The study of using rice husk ash to produce ultra high performance concrete

Nguyen Van Tuan

a,
, Guang Ye
a
, Klaas van Breugel
a
, Alex L.A. Fraaij
a
, Bui Danh Dai
b
a
Microlab, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5048, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
b
Department of Building Materials, National University of Civil Engineering, 55 Giai Phong Road, Hanoi, Viet Nam
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 17 April 2010
Received in revised form16 September 2010
Accepted 13 November 2010
Available online 17 December 2010
Keywords:
Compressive strength
Fineness
Rice husk ash
Silica fume
Ultra high performance concrete
a b s t r a c t
The limited available resource and the high cost of silica fume (SF) in producing ultra high performance
concrete (UHPC) give the motivation for searching for the substitution by other materials with similar
functions, especially in developing countries. Rice husk ash (RHA), an agricultural waste, is classied
as a highly active pozzolan because it possesses a very high amount of amorphous SiO
2
and a large sur-
face area. The possibility of using RHA to produce UHPC was investigated in this study. The result shows
that the compressive strength of UHPC incorporating RHA, with the mean size between 3.6 lm and 9 lm,
can be achieved in excess of 150 MPa with normal curing regime. The interesting point is that the effect of
RHA on the development of compressive strength of UHPC is larger than that of SF. Besides, the sample
incorporating the ternary blend of cement with 10% RHA and 10% SF showed better compressive strength
than that of the control sample without RHA or SF. This blend proved to be the optimum combination for
achieving maximum synergic effect.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) refers to materials with
a cement matrix and a characteristic compressive strength in ex-
cess of 150 MPa, possibly attaining 250 MPa, and containing steel
bers in order to achieve ductile behavior under tension and, if pos-
sible, to dispense with the need for passive (non-prestressed) rein-
forcement [1]. Because of these outstanding properties, UHPC offers
new and sometimes exiting possibilities: lighter structures, larger
structures, hybrid structures, new design and new products with
a potential for a better economy and resource consumption than
with traditional concrete, steel and other building materials [24].
In UHPC, silica fume (SF) with extreme neness and high amor-
phous silica content plays a very important role with physical
(ller, lubrication) and pozzolanic effects. However, the limited
available resource and the high cost constrain its application in
modern construction industry, especially in developing countries.
For these reasons, it gives a motivation for searching for other
materials to substitute SF with similar functions.
One possibility is using rice husk ash (RHA), which is obtained
by burning rice husk, an agricultural waste. Rice husk constitutes
about one fth of the 690 million metric tons of rice paddy pro-
duced annually in the world [5]. When completely incinerating
the husk in controlled conditions, the residue, RHA, contains
9096% silica in amorphous form. The average particle size of
RHA ranges in general from 5 lm to 10 lm with a very high spe-
cic surface area (even more than 250 m
2
/g) [6]. This high surface
comes from the porous structure of RHA [7,8]. Meanwhile the spe-
cic surface area of SF is 1820 m
2
/g, which mainly comes from the
very ne particles.
Both SF and RHA are considered as highly active pozzolans
[9]. When incorporated in cement, both SF and RHA affect the rate
and the extent of hydration [10,11]. The addition of RHA in
concrete, similar to SF, can lead to reduced porosity and Ca(OH)
2
content in the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the aggre-
gate and the cement paste, as well as the ITZs width compared
with the control sample [12]. Furthermore, RHA has been studied
to replace SF for achieving high strength/performance concrete
[13,14]. However, its effects still remain unclear for UHPC.
In this study, the effect of RHA in combination with and without
SF on the compressive strength of UHPC was experimentally eval-
uated. Besides, the effect of neness of RHA was also considered.
2. Experiments
2.1. Materials
The materials used in this study were silica sand with a mean particle size of
225 lm, Portland cement (CEM I 52.5N) with a Blaine specic surface area of
4500 cm
2
/g, condensed silica fume, rice husk ash, and polycarboxylate based
superplasticizer with 30% solid content by weight. The SF has an amorphous SiO
2
content of 97.2% and its mean particle size is about 0.10.15 lm.
The particle size distribution and the mean particle size of materials in this
study were determined by laser diffraction.
Rice husk, from Vietnam, was burnt in a drum incinerator developed by Pakistan
Council of Scientic & Industrial Research [15] under uncontrolled combustion
conditions. Details of the oven and rice husk combustion process were described
0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2010.11.046

Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 15 2782307; fax: +31 15 2786383.

