Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145

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Sustainable Materials and Technologies

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Durability properties of concretes made with sand and cement size basalt
Hanifi Binici a,⁎, Yavuz Yardim b, Orhan Aksogan c, Rifat Resatoglu d, Aytac Dincer e, Ali Karrpuz e
a
Nisantasi University, Department of Civil Engineering, Maslak Mahallesi, Taşyoncası Street, No: 1V, 34481742 Sarıyer, Istanbul, Turkey
b
School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, UK
c
Toros University, Department of Civil Engineering, Mersin 33140, Turkey
d
Near East University, Nicosia, Cyprus
e
Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University

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

Article history: This study characterizes the durability and mechanical performance of the concrete produced with basalt in dif-
Received 1 October 2019 ferent sizes. The innovation of this research lies in the fact that cement is replaced by basalt powder. Different
Received in revised form 12 December 2019 percentages of basalt in powder and sand form were added as a partial replacement of cement and fine aggregate,
Accepted 12 December 2019
respectively. The replacement percentages range from 5% to 40% by mass of cement and sand. The influence of
basalt replacement on the behavior of concrete was evaluated through strength and durability tests on samples
Keywords:
at different ages. The experiments were carried out to determine the effect of the basalt replacement on the dif-
Basalt ferent age concrete samples' compressive strengths, abrasion resistances, water absorptions, and freezing-
Durability thawing strengths, as well as sulfate resistances. The study showed that partial replacement of different forms
Permeability of basalt with cement and sand leads to a significant improvement in the concrete aspects mentioned above.
Abrasion The compressive strengths of samples at 28 and 60 days were found to be 15% higher, while the abrasion and
Strength the capillary water absorption rates at these ages were found to be 32% and 23% lower than those of the reference
sample, respectively. In addition, the compressive strength after freeze-thaw and 180 days sulphate resistance
values were found to be 45% and 47% higher than those of the reference sample, respectively.
© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction composite cement. Natural pozzolans are volcanic tuffs, volcanic

Nowadays, innovative production technologies are being ex-
plored to drop cement costs and reduce damage to the environment
intensely. Concrete is the most widely used construction material in
the world. Cement, as the key ingredient of concrete, is one of the
major source of CO2. Production of one ton of cement results in ap-
proximately one ton of CO2 emission. The foregoing fact led re-
searchers to discover new techniques for producing concrete with
minimal use of cement [1–3]. Therefore, more economical and
more environmentally compatible concrete can be produced by
adding various minerals to replace a part of the cement. The cost
of cement can be reduced by using diversified materials with bind-
ing properties and producing composite cement. Composite cement
is produced using a lesser amount of energy than Portland cement
and has found a wide usage area in the building sector due to the
additional contribution of some improving properties. Artificial and
natural pozzolan are materials widely used in the production of
glass, volcanic ash, diatomite and heat-treated clay [4–6].
In general, if the building material is to be used in a particular con-
struction, it must satisfy general building code requirements, based on
certain investigations and observations. The properties of building ma-
terials are largely dependent on internal structure [7]. Minerals cause
significant variations in the structure of concrete [8–10]. The factors
that lead to the degradation of the structure may be of physical, chemi-
cal and mechanical origins. Mechanical damages include impact,
abrasion, erosion, and carving. Chemical damages can be caused by
harmful substances leaking into the concrete from outside, as well as,
from materials forming the concrete composition. These include
alkali-silica reaction, sulfate effect, carbonation, corrosion, and some
acid and salt effects. The physical causes of the disruption are freeze-
thaw, solvent salts and elevated temperatures [11–14].
In an extensive review of the literature on fine stone waste [15] it
was found out that stone waste has huge potential to be used as a re-
placement of fine aggregates in mortar. That work concluded that an

⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: haniifi.binici@nisantasi.edu.tr (H. Binici), aksogan@cu.edu.tr (O. Aksogan), rifat.resatoglu@neu.edu.tr (R. Resatoglu), aytacdincer@hotmail.com (A. Dincer),
alikarpuz@gmail.com (A. Karrpuz).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2019.e00145
2214-9937/© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.
2 H. Binici et al. / Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145

increased number of studies have come to a conclusion that compres- Table 2

sive and flexural strength of mortar increases by addition of fine stone The chemical and physical analyses of CEM I 42.5 cement and basalt used.

