ARTICLE IN PRESS

Building and Environment 42 (2007) 20832089 www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

The effect of curing conditions on compressive strength of ultra high strength concrete with high volume mineral admixtures
Halit Yazc
Department of Civil Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Dokuz Eylul University, Buca 35160, Izmir, Turkey Received 30 November 2005; received in revised form 6 February 2006; accepted 31 March 2006

Abstract In this study, pulverized y ash (FA), pulverized granulated blast furnace slag (PS) and silica fume (SF) were quantitatively studied with the incorporation of Portland cement (PC). PC was replaced with FA or PS at specied ratios. Basalt and quartz powder were used as an aggregate in the mixtures. Three different curing methods (standard, autoclave and steam curing) were applied to the specimens. Test results indicate that high strength concrete can be obtained with high volume mineral admixtures. Compressive strength of these mixtures is over 170 MPa. It seems that these mixtures can also be used for reactive powder concrete (RPC) production with some modications. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Fly ash; Ground granulated blast furnace slag; Ultra high strength concrete; Autoclave

1. Introduction Apart from their exceptional mechanical properties, ultra high strength concrete (UHSC) have an ultra-dense microstructure, giving advantageous waterproong and durability characteristics [1]. UHSC is generally characterized by its high silica fume content and very low water cement ratio. Aggregate grading and heat treatment should be optimized to obtain superior mechanical and durability properties. Nowadays, UHSC seems to be a promising material for special prestressed and precast concrete members. These materials can therefore be used for industrial and nuclear waste storage facilities [2]. The silica fume used in this technology has three main functions; lling the voids between the next larger class particles (cement), enhancement of rheological characteristics by the lubrication effect resulting from the perfect sphericity of the basic particles, production of secondary hydrates by pozzolanic reaction with the lime resulting from primary hydration [25].

Tel.: +90 232 4127044; fax: +90 232 4127253.

E-mail address: halit.yazici@deu.edu.tr. 0360-1323/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.03.013

The 28-day strength on normal curing can be achieved in about 24 h with autoclave curing [6]. Furthermore, previous studies showed that; the incorporation of ne silica is also essential in order to achieve high mechanical properties. Without ne silica the rapid formation of different hydration products under autoclave curing, results in a porous and weak microstructure that leads to lower compressive strength values [7,8]. Furthermore, the drying shrinkage of autoclaved concrete is only about onethird of that of concrete cured under ambient conditions. Creep of concrete similarly reduced. Since no calcium sulfoaluminate hydrates are present in the matrix, resistance to sulfate attack is markedly improved. The absence of free lime must also play a role and is the reason that little eforescence occurs in autoclaved products. Nevertheless, there are few disadvantages to autoclaved products such as the high capital cost of the plant. The bond strength between the concrete and the reinforcement is usually much lower (by about 50%), and the material tends to be more brittle than ordinary concrete [9]. Not only the good workability in fresh state and proper mechanical and durability characteristics, but also environmental friendliness and economic benets must be possessed by cement-based materials. A cement rich mortar

ARTICLE IN PRESS
2084 H. Yazc / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 20832089

is the binder in UHSC. The usage of very high amounts of cement not only affects the production costs, but also has negative effects on the heat of hydration and may cause shrinkage problems. Due to their pozzolanic nature, FA and PS are benecial mineral admixtures for concrete. Replacing cement with mineral admixtures seems to be a feasible solution to these problems. Furthermore, incorporation of mineral admixtures may positively affect the durability of concrete. Talebinejad et al. [10] were investigated the mechanical properties of reactive powder concrete (RPC). Binder phase of it consist of cement and SF. Compressive strength of 230 MPa was achieved following with the different curing methods (20 1C water+90 1C water). However, cement content of this mixture was as high as 1900 kg/ m3. Furthermore, when the w/c ratio decreased to 0.11 and specimens dried in the oven at 200 1C compressive strength of 330 MPa can be reached. Korpa and Trettin [11] investigated the use of synthetic colloidal silica dispersions for making HPC and UHPC. Test results indicate that colloidal silica dispersions combined with FA is very promising for HPC or UHPC applications compared to the SF. Ma et al. [12] used crushed basalt in the production of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) with the particle size from 2 to 5 mm showed similar mechanical performance compared to the RPC in which the maximum size of aggregate smaller than 1 mm. Rougeau and Borys [13] showed that UHPC could be obtained with ultra ne particles other than SF such as y ash, limestone microller or metakaolin. Jooss and Reinhardt [14] showed that permeability and diffusion coefcient of HPC and RPC are much lower than conventional waterproof concrete according to DIN 1045. Moreover, these coefcients are much lower in RPC than HPC. There are considerable amount of studies about compositions, mechanical and durability characteristics of UHPC and ultra-high performance reinforced concrete [1525]. In this study, the effect of curing conditions and high volume mineral admixtures (class C FA and PS) on the mechanical properties of UHSC mixtures was investigated. Cement was replaced with FA and PS at different proportions. SF and quartz powder were used at constant proportions in all mixtures. Curing conditions were; standard cure in water, steam curing in atmosphere pressure (90 1C) and high-pressure (2 MPa) steam curing (210 1C). Test results were presented comparatively with the control mix, which has only cement and SF as a binder. 2. Experimental Basalt and quartz were used as an aggregate with Dmax 4 mm and Dmax 0:100 mm, respectively. A superplasticizer of sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde based was used. Superplasticizer is in conformity with ASTM C 49481, type F and TS EN 934-2. The physical, chemical and mechanical properties of Portland cement (PC 42,5) and properties of class C y ash (FA), silica fume and slag,