E-mail address: t.vannguyen@tudelft.nl (V. T. Nguyen).
Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 20302035
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Construction and Building Materials
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ conbui l dmat
elsewhere [6]. The obtained ash was ground in a vibrating ball mill for 90 min. The
ash contains 87.96% amorphous SiO
2
, 3.81% loss on ignition and its mean particle
size (d
RHAmean
) is 5.6 lm. The particle size distribution of these materials is shown
in Fig. 1.
The Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) images of typical RHA and SF particles
are shown in Fig. 2. It can be seen that RHA particles are angular and still keep the
porous structure after grinding (Fig. 2b and c).
Other three different mean particle sizes of RHA, i.e., 9, 6.3 and 3.6 lm was used
to evaluate the effect of neness of RHA on compressive strength of UHPC.
2.2. Packing and composition
Optimizationof granular mixture is one of the keys in UHPCmix design. The opti-
mization of granular mixtures in this study was achieved by using the packing model
developed by de Larrard [16] with the compaction index of 12.5 [17]. Firstly, the per-
centage of SF was xed at 20% by weight of binder. The combination of cement and SF
hence was considered as one material. The packing of ternary system, sand
cementSF, was only calculated for two materials, sandbinder. The optimized pack-
ing of this systemwas achieved with sand to binder ratio of 1. Secondly, water to bin-
der (w/b) ratio of UHPC was xed at 0.18. SF was replaced partially or fully by RHA. To
deal with some aspects, i.e., the effect of RHA replacement, neness of RHA and the
synergic effect of RHAand SF, a set of 15 mixtures were prepared as shown in Table 1.
2.3. Experimental methods
All materials were prepared in a 20 l Hobart mixer. The volume of each batch
was 3.5 l. Fig. 3 shows the mixing procedure.
The workability of all mixtures was determined by means of ow table test. The
ow measurements were controlled between 210 and 230 mm. For very low water
to binder (w/b) ratio mixtures, i.e., w/b ratio of 0.15, the maximum ow measure-
ment was achieved only from 170 to 185 mm. This may be caused by the effective-
ness of superplasticizer. The same phenomenon was observed for the mixtures
incorporating high amount of cement replacement, i.e., over 20%.
Besides, the workability of some mixtures was determined by mini V-funnel
test in order to check the viscosity of fresh UHPC mixtures.
Mixtures were cast into the 40 40 40 mm
3
cubes for compressive strength
test. All mixtures were vibrated for 1 min using a vibrating table with a frequency of
2500 cycles/min.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Particle Size (m)
C
u
m
u
l
a
t
i
v
e

p
a
s
s
i
n
g
,

b
y

v
o
l
.

