Impact of Curing on Mechanical Properties of Concrete-Environmental Approach

The advancement in construction industry has paved a new way of environmental pollution. These industries produce almost 7% of worldwide production of total carbon di oxide emission. Apart from producing CO2 these industries also consumes a tremendous amount of energy and produce dust, heavy metals, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride etc. which are hazardous in nature. This paper studies the environmental impact of different curing regimes as well as effects of curing of conditions on the durability (permeability, abrasion resistance and sulphate attack) and mechanical (compressive strength) properties of concrete. Improved durability is important for environmental sustainability of concrete. Curing is designed primarily to keep concrete moist, by preventing the loss of moisture from the concrete during the period in which it is gaining strength. Curing generally promotes the hydration of cement as a consequence of which hydrated products fill the pores of concrete and produces more compact structure whose permeability is less. As a consequence of reduced permeability water and other harmful chemicals do not enter in the concrete, thus durability is improved. Durable concrete can reduce the total annual concrete production, thus reducing total environmental pollution caused by concrete industry. Curing may be applied is the number of ways and most appropriate method depends on the site conditions and materials used. The behavior of cured concrete in terms of permeability, Sulphate attack, abrasion resistance and compressive strength is studied in this paper.