waste as fine aggregate replacement. One of the drawbacks to the re- Component Cement (%) Basalt
placement of limestone and granite dust are creating a potential of Chemical analyses and physical
more water absorption capacity, thus, causing high drying shrinkage properties
in the mortar structure.
SiO2 18.85 5.60
Another experiment on the mechanical strength and durability Al2O3 4.80 2.24
properties of high strength cementitious composites produced with Fe2O3 2.40 2.32
large volume of granite quarry dust (GQD) as aggregate phase (replace- CaO 62.80 56.05
ment of “natural river sand” by substitution ranging between 0 and MgO 2.50 2.87
Na2O + K2O 1.14 1.15
100% by volume) were performed by Cheah and Lim [16]. It has been SO3 3.69 –
suggested that GQD can be used either as a partial or complete replace- Free CaO 0.90 –
ment of natural river sand in the production of high strength cementi- Loss at ignition 3.50 29.77
tious composites. Moreover, it was also found out in that study that as Density (g/cm3) 3.12 2.83
Specific surface (cm2/g) 3250 3180
the GQD replacement level increases, the drying shrinkage decreases.
Residue on 200 μ (%) 0 0
In another major study, Trilok Grupta et.al [17] found that adding
30% stone processing dust as fine aggregate in concrete production pro-
vides a suitable option without significantly affecting the mechanical 2.2. Methods
and durability properties of the concrete. Another study on using
dried marble slurry as partial replacement of cement in concrete pro- 2.2.1. Preparation of concrete samples
duction also concluded that there is vast scope for research into recycle In the concrete mix prepared for the first group of samples basalt
stone waste as aggregate replacement [18]. powder (BP) replaced 5, 10, 15 and 20% of the cement. For the second
Nowadays, the large blocks obtained from basalt quarries in Turkey group, the mix was prepared by replacing 10, 20, 30 and 40% of fine ag-
are cut into smaller parts in the industrial business intensely. Blocks of gregate by basalt sand (BS). The particle size distribution of cement and
various sizes are very resistant to wear and are used as a coating mate- basalt powder are given in Fig. 1. In the third group, the mix was pre-
rial on street roads. Additionally, they are also used in buildings pared by replacing 5, 10, 15 and 20% of the cement by basalt powder
and stairs for architectural purposes. The wastes of sand and powder and the same percentages of fine aggregate by basalt sand (BPS). Includ-
dimensions that occur during this process cause serious environmental ing the control sample, thirteen different samples were prepared.
problems. In this study, it is aimed to use these wastes in concrete pro- The names of the samples, the mixing ratios and the materials used
duction. The main objective of this investigation is to study the perfor- are given in Table 3. The workability and the flow properties of the
mance of concrete with basaltic sand and powder to replace a certain fresh concrete were determined by the sedimentation test. While
percentage of the fine aggregate. Basaltic sand and powder were used many methods have been developed for this purpose, the most com-
at six levels of fine aggregate replacements (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, monly used is the slump test, which is carried out with the slump fun-
and 40%). The pozzolanic activity of basalt, compressive strength, nel. Besides, the density and temperature of wet concrete were, also,
freeze-thaw and abrasion resistances, capillary water absorption and determined. The produced samples were stored in the curing tank.
sulfate resistance of samples were studied during the investigations.
2.2.2. Pozzolanic activity
The pozzolanic activity was investigated by applying Eq.1 and Eq.2
2. Material and method
given by the Turkish Standard TS EN 25 [20] (an activity with lime)
and ASTM C 618 [21] (an activity with cement), respectively.
2.1. Material
Mass of pozzolan ðgÞ
2.1.1. Basalt and aggregates ¼ ½ðDensity of pozzolanÞ  300 ðgÞ=ðDensity of limeÞ ð1Þ
Basalt is the most common volcanic rock group on earth [19]. Lava
flows spreading over huge areas are sometimes found covering tens
Mass of water ðgÞ ¼ ½Mass of pozzolan ðgÞ þ Mass of lime ðgÞ=2 ð2Þ
and hundreds of square kilometers. Basalt used in this study was ob-
tained from pyroclastic exposures around Osmaniye-Cukurova region
Both equations were used in the application of TS EN 25, to deter-
of Turkey. In this study, 0–16 mm crushed limestone aggregates were
mine the components of the materials to be used in the pozzolanic ac-
used. The chemical content and physical analysis of the basalts used in
tivity test. Lime (150 g) and corresponding amounts of the basalt sand
this study are given in Table 1.