(
%
)
SF
RHA
(3.6 m)
Silica sand
Cement
(CEM I 52.5 N)
RHA
(9.0 m)
RHA
(6.3 m)
RHA
(5.6 m)
Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of materials used in this study.
(d)
(a) (b)
(c)
20 m
5 m 2 m
20 m
Fig. 2. SEM images of RHA before grinding (a); RHA after grinding with some magnications: 1250(b); 5000(c); and SF (d).
Table 1
UHPC compositions used in this study.
Water to binder ratio
(by weight)
Sand to binder
ratio (by weight)
RHA (% by weight) SF (% by weight) The mean particle size
of RHA (d
RHAmean
), lm
0.18 1 01020 5.6
0.18 1 102030
0.18 1 102030 10 5.6
0.18 1 20 9.06.35.63.6
0.18 1 5 15 5.6
0.18 1 15 5 5.6
0.150.180.200.23 1 10 10 5.6
V. T. Nguyen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 20302035 2031
After casting, samples were cured in a fog room (20 2 C, RH > 95%) for one
day. After demoulding, the samples were still stored in the fog room until the
day of testing.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. The workability of UHPC mixtures
The amount of superplasticizer of mixtures for achieving a con-
stant ow value from 210 mm to 230 mm are shown in Fig. 4. It
can be seen that cement replacements by SF between 10% and
20% have a positive effect on the workability of the mixtures. This
may be resulted from the ne spherical particles of SF, which act as
a lubricant.
However, when more than 20% cement is replaced by SF, the
amount of superplasticizer increases dramatically to 1.43% and
2.38% for 30% and 40% SF, respectively.
The cement used in this study has the specic surface area of
0.45 m
2
/g. The surface area of SF is about 20 m
2
/g. Therefore, the
total surface area of the blend of cement and SF depends on the
SF replacement percentage. For example, when cement is replaced
by 20% SF, the total surface area of 1 g of this blend is 4.36 m
2
. This
value will be almost double, 8.27 m
2
/g with 40% cement replace-
ment by SF. Thus, the lubricant effect may not compensate the ef-
fect of its surface area when more cement is replaced by SF.
On the contrary, the amount of superplasticizer of UHPC in-
creases with an increase of RHA replacement.
Fig. 4 also shows that the RHA replacement of cement can be in-
creased to 40% when combined with 10% SF. If the RHA replacing
percentage is higher than 40%, the maximum ow value is
achieved less than 170 mm even when using a high amount of
superplasticizer. This also was caused by the high specic surface
area of RHA. The mixture was observed to be very difcult to be
cast in this case.
Thus, the cement replacement by 30% RHA and 10% SF was con-
sidered as the maximum replacement amount in this study.
3.2. The effect of the percentage of cement replacement by RHA on
compressive strength of UHPC
Fig. 5 shows that compared to the control sample, the compres-
sive strength of UHPC was improved signicantly with 10% SF or
20% RHA. Moreover, the compressive strength enhancement levels
of the samples with binary blends were comparable.
For samples containing SF, the highest compressive strength of
UHPC was achieved with 10% SF replacement of cement. The high-
er replacement level, especially beyond 20%, led to reduction in
compressive strength. The use of RHA as a partial replacement of
cement revealed the different behavior of compressive strength
development. The compressive strength of UHPC was obtained
highest by using 10% RHA at 3 and 7 days, but by using 20% RHA
at 28 and 91 days.
Based on this result, it is clear that RHA can be used to produce
UHPC for a replacement level less than 30%.
3.3. The effect of combination of RHA and SF on compressive strength
of UHPC
Based on the workability result of UHPC, the possibility of using
RHA rose when combined with 10% SF. Fig. 6 shows the effect of
RHA replacement percentage on the compressive strength of UHPC
when the percentage of cement replacement by SF was xed at 10%.
It is interesting to see that the compressive strength of UHPC
with 0 and 10% RHA was higher than that of the control sample.
It should be noted that the total cement replacement percentages
were 10 and 20%, respectively in this case. The compressive
strength of UHPC decreases when the amount of cement replace-
ment by RHA is higher than 20%. It also can be seen that the 28 days
compressive strength of all samples was in excess of 150 MPa.
Powder +
70%
Water
Scrape
and
stir
SP +
25%
Water
Scrape
and
Stir
2 min.
mixing
speed 2
1 min.
mixing
speed 2
1-2
min.
mixing
speed 2
Add
5%
water
End of
mixing
2-5
min.
mixing
speed 3
Sand +
Cement +
RHA + SF
3 min.
mixing
speed 2
Fig. 3. Mixing procedure for UHPC.
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
0 10 2 30 40 50
RHA; SF or (RHA and SF)
(% by weight of total binder)
S
u
p
e
r
p
l
a
s
t
i
s
i
z
e
r

(
s
o
l
i
d
)
(
%

b
y

w
e
i
g
h
t

o
f

b
i
n
b
e
r
)
Flow values between 210 and 230 mm
RHA
(No SF)
SF
(No RHA)
SF + RHA
(SF fixed at 10%)
Fig. 4. The amount of superplasticizer of UHPC mixtures vs. % RHA, % SF or %
(RHA + SF), for achieving a constant ow value of mixtures between 210 and
230 mm; w/b ratio = 0.18, d
RHAmean
= 5.6 lm.
70
90
110
130
150
170
190
210
0 10 20 30
SF or RHA (% by weight in binder)
C
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
v
e

