S. Prabavathi, R. Beaula Jasmine, S. Venkateswaran, S. Vishnuvardhan, R.M. Muthuraman, R.V. Vijay Raj and R.K.Kalaivani
Abstract
As water becomes a scarce material every day, there is an urgent need to explore ways to save water in concrete production and buildings. Curing of concrete is the maintenance of satisfactory moisture content of concrete in its initial stage to develop the desired properties. However, good healing is not always practical in many cases. Hardening of concrete plays an important role in the formation of the microstructure and pore structure of concrete and thus improves its durability and performance. The purpose of this research is to find out the strength and durability properties of concrete using water-soluble polyethylene glycol as a self-hardening agent. The task of self-hardening substances is to reduce the evaporation of water from the concrete, and thus they increase the water resistance of concrete compared to conventionally hardened concrete. The use of self-hardening additives is very important from the point of view that saving water is necessary every day (3m3 of water is used in the building for every cubic meter of concrete, most of which is used for stoning). In this work, the compressive and fracture strengths of concrete containing self-hardening substances are investigated and compared with those of conventionally hardened concrete. In this experimental study, concrete cast with polyethylene glycol as a self-hardening agent was found to be stronger than concrete obtained by spray or immersion curing. In this study, the effect of an additive (PEG 400) on compressive strength, crack tensile strength and fracture layer was investigated for M20 by varying the percentage of PEG by weight of cement between 0% and 2%. It was found that PEG 400 can help in self-healing, providing similar strength to conventional healing. It was also found that 1 wt% PEG 400 cement was optimal for M20 grade concretes to achieve maximum strength without compromising workability.