Effects of mineral admixture on properties of young concrete

This paper reports the results of experimental study on the effects of mineral admixtures such as silica fume, slag, fly ash, and metakaolin, on the mechanical behavior of young concrete under either uniaxial compression or tension. The uniaxial compression and uniaxial tension tests have been conducted on the concrete specimens at ages of 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 7, and 28 days. By utilizing the circumferential control and adaptive deformation control, the complete stress-strain (deformation) curves have been obtained for young concrete under either uniaxial compression or uniaxial tension. The experimental results show that the different mineral admixtures do have different influences on properties of young concrete. Metakaolin shows the best enhancement on the mechanical properties of young concrete generally.