Tribological behavior of concrete with different mineral additions

The present work aims at investigating the effects of using various fine mineral additions as partial replacement to Portland cement on the tribological properties of concrete. To achieve this goal, concrete mixtures were prepared with different percentages (10, 20 and 30%) of limestone fillers (LF) and natural pozzolana (NP), and (20, 40 and 60%) of blast furnace slag (BFS). The interface yield stress (t0) and viscous constants (n) that allow characterizing friction at the concrete-pipe wall interface were determined using a rotational tribometer. In addition, the compositions of the boundary layers that formed in the pumping pipes of the different concretes under study were also identified and analyzed. The experimental results obtained showed that the concretes studied have a linear tribological behavior that can be described by the Bingham model. Furthermore, the use of different mineral additions, especially limestone fillers and blast furnace slags, even at high rates, had a beneficial effect on the optimization of the volume of paste present in the boundary layer, which made it possible to significantly reduce the viscous constant of concrete. However, a maximum rate of 10% of natural pozzolana was recommended to achieve tribological properties that are favorable to the pumpability of concrete.