
Model
a relationship between electrical resistivity of concrete and rate of
95% prediction bounds corrosion of embedded reinforcing steel is widely acknowledged
7 Experimental [24].
E15 with 1%PP Since EPS beads are rarely utilized in the production of struc-
FS=0.004265 UPV4.02 +1.943
6 R2 =0.743 tural concrete, the electrical resistivity test has not been carried
Flexural strength (MPa)

out on the EPS concretes, yet. According to the mechanical proper-

5 ties, the applicability of using 15–25% EPS beads as part of aggre-
gates in structural concrete were proved, so the electrical
4 resistivity of EPS concretes containing 15–25% of EPS beads was
measured after 180 days immersion in sodium chloride solution.
3 It should be noted that using EPS beads beyond this range was
not crucial issue due to aforementioned reasons.
2
The effects of replacing up to 25% of aggregates with EPS beads
and using SCM and PP fibers on electrical resistivity are presented
in Figs. 12 and 13. As it can be seen, replacing part of aggregates
1
3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5 with EPS beads led to an increase in electrical resistivity. This phe-
Ultrasonic pulse velocity (Km/s) nomenon could be attributed to the higher electrical resistivity of
EPS beads which decrease the connection between internal voids
Fig. 9. Models describing relationship between UPV and (a) 28 days compressive
strength, (b) 28 days splitting tensile strength and (c) 28 days flexural strength.
of concrete and length of trajectory.
Additionally, both silica fume and rice husk ash increased the
electrical resistivity; however, the effect of SF is higher than RHA.
ing matrix leading to an increase in concrete porosity and water Based on these figures, possible corrosion rate decreased signifi-
absorption amount. ASTM standard proposed a temperature be- cantly by using SF, in particular the highest electrical resistivity
tween 100 and 110 °C; however, this range would be led to a was observed for mixture E25SF10 which included 25% EPS and
reduction of EPS volume and varies the proper test circumstance 10% SF. RHA showed its suitable effects in existence of EPS beads.
leading a miss-leading value of water absorption. So a lower tem- The electrical resistivity of rice husk ash contained concrete in-
perature range is utilized to subside this phenomenon. After drying creased from 20 to 25 for concrete without EPS beads, 22–35 for
of samples they submerged in the water for 72 h to measure the in- concrete containing 15% EPS beads and 25–45 for the one con-
creased weight. Another reason for this observation could be tained 25% EPS beads.
218 A. Sadrmomtazi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219

Table 7
Water absorption of EPS concretes.

Description Fiber percentage EPS percentage

0 10 25 40 55
Ordinary portland cement-EPS concrete 0 4.87 5.64 6.79 8.7 11.05
0.1 4.92 5.65 6.77 8.78 11.14
0.3 5.03 5.68 6.83 8.83 11.16
0.5 5.21 5.78 6.92 8.85 11.31
1 5.32 5.86 6.96 8.89 11.45
Average 5.07 5.722 6.854 8.81 11.222
Silica fume contained-EPS concrete 0 4.27 6.14 6.14 8.55 10.43
0.1 4.31 6.15 6.2 8.59 10.59
0.3 4.35 6 6.25 8.67 10.51
0.5 4.42 6.6 6.38 8.7 10.68
1 4.49 6.83 6.49 8.73 10.81
Average 4.368 6.344 6.292 8.648 10.604
Rice husk ash contained-EPS concrete 0 6.95 7.98 8.7 11.76 11.6
0.1 7.16 8.21 8.81 11.68 11.81
0.3 7.35 8.29 8.79 11.81 11.8
0.5 7.62 8.39 8.92 11.92 11.91
1 7.64 8.46 9.21 11.92 12.12
Average 7.344 8.266 8.886 11.818 11.848

Fig. 13. Effects of adding fibers on electrical resistivity.

Fig. 11. Effect of EPS on water absorption; PC: Portland cement contained EPS
concrete, SF: Silica fume contained EPS concrete, and RHA: Rice husk ash contained
EPS concrete.
as water absorption, drying shrinkage, electrical resistively and
ultrasonic pulse velocity of EPS contained concrete mixtures. Silica
fume and rice husk ash were also incorporated in production of
mixtures as well as recycled carpet polypropylene fibers. Based
on the test results of this investigation, the following conclusions
can be drawn:

(1) Generally, application of EPS beads decreased the strength

Fig. 12. Effects of EPS beads and SCM on electrical resistivity.
Moreover, unlike the effects of EPS and SCM, adding PP fibers
resulted in electrical resistivity reduction, especially for 0.5% and
1% addition, see Fig. 13.
5. Conclusion
The experimental program reported in this paper dealt with
assessing the compressive, flexural and tensile strengths as well
properties; however, the results showed the potential for
producing different strength-grades of concrete; in particu-
lar structural grade concrete can be produced by replacing
natural aggregate with 15% of EPS beads and using 20%
RHA as SCM as well as replacing 25% EPS beads and 10%
SF. Moreover, the application of 40% and 55% EPS beads led
to the moderate strength grade and insulting concrete
respectively.
(2) The failure mode of the concrete specimens containing EPS
beads under compressive loading observed to be gradual
and the specimens were capable of retaining the load after
failure without full disintegration, whereas EPS beads
resulted in a brittle failure mode in flexure. In this regard,
using PP waste fibers compensated some portion of this
defect; however, other properties have not been improved
by waste fibers addition.
(3) Application of silica fume improved the EPS concrete proper-
ties including mechanical, durability and porosity character-
istics, whereas rice husk ash with lower pozzolanic activity
caused unfavorable behavior, especially at the early ages.
 A. Sadrmomtazi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 35 (2012) 211–219
(4) The electrical resistivity of EPS concretes are higher than
normal concrete, in particular those EPS contained mixtures
made by silica fume and rice husk ash.
(5) The results of ultrasonic pulse velocity for EPS concrete
could be fairly related to the compressive strength than ten-
sile or flexural strength.
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