2.1.2. Cement and basalt powder

CEM I 42,5R Cement used in this experimental study was obtained
from Adana Cement Plant. The chemical and physical analyses of CEM
I 42.5 cement and basalt used in this study are given in Table 2.

Table 1
The chemical content and physical properties of the basalts used.

Chemical content Physical properties

Component (%) Particle sizes of basalt

SiO2 42.41 Properties Powder Sand

Al2O3 14.35 Density (g/cm3) 2.96
Fe2O3 11.15 Sizes 0–100 μm 0–4 mm
CaO 17.16 Water absorption (%) 1.85 0.49
MgO 7.52 Colour Black
Na2O + K2O 6.57 Hardness (HB) 6.8
Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of basalt powder and cement.
 H. Binici et al. / Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145 3

Table 3
Component proportions for 1 m3 concrete mixture, properties of fresh concrete and names of samples.

Sample Component of concrete samples Properties of fresh concrete

name
Cement Water Sand Coarse Basalt Basalt Slump Density Temp. of fresh
(kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3) aggregates powder sand (cm) (kg/m3) concrete (°C)
(kg/m3) (kg/m3) (kg/m3)

R 350 165 800 1150 – – 7.4 2312 22

BP5 332 165 800 1150 18 – 7.4 2315 21.7
BP10 315 165 800 1150 35 – 7.5 2310 21.8
BP15 297 165 800 1150 53 – 7.5 2321 21.6
BP20 280 165 800 1150 70 – 7.6 2322 21.6
BS10 350 165 720 1150 – 80 7.6 2318 21.3
BS20 350 165 640 1150 – 160 7.6 2325 21.6
BS30 350 165 560 1150 – 240 7.7 2330 21.3
BS40 350 165 480 1150 – 320 7.8 2333 21.5
BPS10 332 165 760 1150 18 40 7.5 2320 21.7
BPS20 315 165 720 1150 35 80 7.5 2325 21.7
BPS30 297 165 680 1150 53 120 7.6 2326 21.5
BPS40 280 165 640 1150 70 160 7.8 2330 21.5

were mixed homogeneously in a strong nylon bag. Prismatic samples
having dimensions, 40 × 40 × 160 mm were produced with the mortar
obtained. A mixture of paraffin and resin was used for coating the molds
to avoid leakage. Then, they were kept at room temperature for 24 h.
After being kept in an oven at 550C for six days, they were taken out
and left to cool for four hours before testing.
2.2.6. Freeze-thaw resistance of samples
The freeze-thaw test was made in accordance with TS EN 3449 [25]
standard and the mass losses were calculated. Besides, compressive
strengths of the samples after freezing and thawing were found.
The machine was set to conduct 30 freezing and thawing cycles at a
rate of 5 Kh−1.