procured from Soma power plant, Antalya ferrochrome plant, Iskenderun Iron-Steel plant, respectively, are presented in Table 1. The water powder ratio of all mixtures was 0.13. Superplasticizer was used at a constant ratio of 4% by weight of powder components (cement, silica fume, y ash, slag, quartz) for all mixtures. Mixture design is given in Table 2. In Table 2, according to the FA or PS content, FA incorporated mixtures are abbreviated with FA20, FA40, FA60 and FA80 while PS mixtures were abbreviated with PS20, PS40, PS60 and PS80. Moreover, CTRL shows control mixture that contain only cement and SF as a binder. Cube specimens (50 mm) were used to determine the compressive strength of the mixtures. The mixtures were mixed in a Hobart mixer and compacted by hand operations. Because of high binder volume, very low water/binder ratio and high SF content, mixtures cannot be compacted by vibration. Thus, the ow table test is not indicative of difference between the consistencies of the mixtures. Eighteen specimens from each mixture were prepared. The specimens were kept in the moulds for 12 h at room temperature of 20 1C. After demolding, one group of the specimens was exposed to steam curing at 90 1C for 6
Table 1 Physical, chemical and mechanical properties of cement, silica fume, y ash and slag Chemical composition (%) Cement Fly ash (FA) Silica fume (SF) 92.26 0.89 1.97 0.49 0.96 0.42 1.31 0.33 0.09 Slag (PS)

SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO Na2O K2O SO3 Cl L.I. I.R. F.CaO (%) Physical properties of cement Specic gravity Initial setting time (min) Final setting time (min) Volume expansion (mm) Specic surface Cement (m2/kg) Blaine FA (m2/kg) Blaine SF (m2/kg) Nitrogen Ab. PS (m2/kg) Blaine

19.3 5.57 3.46 63.56 0.86 0.13 0.76 2.91 0.013 3.56 0.42 1.22 3.13 119 210 1.00 352 290 20 000 485

42.1 19.4 4.6 27.0 1.8 1.1 2.4 1.3 4.3

35.71 14.52 0.80 32.13 9.39

Compressive strength of cement (MPa) 2 days 27.2 7 days 42.4 28 days 52.7

ARTICLE IN PRESS
H. Yazc / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 20832089 Table 2 Composition of different mixtures Material Cement (kg/m3) SF (kg/m3) FA (kg/m3) PS (kg/m3) Basalt (kg/m3) Quartz (kg/m3) Water (kg/m3) Water/cement Water/powder SP (L/m3) CTRL 850 260 850 212 170 0.2 0.13 45 FA20 680 260 170 787 212 170 0.25 0.13 45 FA40 510 260 340 724 212 170 0.33 0.13 45 FA60 340 260 510 661 212 170 0.5 0.13 45 FA80 170 260 680 598 212 170 0.65 0.13 45 PS20 680 260 170 838 212 170 0.25 0.13 45 PS40 510 260 340 826 212 170 0.33 0.13 45 PS60 340 260 510 814 212 170 0.5 0.13 45 PS80 170 260 680 802 212 170 0.65 0.13 45 2085

