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TECHNICAL PAPER

(a) Sulphuric acid resistance test on M30 (b) Checking the pH of acidic water (c) After Sulphuric Acid Resistance Test on M30 and
and M50 control concrete M50 Control Concrete
Figure 6: Sulphuric acid resistance test

the acid test, indicating very little degradation. On the other the concentration of pumice aggregate, the more severe the
side, the M30-PA20 blend reduces weight down from 7.05 kg weight loss during the acid test. The M50-P40 mix shows a drop
to 6.89 kg, performing roughly similarly. This implies that the of 6 to 5.74 kg, whereas the M50-P60 mix shows a decrease of
concrete’s acid resistance is preserved at a level similar to that 5.46 to 5.33 kg. These results indicated that, similar to the M30
of the control concrete. Conversely, a higher pumice aggregate grade, a higher proportion of pumice aggregate in the M50
concentration causes the weight loss to increase. The M30-PA40 mixes decreases acid resistance when compared to the control
mix has a drop of 6.4 to 6.16 kg, while the M30-PA60 pumice concrete. Mixtures containing a larger percentage of pumice
aggregate mix has an additional decrease of 5.9 to 5.42 kg. aggregate [more than 405 %] performed worse than M50-PA40.
The M30-PA80 and M30-PA100 mixes exhibit even greater The M50-P40 mix may be regarded as a respectably decent
weight reductions, going from 4.5 to 4.06 kg and 3.6 to 3.36 kg, choice if a small amount of acid resistance is acceptable and
respectively. These investigations show that the M30 mix’s higher the advantages of employing pumice aggregate are given top
proportion of pumice aggregate results in much poorer acid priority.
resistance than Mix A.
As seen in Table 6, the control concrete mix A initially shows the
For the M50 grade, a same pattern was seen. A little drop highest compressive strength at 33.6 MPa but experiences an
in weight in the M50 control concrete from 7.76 to 7.6 kg 8.3 % strength loss to 30.81 MPa, indicating strong resistance
suggests a strong resistance to an acidic environment. The to degradation. Among pumice-replaced concretes, the
M50-P20 mix exhibits comparable performance with a weight M30-PA40 mix has the least strength loss at 13.14 %, suggesting
drop from 6.61 to 6.43 kg, suggesting that it keeps a degree it maintains compressive strength well. The M30-PA20 mix shows
of durability comparable to the control concrete. The higher a slightly higher loss at 14.5 %, but still performs comparably. As

Table 6: Strength loss due to sulphuric acid attack
Table 5: Weight loss due to sulphuric acid attack
MIX COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF PERCENTAGE
MIX WEIGHT OF CUBES (kg) PERCENTAGE DESIGNATION CUBES IN MPa OF STRENGTH
DESIGNATION OF WEIGHT
BEFORE AFTER LOSS BEFORE AFTER LOSS

A 8 7.83 2.12 A 33.6 30.81 8.3
M30-PA20 7.05 6.89 2.26 M30-PA20 28.29 24.16 14.5
M30-PA40 6.4 6.16 3.75 M30-PA40 24.73 21.48 13.14
M30-PA60 5.9 5.42 8.1 M30-PA60 19.85 16.44 17.17
M30-PA80 4.5 4.06 9.7 M30-PA80 14.37 12 16.49
M30-PA100 3.6 3.36 6.6 M30-PA100 10.37 5.481 47.1
B 7.76 7.6 2.06 B 53.1 44 17.1
M50-PA20 6.61 6.43 2.7 M50-PA20 47.8 44 7.9
M50-PA40 6 5.74 4.3 M50-PA40 43.4 41.6 4.14
M50-PA60 5.46 5.33 2.3 M50-PA60 40.29 34.3 14.86
M50-PA80 5.51 5.19 5.8 M50-PA80 29.18 20 31.45
M50-PA100 4.53 3.66 19 M50-PA100 19.85 10.96 44

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