With the ongoing technological advancement several evolutions took place in construction industry for building strong and eco friendly structures. Among them, AAC blocks and CLC blocks are two variants that gained much appreciation for their sturdiness. Both these blocks are used to construct buildings as they help in reducing the overall dead load of the structure and accelerate the pace of construction by allowing for precasting at construction sites.
CLC stands for Cellular Lightweight Concrete or Foam Concrete, which is a cement-bonded material mainly consisting of slurry of cement, gypsum, fly ash, aluminium powder, sand and water mixed with the addition of pre-formed stable foam. Due to this cellular structure they are lightweight and durable, while also providing high insulation. These blocks can be produced on site using a special machine and molding device, which makes it possible for them to compete favourably with conventional burnt clay bricks in terms of cost and quality.
These blocks can be cured either by water curing or by steam curing procedure. The use of steam curing is recommended because it helps in strengthening the cellular structure of the block by increasing its porosity, which in turn increases its strength. Additionally, it helps in achieving good quality of the block by preventing agglomeration of fines and inducing a more homogeneous microstructure.
Previous studies have shown that the addition of silica fume in cement improves the mechanical properties of lightweight concrete such as cellular lightweight concrete (CLC) by increasing its compressive and flexural strengths. The current study investigates the effect of silica fume in CLC mortar mixture by varying its concentration from 0%, 0.5%, 1%, 5% to 15% of cement weight. The experimental results were analysed by using LUSAS finite element software.
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