Durability characteristics of high early strength concrete

High early strength concrete (HESC) is a type of high performance concrete, which attains its specified strength earlier than normal concrete. This type of concrete is normally used in precast and prestressed concrete industries. Many studies have been performed on the production of high early strength concrete, but information on performance of high early strength concrete in durability tests is limited. This article deals with evaluation of durability index characteristics of high early strength concrete mixtures made with two different cements. Durability index tests such as oxygen permeability, sorptivity, rapid chloride permeability and water absorption tests were performed on three HESC mixtures made with two different cements and compared with a reference concrete. Our results reveal that high early strength concrete using steam curing is better than concrete produced using accelerator. The microstructural studies also revealed that steam-cured concrete is better than accelerator-cured concrete supporting the durability index properties of concretes tested.