and 12 days. Heating rate of steam cure treatment was 11 1C/h. Another group of specimens were autoclaved at 210 1C and 2.0 MPa for 8, 16, and 24 h. Maximum temperature and maximum pressure were reached in 1.5 h. The remaining specimens were cured in standard conditions (water curing at 20 1C) for 28 days. After completion of their curing periods, the specimens, which were subjected to heat treatment, were kept in laboratory atmosphere for cooling, and then tested in a compression test machine. The compressive strength of each mixture was determined with three specimens. Standard deviation of all series is between 2 and 4 MPa. 3. Results and discussion Test results were presented in the following paragraphs. 3.1. Inuence of the effect of y ash and slag content on compressive strength of autoclaved specimens The variation of compressive strength of high-pressure steam cured and standard cured specimens are presented in Fig. 1. It may be concluded from the Fig. 1 that; increasing FA content up to 40% cement replacement causes an increase in compressive strength values. More than 40% of FA content causes a reduction in compressive strength sharply. Furthermore, at all FA replacement levels, compressive strength of high-pressure steam cured (2 MPa, 210 1C) specimens is more than the water-cured specimens. After 8 h of high-pressure steam curing, compressive strength of control mixture is 170 MPa, while compressive strengths of FA20 and FA40 mixtures are 171.4 and 171 MPa, respectively. In other words, at 40% FA replacement level UHSC with cement content of 510 kg/m3 can be obtained. It can be seen from the Fig. 1, the duration of highpressure steam curing and preheating period also affects the compressive strength. Beyond 8 h of curing reduction in compressive strength was observed. This nding is also in accordance with literature. Some studies showed that at each temperature there is an optimum period of curing that leads to maximum compressive strength [6,8,9]. Under the conditions of high temperature and pressure, the chemistry

Compressive Strength, MPa

200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 0 20 40 FA, % 60

8h `16 h 24 h `standard

80

Fig. 1. The effect of y ash content and autoclave period on compressive strength.

of hydration is substantially altered. CSH forms but is converted to a crystalline product a-calcium silicate hydrate (a-C2S) which cause an increase in porosity and reduction in strength. However, in the presence of silica aC2S converts to tobermorite (C5S6H5) on continued heating thus high strength can be obtained. On the other hand, prolonged autoclaving may cause the formation of other crystalline calcium silicate hydrates with a strength reduction. It is believed that the complete conversion to tobermorite is not desirable and that there is an optimum ratio of amorphous to crystalline material for maximum strength [9,26,27]. Note that in this study, specimens were subjected to high-pressure steam curing approximately 12 h after mixing, for 8 h high-pressure steam curing. On the other hand, preheating period is 24 h for 16 and 24 h curing period. Specimens disintegrated after 8 h of high-pressure steam curing at 80% FA replacement level. This can be explained with negative effect of high volume class C FA on volume stability and early strength gain. However, this situation was not observed for 16 and 24 h high-pressure steam cured specimens, which have 24 h preheating period. The compressive strength vs PS content and autoclaving period relation and control specimens are shown in Fig. 2. It can be seen from the Fig. 2 that, increasing PS content up to 60% cement replacement caused increase in compressive strength values. This trend is independent from the curing condition. However, 80% PS replacement causes reduction in compressive strength sharply. After 8 h

ARTICLE IN PRESS
2086
200 Compressive Strength, MPa 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 0 20 40 PS, % 60 80

H. Yazc / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 20832089

8h `16 h 24 h `standard

Compressive Strength, MPa

200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 0 20 40 FA, % 60 80

6 days `12 days `standard

Fig. 2. The inuence of blast furnace slag content and autoclave period on compressive strength.

Fig. 3. The effect of y ash content and steam curing period on compressive strength.

