Thermal effect of marble and tile fillers on self-compacting concrete behavior in the fresh state and at early age

Abstract This paper mainly focuses on studying the effects of industrials wastes from marble and tiles factories on the cracking of self-compacting concrete (SCC) due to shrinkages in the fresh state and at early age. In this study, the effect of industrial wastes of marble and tiles on setting of the cement is studied by testing different pastes (cement alone or combined with each normalized limestone filler or the industrial wastes). In a second part of this research, a study of the effect of these industrial wastes on the hydration reaction in early age is carried out on different self-compacting concretes made with industrials wastes from marble and tiles factories (SCCWs). Furthermore, in this work, the resistance to cracking of different concretes at the fresh state is evaluated against the variation of the two factors favoring the cracking due to the plastic shrinkage (temperature at 25 °C and 40 °C both with and without presence of ventilation). The behaviors of the SCCWs are compared to those of a reference self-compacting concrete (SCCR) made with standard or normalized limestone filler and an ordinary vibrated concrete (OVC). The testing results of the setting of cement show that the marble and tiles wastes have a positive effect on the fresh state of concrete and the setting period by reducing the critical phase of concrete in the face of shrinkages. At the same time, these industrial wastes fillers reduce the heat in the exothermic hydration reactions of cement in SCCWs and limit their cracking due to thermal shrinkage. Moreover, the testing results show that SCCWs, exposed to heat and ventilated environment, have satisfactory strength to cracking due to the plastic shrinkage.