Influence of mineral admixtures on compressive strength, gas permeability and carbonation of high performance concrete

Compressive strength, gas permeability and carbonation of high performance concrete (HPC) with fly ash (FA) or ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) were experimentally investigated and the relationships among them were analyzed. Test results showed that influences of FA with replacement up to 60% on these properties investigated are significantly affected by water–binder (w/b) ratios. However, unlike FA, influences of GGBFS on HPC are little affected by w/b ratios, similar changing trends could be observed for both w/b ratios selected. Moreover, HPC with GGBFS shows much better performance than that with FA at the same w/b ratio. In general, replacing FA/GGBFS with cement could not benefit the properties investigated, especially at the higher w/b ratio selected and relationship between compressive strength and gas permeability of HPC greatly depends on w/b ratios and mineral admixture types. Carbonation is obviously related to gas permeability for both HPC with FA/GGBFS.