Investigation of mechanical and physical properties of expanded clay aggregate structural lightweight concrete

In this study, use of expanded clay in lightweight concrete production was investigated. With this purpose, expanded clay, limestone and natural river sand were used as aggregates in concrete mixtures. Mixture gradations were kept constant for each group. CEM I 42.5R type cement as well as fly ash and ground granulated furnace slag as a replacement material with cement was used as a binder. İn mixture design parameters, binder dosage was selected as 300 kg/m3 and 500 kg/m3 in hybrid binders. Therefore, totally 40 mix batches were prepared in different contains. Specimens were cured in water tank for 28 days long period at 20±2 oC. Slump, unit weight, air void measurement and temperature from surface were examined on fresh concrete mixes. Moreover, compressive strength tests at 1st, 3rd, 7th and 28th days and tensile strength tests at 28th day were performed on hardened concrete specimens. According to the results, lightweight structural concrete was produced that its unit weight, compressive strength and tensile strength were obtained as 1346 kg/m3, 26.4 MPa and 2.5 MPa, respectively. When the expanded clay used with river sand and limestone as aggregate, it is observed that the unit weight, compressive strength and tensile strength were found 1813 kg/m3, 36,5 MPa and 2,6 MPa, respectively.