of high-pressure steam curing, compressive strength of control mix is 170 MPa, while compressive strengths of PS20, PS40 and PS60 mixtures are 178.7, 185 and 168.9 MPa, respectively. In this case UHSC could also be achieved with high volume PS60 binder phase. Cement content of this mixture is only 340 kg/m3. Furthermore, even 80% replacement level with 16 h autoclave curing UHSC can also be obtained. Compressive strength of this mixture is over 140 MPa. Furthermore, at all PS replacement levels, compressive strength of high-pressure steam cured specimens is more than water cured specimens. Subjecting the high-pressure steam curing beyond the 8 h generally caused a reduction in compressive strength. Moreover, from the point of compressive strength, difference between autoclave and water curing increases with increasing PS replacement. 3.2. Inuence of y ash and slag content on compressive strength of steam cured specimens Apart from the autoclaving, the characteristics of lowpressure steam cured concretes do not differ markedly from those of concretes cured under ambient conditions. The hydration of the cement compounds proceeds more rapidly but the hydration reactions are basically the same. CSH remains an amorphous material, although its compositions changes with temperatures. However, this higher rate of hydration will lead to a lower ultimate strength. The reactions of pozzolans are also accelerated by the higher curing temperatures [6,9]. Fig. 3 shows the inuence of FA content on compressive strength of steam cured (90 1C) and standard cured specimens. It can be seen from the gure that, the increasing amount of FA content up to 60% replacement level, generally caused an increase in compressive strength at all curing conditions. After 12 days of steam curing, compressive strength of control specimens, FA20, FA40 and FA60 mixtures are 154, 152, 159 and 155 MPa, respectively. Furthermore, using 80% FA as a cement replacement, caused disintegration during steam curing period. This can be explained with volume stability

200 Compressive Strength, Mpa 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 0 20 40 PS, %
Fig. 4. The inuence of blast furnace slag content and steam curing period on compressive strength.
6 days `12 days `standard

60

80

problems of class C FA. The compressive strength of 6 days and 12 days steam cured specimens are more than that of standard cured specimens in water during 28 days at all FA replacement levels. UHSC can also be obtained with 60% FA replacement with 12 days steam curing. Class C FA, which has high lime content, used with SF and generally mechanical properties were improved by FA replacement under steam curing possibly due to the hydration reactions between extra lime released from FA and SF. Fig. 4 shows the inuence of PS content on compressive strength of steam cured (90 1C) and standard cured mortars. It can be seen from the gure that, with the increasing amount of PS content up to 60% replacement level, generally an increase in compressive strength is observed at all curing conditions. After 12 days of steam curing, compressive strength of control specimens, PS20, PS40 and PS60 mixtures are 154, 150, 156 and 145 MPa, respectively. Although, using 80% PS as a cement replacement caused large reduction in compressive strength for standard curing, this mixture showed 134 MPa compressive strength after 12 days steam curing. The compressive strength of 6 days and 12 days steam cured specimens are more than that of specimens standard cured in water during 28 days at all PS replacement levels.

ARTICLE IN PRESS
H. Yazc / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 20832089 2087
PS; steam /standard PS; autoclave /standard

It is known that when only FA or PS are used the composition of CSH is not very different from that formed in regular hydration, although generally C/S ratio is slightly lower. However with very reactive form of silica such as silica fume the C/S ratio is different. This indicates that a secondary pozzolanic reaction with CSH occurring (CSH3.5) [9]. Steam curing at 6585 1C for a few hours (for example 312 h) normally causes ultimate strength reduction due to rapid reactions compared to the standard curing in water at 20 1C. In this study, the compressive strength of all steam cured specimens are more than that of standard cured specimens in water during 28 days. This can be explained by prolonged steam curing at 90 1C, which possibly caused the extended pozzolanic reactions. Therefore, at elevated temperatures less reactive form of silica in SF, FA or PS shows pozzolanic reaction that is normally remains unreacted inert ller under standard curing. Moreover, SF caused secondary pozzolanic reaction which also increased the compressive strength of all mixtures. Note that control mixture also showed similar behavior compared to the FA or PS mixtures. This can be attributed to the signicant amount of SF in the control mixture. These ndings are also accordance with previous studies [28,29]. Toutanji and Bayasi [28] showed that compressive strength of SF incorporated steam cured concrete (80 1C, 3 days) is much more than moist cured (23 1C, 100% humidity) SF concrete. Liu et al. [30] indicated that the steam curing adaptability of FA concrete without SF is poor. On the other hand FA and PS combinations improved the adaptability to steam curing. Ho et al. also point out that best results obtained from SF concrete under steam curing (55 1C, 8 h) compared to the PS or FA concretes [31]. 3.3. Inuence of different curing conditions on compressive strength Depending on the FA content, the compressive strength of steam cured (12 days 90 1C) specimens relative to the high-pressure steam cured specimens (8 h, 2 MPa, 210 1C) is shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen from the gure that, depending on the FA content, strength after steam curing
140
FA PS

180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

FA; steam /standard FA; autoclave /standard

Relative Strength, %

20 40 60 Mineral Admixture, %

80

Fig. 6. The effectiveness of steam and autoclave curing.

