Effect of internal curing on performance of self-compacting concrete by using sustainable materials

This paper is devoted to investigate the effect of internal curing technique on the properties of self-compacting concrete. In this study, self-compacting concrete is produced by using limestone powder as partial replacement by weight of cement with percentage of (5%), sand is partially replaced by volume with saturated fine lightweight aggregate which is thermostone aggregate as internal curing material in three percentages of (5%, 10%, 15%) for self-compacting concrete, and the use of two external curing conditions which are water and air. The experimental work was divided into three parts: in the first part, the workability tests of fresh self-compacting concrete were conducted. The second part included conducting compressive strength test and modulus of rupture test at ages of (7, 28 and 90) days. The third part included doing the shrinkage test at age of (7, 14, 21, 28) days. The results show that internally cured self-compacting concrete has the best workability and the best properties of hardened concrete which include (compressive strength, modulus of rupture) of externally cured self-compacting concrete with both water and air as compared with reference concretes. Also, the hardened properties of internally cured self-compacting concrete with percentage of (5%) with thermostone aggregate is the best as compared with that of percentages (10% and 15%) in both external curing conditions. In general, the results of shrinkage test have shown reduction in shrinkage of internally cured self-compacting concrete as compared with reference concretes and this reduction increases with increase in the thermostone aggregate content-within-self-compacting-concrete.