Impact of Clay Particles in Concrete

The rising costs of building construction in developing countries have been a source of concern to government and private developers. This study investigated the use of clay soil as partial replacement for fine aggregate in the concrete production. Clay was used to replace fine aggregates from 0 % (conventional), 5 %, 10 % and 15 % with the concrete of grade M20. For this study, concrete cubes measuring 150 x 150 x 150mm and cylinders measuring 150 x 300mm were casted and their compressive strengths and split tensile strengths were evaluated at 7, 14 and 28 days. From this study, it has been encountered that the increase in percentage of clay in concrete cubes and cylinders led to a corresponding reduction in compressive and split tensile strength values due to the reduction in the bond strength in-between the concrete ingredients. It is overcome by, Alumina powder and Sodium Phosphate which is considered as the materials that provide better bond strength has been considered as additive admixtures to the concrete. These two ingredients Alumina & Sodium Phosphate were added to the clay-concrete from 5 %, 10 % and 15 % with water cement ratio as 0.5. From the results obtained from this new clay-concrete with bonding admixtures, the compressive strength and split tensile strength has been found to increase gradually by increase in the admixture to the concrete. It is also to be noted that the increase in compressive and split tensile strength of clay-concrete has crossed the strength of the conventional concrete with a considerable value. So, it could be concluded as that the clay can be used as a replacement to fine aggregate in concrete with bonding admixtures to get a hybrid concrete with better performance than the conventional concrete.