Investigation on Characteristics of Spinacia oleracea as an Innovative Internal Curing Agent in Combination with Self-compacting Admixtures

Abstract

Exploratory study made on spinach also termed as Spinacia oleracea, a self-curing agent in self-compacting concrete is unveiled in this paper. Here, the study was made for natural self-curing agent in-built with water reducing and viscosity-based admixtures like super plasticizers and viscosity modifying agent in the brand name Master Glenium Sky (MGS) 8233. Fixed 2% based on cement weight was used throughout the study incorporated with self-curing admixtures. The main notion behind the usage of spinach as a self-curing agent is the presence of bond water in and its effective presence of hydroxyl and ether group in a chemical structure of spinach family. The design grade of concrete was fixed as M40 and its manufacturing procedure for such modern concrete was entirely based on trial and error and its end results were compared with the EFNARC specifications. Outcome from other commonly used curing agent such as Poly-Ethylene Glycol (PEG) (Bentz and Snyder in Cement Concr Res 29:1863–1867, 1999, [1], Dhir et al., Mater Struct 27:606–615, 1994, [2]) and conventional methods are collated with the payoff from spinach (Dhir et al., Mag Concr Res 50:85–90, 1998, [3], Dhir et al., Cem Concr Res 25:1153–1158, [4]). The sample test results have been given which splash the behaviour of internal curing agent under a designed laboratory conditions. Initially, the agent used for robotic curing purpose was studied to examine its water holding capacity analysis. Here for the special case, explanatory results were appraised using Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectrum analyser. Different tests were conducted to determine the workability properties, mechanical properties, microstructural properties and durability properties of the concrete. Test such as compression test, split tensile test and flexural test were conducted to determine the mechanical properties of concrete. Tests on bond of spinach with concrete matrix, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Analysis, water sorptivity and shrinkage were carried out. Results show that alike PEG, spinach is also an effective curing agent and improves the cement hydration, compressive strength, diminishes shrinkage and accelerates the durability of concrete whereas the conventional methods need improvement. Their outcomes are found to be satisfactory as per IS standards, EFNARC specifications and ASTM codal provisions.