126 108

Relative Strength (steam /autoclave), %

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 20 40 60 Mineral Admixture, %

91 91 89 93 84 84 86

are between 89% and 126% of strength after autoclaving. In other words, generally strength level after autoclaving cannot be reached with 12 days steam curing. This nding is also valid for PS replacement. However, in steam curing, 60% FA replacement and 80% PS replacement enabled greater compressive strength than the high-pressure steam curing. Note that, as mentioned previously 8 h autoclaved FA80 and steam cured FA80 mixtures disintegrated possibly due to the expansion of free lime. This problem partially solved by the extended preheating period for 16 and 24 h autoclaving. However, micro-cracks due to expansion may caused higher compressive strength reduction in autoclave curing than steam curing for FA60 mixture. Fig. 6 shows the effectiveness of steam curing and highpressure steam curing with respect to the standard curing. It can be concluded from the gure; compressive strength at all mixtures after high-pressure steam curing (8 h) is greater than the strength of water cured specimens. Furthermore, the effectiveness of autoclaving increases with increasing PS content, while this situation is not valid for increasing FA replacement. Similar trend is also observed with steam curing. In other words, 12 days of steam curing improved the compressive strength of all mixtures with respect to the standard curing. Moreover, while the effectiveness of steam curing is almost independent of the FA content, with increasing PS content effectiveness increases. These ndings can be explained by the superior inter-reactions of the ingredients (FA, PS, SF and cement). It is clear that autoclave and steam curing provides perfect conditions for complete and accelerated hydration media for hydration process especially with combined mineral admixtures. 4. Conclusions Test results indicate that production of high strength concrete with high volume FA or PS is possible under standard water curing. With autoclave or steam curing mechanical properties can be improved and ultra high strength high volume FA or PS concrete can be obtained. Furthermore, it seems that same mixtures can be used as RPC. However, to exceed the 200 MPa limit that is the

80

Fig. 5. Comparison of compressive strength of steam cured specimens and autoclaved specimens.

ARTICLE IN PRESS
2088 H. Yazc / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 20832089 [6] Neville AM. Properties of concrete. New York: Longman; 1995. [7] Aldea CM, Young F, Wang K, Shah SP. Effects of curing conditions on properties of concrete using slag replacement. Cement Concrete Research 2000;30:46572. [8] Shi C, Hu S. Cementitious properties of ladle slag nes under autoclave curing conditions. Cement Concrete Research 2003;33:18516. [9] Mindess S, Young JF, Darwin D. Concrete. New Jersey: Pearson education; 2002. [10] Talebinejad I, Bassam SA, Iranmanesh A, Shekarchizadeh M. Optimizing mix proportions of normal weight reactive powder concrete with strengths of 200350 MPa, ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 13341. [11] Korpa A, Trettin R. The use of synthetic colloidal silica dispersions for making HPC and UHPC systems, preliminary comparison results between colloidal silica dispersions and silica fumes (SF), ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 15564. [12] Ma J, Orgass M, Dehn F, Schmidt D, Tue NV. Comparative investigations on ultra-high performance concrete with and without coarse aggregates. Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 20512. [13] Rougeau P, Borys B. Ultra high performance concrete with ultrane particles other than silica fume, ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 21325. [14] Jooss M, Reinhardt HW. Permeability and diffusivity of concrete as function of temperature. Cement and Concrete Research 2002;32:1497504. [15] Maeder U, Gambos IL, Chaignon J, Lombard JP. Ceracem, a new high performance concrete: characterisations and applications, ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 5968. [16] Fehling E, Bunje K, Leutbecher T. Design relevant properties of hardened ultra high performance concrete, ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 32738. [17] Droll K. Inuence of additions on ultra high performance concretesgrain size optimization, ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 285301. [18] Teichmann T, Schmidt M. Inuence of the packing density of ne particles on structure, strength and durability of UHPC, ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 31323. [19] Bayard O, Ple O. Fracture mechanics of reactive powder concrete: material modeling and experimental investigations. Engineering Fracture Mechanics 2003;70:83951. [20] Bentz DP, Haecker CJ. An argument for using coarse cements in high-performance concretes. Cement and Concrete Research 1999;29:6158. [21] Bonneau O, Vernet C, Moranville M, Aitcin PC. Characterization of the granular packing and percolation threshold of reactive powder concrete. Cement and Concrete Research 2000;30:18617. [22] Feylessou A, Tenoudji CF, Morin V, Richard P. Early ages shrinkage mechanisms of ultra-high-performance cement-based materials. Cement and Concrete Composites 2001;31:15739. [23] Morin V, Tenoudji FC, Feylessou A, Richard P. Evolution of the capillary network in a reactive powder concrete during hydration process. Cement and Concrete Research 2002;32:190714. [24] Guvensoy G, Bayramov F, Ilki A, Sengul C, Tasdemir MA, Kocaturk AN, et al. Mechanical behavior of high performance steel ber reinforced cementitious composites under cyclic loading condition, ultra high performance concrete (UHPC). International symposium on ultra high performance concrete; September 1315, 2004. p. 64960.