2.2.3. Compressive strength of samples 2.2.7. Capillary water absorption

The compressive strengths at the ages of 7, 28 and 60 days of stan-
dard cube samples were determined. The compressive strengths of
three samples from each age group were determined according to TS
EN 12390-3 [22]. This standard covers the test method for the determi-
nation of compressive strength of hardened concrete specimens. After
pouring concrete, it gains strength over time. However, it takes a long
time for the concrete to gain 100% strength, and this time is still un-
known. During the first 28 days of casting, the concrete compressive
strength gain increases continuously and after 60 days this gain slows
down. Samples are loaded until they are broken in the test machine ac-
cording to EN 12390–4. The compressive strength of the concrete is cal-
culated by determining the maximum load the sample can bear.
2.2.4. Compressive strength of concrete samples by ultrasonic pulse velocity
The use of ultrasonic pulse velocity rates for the determination of
compressive strengths of concrete samples according to ASTM C597
[23] is a valuable technique for the characterization of cement-based
composites. The ultrasonic pulse velocity method is based on the mea-
surement of the travel time of an ultrasonic wave through concrete
over a known path length.
2.2.5. Abrasion of concrete samples
In order to find the surface abrasion, 10x10x10 cm cubic specimens
were produced and after reaching 28 days age, new specimens were ob-
tained with dimensions of 71x71x71 mm. The surface abrasions of the
control and twelve different concrete samples were found by the
Bohme method [24].
Concrete samples prepared according to TS EN 802 [26] and TS EN
12390–2 [27] were cured for 28 days and then dried at 105 °C until
they reached constant weight and the moisture in them was completely
evacuated. The side surfaces of the specimens were then covered with
waterproof material for water to seep through a limited area. The sam-
ple was placed on wooden wedges and the water was set to be 5 mm
above the bottom of the sample. During the experiment, this water
level was continuously monitored and kept constant. The sample was
weighed at 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60, 180, 360 and 1440 min and the experi-
ment was continued for 24 h [28].
2.2.8. Sulfate resistance
Water to be mixed in concrete must be clear in appearance without
clay, silt, organic substance, acid, chloride, sulfate, grease, industrial
wastes and chemicals which may harm the durability of concrete
[29,30]. Sulfates are found in natural surface and also in wastewaters
which involve them at low rates. In lakes and brooks, the density is
not more than a hundred milligrams per liter, whereas, in underground
water, due to dissolving rocks may reach values like a few grams per
liter. In low salinity waters, sulfates evolve as gypsum, whereas, in wa-
ters with the high salinity in the form of magnesium, sodium and potas-
sium salts [30]. The compressive strength being a mechanical property
of concrete is not a durability property. For the sulfate resistance test,
a mixture of basalt sand and basalt powder was used at the rates 20%,
30% and 40% to replace sand of equal amount (by weight). This group
of samples was kept in 10% MgSO4 solution for 180 days and, then,
their sulfate resistance determination was made.

Table 4
Pozzolanic activity of basalt used.

According to ASTM C 618 According to TS 25

Specimens Compressive strength of samples after 28 days Activity Compressive strength of samples after 28 days Flexural strength of samples after 28 days
(MPa) (%) (MPa) (MPa)
Reference 55.4 100 25.5 5.8
Basalt 51.2 92 Turkish standard requirement; According to TS 25, the specimens must have a compressive
ASTM requirement; Pozzolanic activity percentage has to be greater than 70% strength of at least 5 MPa and a flexural strength of at least 1 MPa.
of the compressive strength of the control specimens according to ASTM C
618.
4 H. Binici et al. / Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145

Fig. 2. Compressive strengths of concrete samples at 7 days.

3. Results and discussion
3.1. Pozzolanic activity
Pozzolanic activity values, which were found in accordance with TS
25, were 5.8 MPa for flexural strength and 25.5 MPa for compressive
strength (Table 4). TS 25 depicts the lower limits for compressive
strength as 5 MPa and flexural strength as 1 MPa. Compressive strength
values, which were determined in accordance with ASTM C 618, were
found to be 55.4 and 51.2 MPa, which are significantly higher than
those mentioned above (see Table 3). According to the results of the
present study, concerning the pozzolanic activities of the additives,

Fig. 3. Compressive strength of concrete samples at 28 days.

Fig. 4. Compressive strength of concrete samples at 60 days.