s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

(
M
P
a
)
RHA (91 days)
SF (28 days)
SF (7 days)
RHA (7 days)
SF (3 days)
RHA (3 days)
SF (91 days)
RHA (28 days)
Fig. 5. Compressive strength of UHPC samples vs. % SF (dotted line) or % RHA
(solid line), w/b ratio = 0.18, d
RHAmean
= 5.6 lm.
2032 V. T. Nguyen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 20302035
This result shows the benet of using RHA in combination with
SF to produce UHPC. The amount of SF replacement is only 10% but
the total cement replacement percentage can increase to 40% by
weight.
3.4. The effect of RHA neness on compressive strength of UHPC
One of the most important aspects using RHA to produce UHPC
is particle size of RHA. This concerns the energy required for grind-
ing rice husk to appropriate neness. Grinding energy increases
with neness of RHA. If long periods of grinding are required either
the production output will be reduced or larger milling capacity
will be required for a given output, the latter obviously results in
higher capital costs for plant, especially in the developing countries
[8]. Because of the porous structure, RHA is easy to grind. For exam-
ple, the mean size of RHA from 12 mm can be reduced to 9 lm
only with 30 min ground by vibrating ball mill. These mean sizes
of 6.3, 5.6 lm can be achieved with grinding times of 60 and
90 min, respectively. However, the efciency of this mill does not
increase with grinding time [18]. It was also found when the grind-
ing time increases, the pore structure of RHA is gradually collapsed
[19]. This collapsibility can affect the properties of concrete. Thus
the effect of RHA neness on properties of UHPC, especially, the
compressive strength is studied thereafter. Four different particle
size of RHA with the mean size smaller than that of cement, namely
9, 6.3, 5.6, and 3.6 lmwere chosen. The mean size of cement, CEMI
52.5N, is 13.7 lm. The replacement percentage of cement by RHA
was xed at 20%. Fig. 7 shows that the superplasticizer dosage
needed for a given workability is reduced proportionally with the
decrease of RHA particle size. In this study, the mean particle size
of RHA of 3.6 lm can be achieved by grinding in planetary ball mill
after 3 h. The compressive strength of these UHPCs is shown in Figs.
8 and 9.
It can be seen that the compressive strength decreases linearly
when increasing the mean size of RHA particle. The 28 days com-
pressive strength of 150 MPa can be achieved with the mean size
of RHA particle of about 8 lm at 20 C curing. It means that 1 h
grinding time by vibrating ball mill can be considered optimum
in this study. However, the coarser the RHA, the higher the amount
of the superplasticizer is required and the higher the viscosity is.
Although the ow values were controlled between 210 mm and
230 mm, the viscosity measured by the mortar funnel is different.
The ow funnel times of mixtures increase with an increase of the
mean particle size of RHA (see Fig. 7). The mixture with ow time
mortar funnel over 115 s was observed to be difcult to be cast.
Besides, the grinding energy cost increases dramatically, from
3.0 kW h/kg to 7.5 kW h/kg when the mean size of RHA particle
reduces from 5.6 lm to 3.6 lm. From this result, the reasonable
mean size of RHA particle was proposed to be 5.6 lm.
3.5. The synergic effect of RHA and SF on compressive strength of UHPC
Interestingly, in Fig. 6, the UHPC sample made by the blend of
10% RHA and 10% SF shows better compressive strength results
than that of the control sample without RHA or SF and samples
using other blends. There must be a synergic effect between RHA
and SF on the compressive strength of UHPC. To investigate this ef-
fect, the total cement replacement percentage by blend of RHA and
SF was kept at 20%. The ratio, RHA/(RHA + SF), varies from 0% to
100%.
Fig. 10 shows the amount of superplasticizer of UHPC mixtures,
for achieving a constant ow value. The more cement was replaced
by RHA, the higher the amount of superplasticizer was needed.
The compressive strength of UHPC samples vs. RHA/(RHA + SF)
and vs. time are shown in Figs. 11 and 12, respectively.
It is found that the highest compressive strength of UHPC sam-
ples from 3 days to 91 days was achieved using the blend of 10%
50
70
90
110
130
150
170
190
210
230
0 10 20 30
RHA (% by weight of binder)
C
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
v
e