stated as the lower limit for RPC some modications is a necessity. For this purpose, multi-curing process can be applied or specimens may be subjected to the pressure in the molds during setting period. Both steam curing and high-pressure steam curing improved the compressive strength of all specimens compared to standard curing. These increments are between 2563% for steam curing process and 961% for autoclaving. This can be attributed to the improvement of hydration process under steam curing and high-pressure steam curing. When cement was replaced with FA up to 40% this change in the mixture composition positively affected the compressive strength of specimens under autoclave curing. FA60 mixture also showed considerable compressive strength after 12 days steam curing. Moreover, cement replacement with PS up to 60% positively affected the compressive strength of specimens for both steam and autoclave curing. Although there is some reduction in compressive strength, PS80 mixture also showed good performance both steam and autoclave curing. In other words, UHSC can be produced with very low cement content with high volume FA or PS replacement. Such as cement content of FA40 and PS60 mixtures are 510 and 340 kg/m3, respectively, while cement dosage of conventional UHSC or RPC generally over 8001000 kg/m3. Therefore, these mixtures have important environmental and economical benets. Strength level after autoclaving generally cannot be reached even with 12 days steam curing for both PS and FA replacement. This can be explained by the different hydration mechanisms due to these curing methods. While steam curing increases reactivity of ingredients, autoclaving leads to development of different phases and incorporation of ne silica is essential in order to achieve high mechanical properties. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank to Mr. Huseyin YIGITER (MSc, in C.E.), Mr. Serdar AYDIN (MSc, in C.E.) for their assistance in experiments and to Prof. Dr. Bulent BARADAN for his guidance in preparation of this paper. References
[1] Matte V, Moranville M. Durability of reactive powder composites: inuence of silica fume on the leaching properties of very low water/ binder pastes. Cement and Concrete Composites 1999;21:19. [2] Richard P, Cheyrez M. Composition of reactive powder concretes. Cement and Concrete Research 1995;25(7):150111. [3] Long G, Wang X, Xie Y. Very high-performance concrete with ultrane powders. Cement and Concrete Research 2002;32:6015. [4] Aitcin PC. The durability characteristics of high performance concrete: a review. Cement and Concrete Composites 2003;25:40920. [5] Kronlof A. Effect of very ne aggregate on concrete strength. Materials and Structures 1994;27:18594.

ARTICLE IN PRESS
H. Yazc / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 20832089 [25] Khoury GA. Compressive strength of concrete at high temperatures: a reassessment. Magazine of Concrete Research 1992;44(161):291309. [26] Glasser FP, Hong SY. Thermal treatment of CSH gel at 1 bar H2O pressure up to 200 1C. Cement and Concrete Research 2003;33:2719. [27] Yang Q, Zhang S, Huang S, He Y. Effect of ground quartz sand on properties of high-strength concrete in the steam-autoclaved curing. Cement and Concrete Research 2000;30:19938. [28] Toutanji AH, Bayasi Z. Effect of curing procedures on properties of silica fume concrete. Cement and Concrete Research 1999;29:497501. 2089 [29] Wu DS, Peng YN. The macro- and micro properties of cement pastes with silica-rich materials cured by wet-mixed steaming injection. Cement and Concrete Research 2003;33:133145. [30] Liu B, Xie Y, Li J. Inuence of steam curing on the compressive strength of concrete containing supplementary cementing materials. Cement and Concrete Research 2005;5:9948. [31] Ho DWS, Chua CW, Tam CT. Steam-cured concrete incorporating mineral admixtures. Cement and Concrete Research 2003;33: 595601.