 H. Binici et al. / Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145 5

Fig. 5. Compressive strength development of the tested concretes samples.

basalt has a high potential as an active material. Consequently, it can be
evaluated as a suitable admixture for the concrete industry, since it ful-
fills the strength requirements of the TS 25 and ASTM C 168.
3.2. Compressive strength of concrete samples
Compressive strength values of concrete samples are given in
Figs. 2–4. The 7-day compressive strengths of samples with 10% basalt
powder substitution instead of cement were found to be higher than
the reference sample. For the same age, the compressive strengths of
samples with more than 10% basalt powder substitution instead of ce-
ment were found to be lower than that of the reference specimens.
This can be explained by the general nature of the pozzolans. Pozzolanic
mixed concrete has a slower strength development at early ages [31,32].
During early ages, decreases in strength were recorded in parallel with
the decrease in the amount of cement. When the 7-day series were ex-
amined, the highest compressive strength value has been obtained from
the BPS40 sample, which is 24% higher than the reference sample. This
can be explained by the dense structure of basalt aggregate. On the
other hand, as the additive ratio increases in both sand and powder
sized basalt, the compressive strength increases. This is especially evi-
dence of the reduction of voids in the sample due to mineral additives.
When the 28-day compressive strength values are examined, the
appreciably higher compressive strength values at this age compared
to 7-day results can be explained by the pozzolanic activity of basalt.
Likewise, the highest compressive strengths were obtained for the
BPS40 sample that the 28-day compressive strength of this sample
was 33% higher than the reference sample. This can be explained by
the fact that the basalt aggregate is more durable than the conventional
aggregate. The compressive strengths of all samples with basalt sand

Fig. 6. The relative strength ratio of the concrete samples.

6 H. Binici et al. / Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145

Table 5 age of 60 days (see Fig. 6). However, the relative strengths of the con-
Ultrasonic pulse velocities of samples (m/s). crete specimens made with basaltic rock as sand or sand and powder
Samples Days sizes were higher at early ages.
7 28 60
The development of the relative strengths of the concretes conce-
rning the curing ages is observed to be different for various groups.
R 4685 5235 5440
The relative strength ratio values for the trial groups were higher than
BP5 5140 5540 5620
BP10 5295 5595 5705 those for the reference. All trial specimens fulfill the compressive
BP15 5360 5610 5790 strength requirements of EN TS12390–3. Hence, it can be said that con-
BP20 5410 5685 5840 crete made with basaltic rock as sand or both sand and powder can
BS10 5216 5625 5769 achieve adequate early compressive strength while maintaining high
BS20 5360 5727 5856
BS30 5399 5813 5896
long-term strength.
BS40 5614 5906 5984 The most important result of this study is the increase of compres-
BPS10 5340 5730 5815 sive strength, which is 28% for trial specimens compared to the refer-
BPS20 5465 5795 5870 ence sample. This value was 13% in previous studies [11,14]. This will
BPS30 5530 5840 5945
shorten the mold take-up time on the site providing an advantage in
BPS40 5640 5990 6115
job completion.

