Civil Engineering:

Title:           Experimental study on self-curing concrete
Authors:      M. Kowsalya, R. Manikandan, M. Gokulapriya, K. Manikandan, G. Pradeep
Abstract:     Nowadays concrete is the widely used as construction material due to its better performance in strength and also durable one. At present the total consumption of concrete across the world is crossing 12 billion tons every year. Concrete mix proportion is depending upon the nature of work the cement, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water are mixed in to produce concrete. Concrete needs agreeable atmosphere by providing moisture for a minimum period of 28 days for good hydration and to attain desired strength. Any lack in curing affects the strength and durability properties of the concrete. To achieve good cure, excessive evaporation of water from a freshly cast concrete surface should be prevented. Curing is mostly done through external methods such as water curing, membrane curing and application of heat. Also availability of good quality of water for curing is in demand. Self-curing concrete is one of the special concretes in mitigating insufficient curing due to human negligence paucity of water in arid areas. In this study an attempt is made to study the properties of concrete under internal curing i.e., self-curing. It can be accomplished by mixing Super Absorbent Polymer with the concrete mix in varying proportions 1%, 1.5% & 2%. Super Absorbent Polymer absorbs the water and stores it within its molecular structure and supplies required amount of water for curing process to take place. Therefore the concrete achieves optimum strength without any loss of water and it prevents shrinkage. This paper discusses the prospect of achieving optimum cure of concrete using superabsorbent polymers without the need for applying external curing methods.

Keywords:   Concrete, Self-curing, Strength increase, Super Absorbent Polymer
Pages:         273-277

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