s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

(
M
P
a
)
3 days
7 days
91 days 28 days
7 days
28 days
(SF fixed at 10%)
Fig. 6. Compressive strength of UHPC samples vs. % RHA (solid line); the control
sample without RHA or SF (dotted line), the percentage of SF replacement was xed
at 10%, w/b ratio = 0.18, d
RHAmean
= 5.6 lm.
235
165
115
75
55
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
15.5 9.0 7.8 6.3 5.6 3.6
The mean size of RHA particle (m)
S
u
p
e
r
p
l
a
s
t
i
c
i
z
e
r

d
o
s
a
g
e

(
s
o
l
i
d
)
(
%

b
y

w
e
i
g
h
t

o
f

b
i
n
d
e
r
)
0
50
100
150
200
250
V
-
f
u
n
n
e
l

t
i
m
e

(
s
e
c
.
)
R
E
F

S
F
Flow values between
210 and 230 mm
Fig. 7. The amount of superplasticizer and V-funnel time of UHPC mixtures
incorporating 20% RHA with different particle sizes from 15.5 lm to 3.6 lm; ow
values between 210 mm and 230 mm.
6.3 9.0
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
3.6 4.6 5.6 6.6 7.6 8.6
The mean size of RHA particle (m)
C
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
v
e

s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

(
M
P
a
)
7 days
3 days
28 days
91 days
1 day
Fig. 8. Compressive strength of UHPC samples using 20% RHA vs. the mean particle
size of RHA (solid line); the control sample without RHA or SF (dotted line), w/b
ratio = 0.18.
V. T. Nguyen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 20302035 2033
RHA and 10% SF. The SF shows the strong effect at a very early age,
i.e., at 1 day. However, the effect of RHA is more pronounced in the
later ages, i.e., after 3 days (see Fig. 11).
3.6. Discussions
From the results presented above, the use of RHA improves the
properties of UHPC. Firstly, the incorporation of the RHA in UHPC
can gain higher compressive strength than that of the control sam-
ple. When more cement is replaced by RHA, i.e., 20% replacement,
the compressive strength of the RHA sample even surpasses that
of the SF sample. Secondly, the combination of RHA and SF improves
the workability of UHPC mixtures and compressive strength of
UHPCs. Especially, the combination of 10% RHA and 10% SF shows
the synergic effect on the compressive strength of UHPC.
This result can be explained rstly by the improvement of pack-
ing of granular mixtures. The result from the work [20] shows that
the mixtures with water to cement ratio of 0.20, up to 50% of the
cement will remain unhydrated. In this aspect, cement becomes
very expensive aggregates, and the substitution of cement by
other materials is helpful. Moreover, the addition of ner materials
can give better packing density, thus improves of the properties of
concrete. As demonstrated earlier by Detwiler and Mehta [21],
cement-blending can even be successful when an inert type of
mineral admixture is used, provided the size ranges of the Portland
cement and the mineral admixture are properly designed. The gap
between cement size (1015 lm) and silica fume size (0.11 lm)
is very large, about 100150 times. In this case, the amount of ce-
ment was replaced by SF was 20%, which may be not enough to ll
all the empty spaces in the system, as proposed by Richard and
Cheyrezy [3]. On the other hand, the size of RHA is not small
enough to ll all the small spaces. Therefore, the combination of
RHA and SF can make the packing of UHPC denser. Besides, the
combination of RHA and SF can reduce the amount of superplasti-
cizer of mixture when the same workability is kept (see Fig. 4). It
means the better packing may also improve the workability of
the mixture, also suggested from Popovis [22].
Secondly, the positive effect of RHA on cement hydration can
improve the compressive strength of UHPC. The previous result
[19] shows that the effect of RHA on cement hydration, determined
by isothermal calorimetry, is more pronounced than that of SF with
the low w/b ratio, especially in the later ages. Therefore when RHA
is used in UHPC, it can stimulate the cement hydration. Moreover,
it can also be seen in this work that the behavior of the blended ce-
ment hydration is different with the addition of RHA and SF. The
hydration degree of cement blended with RHA is low at the early
period and high at the later period, but vice versa in case of cement
blended with SF. It means that the combination of RHA and SF can
3 7 14 28 91
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
100 10 1
Time (days)
C
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
v
e

s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

(
M
P
a
)
RHA
(6.3 m)
RHA
(3.6 m)
RHA
(5.6 m)
RHA
(9.0 m)
SF
REF
Fig. 9. Compressive strength of UHPC samples using 20% RHA with different mean
particle sizes from 3.6 lm to 9.0 lm vs. time, w/b ratio = 0.18.
0.76
0.85
1.00
1.10
1.20
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00
RHA / (RHA + SF)
S
u
p
e
r
p
l
a
s
t
i
s
i
z
e
r