and/or powder were found to be higher than the reference sample for
3.3. The measurement of the compressive strengths by ultrasonic pulse ve-
28-day cured concrete samples.
locity method
Generally, as the basalt additive rate increases, the 60-day compres-
sive strengths of the samples also increase. The 60-day compressive
The 7, 28 and 60-day compressive strengths of concrete specimens
strength of the BPS40 sample was 32% higher than the reference sample.
were also determined by ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) method
This can be explained by the fact that the basalt, both in the sand and
(Table 5). The 7-day samples had the lowest ultrasonic pulse velocities
powder forms, has a contribution to fill the gaps in the concrete and ac-
compared to those of other ages. Out of them, the one with the highest
celerates the hydration process. It has been found out in recent studies
ultrasonic pulse velocity was BPS40. This shows that it is the one with
that adding pozzolan increases the compressive strength of concretes
the highest compressive strength. The ultrasonic pulse velocities of all
[33,34].
the 7-day specimens were in the range 4800–5614 m/s. The 28-day con-
When the 60-day compressive strength values are examined, it is
crete sample with the highest ultrasonic pulse velocity being BPS40, the
seen that basalt has made higher pozzolanic activity in this range com-
one with the lowest was sample R. The foregoing value for all the sam-
pared to 7 and 28-day ranges. This means that the pozzolanic activity
ples were in the range 5235–5990 m/s. The 60-day sample with the
increases with time. The highest compressive strength is obtained for
highest ultrasonic pulse velocity being BPS40, the one with the lowest
the BPS40 sample. This result may be explained by the fact that the ba-
value was sample R, again. No significant difference in compressive
salt aggregate is more durable than the crumb aggregate. Besides, fine
strength obtained with UPV was found compared with standard com-
aggregate and basalt powder have probably made a filling effect.
pressive strength test.
The 60-day compressive strengths of these specimens were found to
To assess the quality of concrete in a structure, the ultrasonic pulse
be roughly 25% greater than the reference specimen.
velocity method is by far the most widely accepted nondestructive
The compressive strength development of the tested concrete sam-
method. The present study showed that the pulse velocity of concrete
ples is given in Fig. 5. From the figure, it can be seen that the compres-
depends on the aggregate type and content of the mix as mentioned
sive strengths of the concrete made with basaltic sand or powder or
in the literature [35,36].
both were higher than those of the reference at all tested ages after
28 days. The strength development characteristics of the BP, BS or BPS
concretes were affected not only by the amount of the basaltic rock ad- 3.4. Mechanical abrasion rates of concrete samples
ditive but also by the particle sizes in some cases.
The relative strength (the ratio of the strength of the concrete made The mechanical abrasion values of the samples are given in Fig. 7. It
with the basaltic rock to the strength of the reference) of the concretes can be observed that the samples with basalt aggregate have less abra-
concerning curing age is given in Fig. 6. The relative strength values of sion loss than the reference sample. This difference can be explained by
the specimens with basaltic powder are lower at early ages, up to the the fact that basalt is an abrasion-resistant material. The abrasion rates

Fig. 7. The mechanical abrasion values of the samples.

 H. Binici et al. / Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145 7

Table 6 water. The capillary water absorption of the basalt added concretes is
Mass loss and compressive strength of concrete after freezing and thawing. found to be roughly 23% lower than the reference sample. Due to the
Samples Mass loss Compressive strength Compressive strength loss void-free structure of basalt aggregate, the capillary water absorption
(%) (MPa) (%) values were reduced.
R 13.9 19.9 15.3 The capillary water absorption coefficient of the reference concrete,
BP5 3.1 37.7 9.5 after 5, 10, 30 and 1440 min, was, in the same order, approximately 3,
BP10 2.9 27.9 6.8 2.5, 1.5 and 2 times that of the other samples made with basaltic replace-
BP15 2.6 25.0 8.8
ment. These results show that even if cement is partly replaced by basalt
BP20 2.1 21.5 11.8
BP average 2.7 28.0 9.2 powder, the latter fills the capillary cavities of the concrete better.
BS10 4.9 26.2 10.3 When basalt is used as fine aggregate in sand size, a decrease takes
BS20 4.4 27.9 9.4 place in the number of capillary cavities in the concrete. In other words,
BS30 4.8 30.0 7.3 water absorption coefficients of concrete with basalt sand are much
BS40 5.5 31.4 7.2
BS average 4.9 28.9 8.6
lower than the reference samples. Permeability is the main reason for
BPS10 3.8 27.2 10.0 all the durability problems of concrete. For this reason, impermeable con-
BPS20 3.5 28.6 8.8 crete production is very important. This study has shown that more dura-
BPS30 3.3 26.9 9.5 ble concrete can be produced if the basaltic rock, in the form of powder or
BPS40 3.0 26.0 10.5
sand, is used instead of a suitable percentage of the aggregates.
BPS average 3.4 27.2 9.7
In this study, it was observed that the water capillarity coefficient is
much smaller when the sand is used together with the basaltic rock
of samples with basalt aggregate were found to be roughly 32% lower powder. The water capillarity coefficient of the reference concrete is ap-
than the reference sample. proximately 3.5 times that of the other samples made with basaltic sand
and powder in 5 min, and finally 3 times in 1440 min. Only the proper-
3.5. Freezing-thawing effect of concrete samples ties of basalt grains can explain the lower permeability of concrete with
basalt additive (See Fig. 2). However, the permeability of the cement
The loss of mass and compressive strength of concrete samples after matrix must have an appreciable effect, also.
28 days of freezing-thawing are presented in Table 6. Cracks and spills
were not observed on the surface of the samples. The freezing-thawing 3.7. Sulfate resistance
mass loss of the samples varied. Both mass and compressive strength
losses of basalt-added samples were found to be lower than the refer- As it can be seen from Table 7, BPS40 specimens with both basalt
ence sample. The minimum compression strength loss was found for powder and basalt sand had a higher resistance to sulfate than the
the BPS40 sample and the maximum for the reference. The amorphous other specimens. The control specimens were found to crumble
structure of basalt causes a reduction in the cavities and capillary cracks. completely at the end of 180 days. Generally, the specimens with only
Thus, the number of voids decreased with the decrease in the amount of basalt powder had higher sulfate resistance than those with only basalt
cement in the basalt-added samples, and the loss of compressive sand. Particle size was responsible for the high sulfate resistance of
strength after freezing-thawing was lower than the reference. the180-day concrete. It can be concluded that an increase in the per-
centage of the basalt powder and/or sand additives surely increases
3.6. Water capillarity the sulfate resistance of the mortars. Other researchers expressed a sim-
ilar result mentioning an enhancement of the chemical resistance of
The capillarity coefficients found from the capillary water absorption concrete provided by natural additives [37].
test are summarized in Figs. 8–10. The variation of capillary water ab- The significance of sulfate attack was seen by the nearly 90% de-
sorption coefficient with time is given for each sample separately. crease in the compressive strength of the samples with basalt additive.
Depending on the amount of basalt additive, the capillary water absorp- The reductions of the relative compressive strengths, i.e. the ratios of
tion values of the BS20 sample increased with time and absorbed more the compressive strengths in sulfate to those in pure water, are given

