Physico-mechanical, durability and thermal properties of basalt fiber reinforced foamed concrete containing waste marble powder and slag

Recently, the usage of industrial wastes for concrete production has played an important role for developing environmentally friendly building materials. This work focused on investigating physico-mechanical, durability and thermal properties of basalt fibers (BF) reinforced foamed concrete containing waste marble powder (WMP) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). Foamed concretes were fabricated with 50 kg/m3 and 100 kg/m3 contents of a protein-based foaming agent at 0.75 water/binder (w/b) ratio. Two control mixtures in which silica sand used as fine aggregates and containing no BF were developed at each foam content. Other foamed mixtures were produced with WMP as fine aggregates and GGBFS as white Portland cement (WPC) replacement at the rates of 0%, 30% and 60%. BF were also added to the mixtures at the rates of 0%, 1% and 2% by weight of cement. Fresh properties of mixtures investigated were slump and fresh unit weight. Experiments were also fulfilled to evaluate 7, 28, 90 and 180-day water-cured mechanical strengths. Porosity, water absorption and sorptivity were studied after 28 aged cured specimens. Dry unit weight, thermal conductivity and drying shrinkage properties of foamed concrete specimens were assessed on 28 aged specimens. High temperature and freeze–thaw durability of foamed concrete specimens were also examined. Results indicated that very high compressive and flexural strength enhancements of 179.49%, 141.79% and 139.91%, 93.18%, at 7 and 28 days were obtained using WMP and BF addition respectively. Coupling use of 30% GGBFS and 1%BF revealed the highest compressive strength of 32.57 MPa and lowest porosity value of 14.8% at foam content of 50 kg/m3.