Mechanical strengths of self compacting concrete containing sawdust-ash and naphthalene sulfonate

The present research work is on the effect of sawdust ash (SDA) on the mechanical strengths of self compacting concrete (SCC) using naphthalene sulfonate (NS) as a plasticizer. Experiments on compressive, flexural and splitting tensile strengths are conducted and the data analyzed using the Minitab 15 software. The results showed that SDA can defer the reaction of cement hydration and prolong the setting times of cement paste. This was very much pronounced on the flexural and splitting tensile strengths at 90 days of curing which are 36 % and 33 % higher than the control strengths, respectively. The study has proposed strength relations of mortar compressive strength with the flexural and splitting tensile strengths and these are, 5 and 7 times respectively. The flexural strength is 1.5 times that of the splitting tensile. Finally, linear models were developed on these relationships.