(
s
o
l
i
d
)
(
%

b
y

w
e
i
g
h
t

o
f

b
i
n
b
e
r
)
Flow values between 210 and 230 mm
Fig. 10. The amount of superplasticizer of UHPC mixtures vs. RHA/(RHA + SF), for
achieving a constant ow value of mixtures from 210 mm to 230 mm, w/b
ratio = 0.18, d
RHAmean
= 5.6 lm.
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00
RHA / (RHA+SF)
C
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
v
e

s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

(
M
P
a
)
3 days
1 day
91 days
28 days 7 days
Fig. 11. Compressive strength of UHPC samples vs. RHA/(RHA + SF) (solid line); the
control sample without RHA or SF (dotted line), w/b ratio = 0.18, d
RHAmean
= 5.6 lm.
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
100 10 1
Time (days)
C
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
v
e

s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

(
M
P
a
)
3 7 14 28 91
REF
20% SF
20% RHA
10% SF+10% RHA
Fig. 12. Compressive strength of UHPC samples using different combinations
of RHA and SF vs. time, w/b ratio = 0.18, d
RHAmean
= 5.6 lm.
2034 V. T. Nguyen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 25 (2011) 20302035
give a synergic effect in the whole period of cement hydration. The
increased hydration of cement blended with RHA at the later per-
iod was suggested to be due to the internal curing of RHA in the ce-
ment paste. Because RHA has the porous structure, the pores in
RHA particles may act as water wells. RHA may also absorb cer-
tain amount of free water into its pores during mixing. This water
is released from these pores when the relative humidity in the
paste decreases with progress of cement hydration process, and
therefore increases the hydration degree of blended cement. This
effect is larger when the w/b ratio of mixtures is lower. This mech-
anism is similar to that proposed by Weber and Reinhardt [23] and
van Breugel et al. [24] when using the water saturated lightweight
aggregates or proposed by Jensen and Hansen [25,26] when using
superabsorbent polymer (SAP) particles for internal curing of con-
crete. Besides, the porous structure of RHA may allow water to
store in its pores. Therefore, the w/b ratios of RHA mixtures are
lower than those of SF mixtures although the workability of all
mixtures was kept constant with the same w/b ratio. As conse-
quence, a higher compressive strength can be obtained.
4. Conclusion
Nowadays, the environmental pollution is one of the most
important world wide issues. The agricultural waste, such as rice
husk, has been affecting on the environment. The use of rice husk
ash in construction is one of the solutions to reduce the environ-
mental pollution. Besides, the limited availability and the high cost
constrain the application of SF, especially in developing countries.
This study showed the potential of using RHA to produce UHPC.
From this study, some conclusions can be drawn:
RHA can be considered as a supplementary cementitious mate-
rial using for producing UHPC.
The addition of RHA does not signicantly decrease the com-
pressive strength of UHPC compared to that of SF, when less
than 30% RHA is added.
Compared to SF, the neness of RHA has a favorable effect on
compressive strength when cured in the normal condition.
The optimum mean RHA particle size for producing UHPC was
found to be 5.6 lm. The ner RHA can improve signicantly
the compressive strength of UHPC. The compressive strength
of UHPC using the nest RHA with the mean particle size of
3.6 lm can reach to 180 MPa and 210 MPa at ages of 28 and
91 days.
The combination of SF and RHA can increase the total cement
replacement percentage up to 40% to produce UHPC.
There is a synergic effect between SF and RHA on the compres-
sive strength. The sample made by ternary blend of cement
with 10% RHA and 10% SF showed better compressive strength
than that of the control sample without RHA and SF. The com-
bination of 10% RHA and 10% SF proved to be optimum for
achieving maximum synergic effect.
Acknowledgments
The principal author would like to express gratefulness for the
PhD scholarship sponsored by The Vietnamese Government. The
supply of materials from ELKEM, ENCI, FILCOM and BASF compa-
nies is highly appreciated. The authors would like to thank Mr. G.
Nagtegaal who participated in some parts of the experimental
work.
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