Comparative study of the properties of ordinary portland cement concrete and binary concrete containing Metakaolin made from Kankara Kaolin in Nigeria

Abstract

The study explored metakaolin as alternative material to cement. It compares the properties of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) concrete and binary concrete containing metakaolin as partial replacement of OPC. Two set of concrete samples; one with 10% Metakaolin (MK) replacing OPC by weight, and the other without MK (100% OPC) as control, were produced. The samples were tested for compressive and tensile strengths at 7, 14, 28 and 90 days. The result revealed that the slump of the binary concrete was 26% lower than the control. However, the compressive and tensile strengths of binary concrete were higher than those of control by 10.8% and 11.9% at 28days, and by 21.6% and 34.5% at 90 days, respectively. Therefore, the MK produced from Kankara Kaolin can be used as Pozzolan to improve the strengths of concrete.

Keywords: Pozzolana, binary concrete, OPC concrete, metakaolin