THE INFLUENCE OF METAKAOLIN ON COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF CONCRETE

Concrete is the most widely used man-made construction material in the world. It is obtained by mixing cementing materials, water and aggregate and sometime admixture in required proportion. Mineral addition which are also known as mineral admixture have been used with cement for many years. Mineral admixture such as Fly Ash, Rice Husk Ash, Silica Fume etc are more commonly used in the development of the concrete mix but Metakaolin differs from other supplementary cementitious materials. Metakaolin is not a by-product of an industrial process.it is manufactured for specific purpose under controlled conditions. Metakaolin is fine, natural white clay, made by heating kaolin mineral at 600-850 ∙ C temperature range and the average size of particles are 1-2 microns. Metakaolin, which is relatively newer material in the concrete industry.Metakaolin is effective in increasing the compressive strength, reducing the sulfate attack and improving air-void network. In this experimental work the Metakaolin is used as a mineral admixture in concrete for partial replacement of cement. The metakaolin is mixed in varying percentage like 5%, 10% ,15% and 20% by weight of cement. In this study metakaolin is used as partial replacement of OPC for design mixes M40. The 28 days compressive strength of a test specimens containing different percentage of metakaolin has been compared.From these experimental results we can conclude that addition of metakaolin as partial replacement of OPC increase the strength of concrete significantly. At 10% replacement the strength is maximum. The strength increase by 18% for M-40 grade of concrete.