Fig. 8. Capillary water absorption-time relationship of samples with basalt powder.

8 H. Binici et al. / Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145

Fig. 9. Capillary water absorption-time relationship of samples with basalt sand.

in Table 7. When the exposure time to MgSO4 solution increases, the rel-
ative compressive strengths of all mortars decrease. However, they re-
duce with different amplitudes. Although all concrete samples with
basalt additive preserved their integrity until the end of 180 days, the
relative compressive strength of the reference sample decreased rapidly
and dispersion took place by then. The mass losses of samples with ba-
salt additive are much less than the reference sample (Table 7). At the
end of 180 days exposure to sulfate solution, the total mass loss of the
reference sample is about 21.1%, whereas, the corresponding value for
the samples with basalt additive is roughly 4%. As can be seen, samples
with basalt additive have a much less mass loss due to sulfate attack in
both short and long-term durations.
Pozzolanic activity, compressive strength, development of compres-
sive strength, concrete strength with the measurement of ultrasonic
pulse velocity, mechanical abrasion rates, freezing-thawing, water cap-
illarity permeability and sulfate resistance properties of concrete with
basalt additives have been studied in the previous works of the present
authors and others in the literature [14,28–30,38].
To obtain concrete of high quality and durability, this research
aims to understand the capacities and limitations of tests. Concrete
is a heterogeneous material and the interpretation of the relation-
ship between strength and ultrasonic pulse velocity is very com-
plex. The void ratio, the w/c ratio, the aggregate type, and other
variables affect the strength of concrete. The test results show
that there is a good correlation between strength and ultrasonic
pulse velocity of concrete due to the interdependence of ultrasonic
pulse velocity and the void ratio. The results indicate that the var-
iation of the different factors, especially aggregate type and size,
can generate effects on both of the foregoing properties, through
their effect on the void ratio.
The awareness of the role of permeability in the long-term du-
rability of concrete has led researchers to search for ways to
quickly assess the permeability of concretes. Using admixtures
such as basaltic powder renders the production of highly imperme-
able concrete possible. Basaltic powders have been proposed as an
additive to produce very impermeable concrete. Furthermore, it is
seen that basaltic powder together with basaltic sand is even
more effective in the production of concrete highly resistant to
abrasion and sulfate degradation.

Fig. 10. Capillary water absorption-time relationship of samples with basalt powder and sand.
 H. Binici et al. / Sustainable Materials and Technologies 23 (2020) e00145 9

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