Received: 8 December 2020 Revised: 19 May 2021 Accepted: 2 July 2021

DOI: 10.1002/suco.202000788

TECHNICAL PAPER

Effect of natural rubber latex on the shrinkage behavior

and porosity of geopolymer concrete

Badrinarayan Rath

Assistant Professor in the Civil

Engineering Department, Wollega
Abstract
University, Nekemte, Ethiopia Shrinkage-reducing admixture has been proved as the best solution to reduce
the shrinkage cracks on the surface of the concrete. Various shrinkage-
Correspondence
Badrinarayan Rath, Assistant Professor in reducing admixtures available in the local market are chemical, highly hazard-
the Civil Engineering Department, ous, and limited use in concrete. In the present research, rubber latex was used
Wollega University, Nekemte, Ethiopia.
by replacing water up to 2% in geopolymer concrete. Volumetric shrinkage for
Email: [email protected]
geopolymer concrete with different doses of rubber latex was determined and
compared those results with traditional cement concrete of the same mix. The
relation between volumetric shrinkage and porosity of concrete was studied at
a deep level. It was found that a large number of micropores of concrete were
reduced by using 2% of rubber latex resulting in decrease in shrinkage signifi-
cantly. By using rubber latex in concrete, a hazardous expensive chemical
shrinkage-reducing admixture can be replaced by a low-cost nonhazardous
organic substance.

KEYWORDS
calcined clay, porosity, rubber latex, shrinkage mechanism, shrinkage strain

1 | INTRODUCTION stage of concrete.1 Due to the above reason, comprehen-

sive physical testing of shrinkage is highly impossible in
Nowadays, most of the structures are going to fail due to plastic concrete. Most of the researchers have been con-
excessive cracking although they have been compiled centrating on later age autogenous and drying shrinkage
with code requirements. Shrinkage is the primary respon- of concrete. But in a deep sense, concrete shrinks and
sibility for such types of failures. The development of sur- overtime in the plastic period causes cracking, which
face cracks on the concrete structure due to shrinkage decreases its service life period. The volume reduces in
has been a major concern for maintaining durability. three dimensions during this plastic period and stresses
Four types of shrinkage especially drying shrinkage, plas- develop within the concrete, which may lead to crack-
tic shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage, and thermal defor- ing.2 Many shrinkage-reducing agents have been
mation are involved in concrete. Based on a different deployed in concrete in past years. Among them, shrink-
stage, shrinkage can be classified as an early age and later age reducing admixture (SRA) is too much popular and
age. Since the concrete is plastic and moist at an early easily available in the local market. It reduces the surface
age, it is very difficult to measure the properties at this tension of the pore fluid in concrete.3 The nonionic
organic surfactants present in SRA reduces the surface
tension of the capillary pores in concrete.4 Also, SRA
Discussion on this paper must be submitted within two months of the
print publication. The discussion will then be published in print, along
reduces the stresses that arise in concrete. Despite all the
with the authors’ closure, if any, approximately nine months after the above advantages, some drawbacks are found in SRA.
print publication. Since it replaces water in concrete, the rate of cement

Structural Concrete. 2021;1–12. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/suco © 2021 International Federation for Structural Concrete. 1
2 RATH

hydration reduces and develops the mechanical stresses.5 sand by pond ash increased the packing density of
The concrete compressive strength gets reduced by concrete and the addition of glass fiber arrested the
adding chemical-based SRA.6 At the initial stage, the shrinkage cracks and increased the strain hardening
strength-reducing effect is too much higher and the effect properties of concrete. Hence, the strength and
is reduced with time.7 Many researchers had paid their durability properties of this type of triple blended con-
attention to the durability of concrete over the past sev- crete had increased. But in the present research, the
eral decades and till now it is hotspot research. The dura- durability of concrete has been improved by the addition
bility of concrete has been developed by replacing of natural rubber latex as an organic admixture in fresh
cement and sand with marginal materials,8 by adding concrete.
nanoparticles in concrete,9 substituting cement with Many researchers have studied extensively geopolymer
nanoparticles with marginal materials,10,11 by adding concrete due to various environmental benefits such as
organic and nonorganic fiber 12,13 and combination of emission of the lower amount of greenhouse gasses and
both fiber and marginal materials.14 But in the present the requirement of lower energy as compared to the
research, the durability of concrete has been increased by manufacturing of Portland cement concrete. Although the
adding renewable, organic admixture. Meddah et al.10 shrinkage of geopolymer concrete is less than the Portland
suggested that the replacement of cement with 10% of cement concrete, sometimes it forms critical pore struc-
rice husk ash and 3% of Al2O3 nanoparticles to achieve tures. The formation of pore structure may depend upon
the mechanical and durability properties as the greatest binder material, water content, alkaline activator, evapora-
value. Due to the addition of Al2O3 nanoparticles in tion of water, and curing condition.16 Small quantities of
cement, the portlandite (Ca[OH]2) was consumed by zeolites are forming during the reaction process of the
those nanoparticles and formed an extra amount of binder with the present alkali activator, which creates a lot
C S H gel which filled the capillary pores. It helped to of pores at a later stage.17 Hence, the correlation between
increase the packing density of concrete and strength mixed design parameters and the formation of pore struc-
properties. The addition of rice husk ash decreased the tures should be understood properly to reduce the shrink-
hydration rate as well as the heat of hydration. The slow age. At the restraination of concrete, tensile stresses
reaction of rice husk ash and containing lower Ca/Si develop on the surface and it leads toward cracking. The
ratio reduced the amount of calcium hydroxide and hel- shrinkage behavior of geopolymer concrete may concern
ped to produce secondary C S H gel. Praveenkumar critically and may affect its durability. Using shrinkage-
et al.15 also found that replacement of cement by 10% of reducing admixture in concrete, the capillary stresses in
rice husk ash with 3% TiO2 nanoparticles have better pore water may be reduced, results in a reduction of
resistance against deterioration by hydrochloric acid. shrinkage and corresponding shrinkage cracking on the
Also, the replacement of cement by 10% rice husk ash surface of the concrete structure.18 A low-cost nonchemical
had shown low thermal conductivity. The introduction of shrinkage admixture should be searched to reduce the
rice husk ash in concrete reduced the thickness of the shrinkage of geopolymer concrete.
matrix, which helped for reduction of thermal conductiv- There are three types of mechanisms such as surface
ity.11 The combination of rice husk ash and TiO2 nano- free energy of the solid gel particles, hydrostatic tension
particle improved the microstructure of concrete and in the capillary water, and disjoining pressure in areas of
reduced the permeability of concrete to chloride ingress. hindered absorption between gel particles associated with
Kanthe et al.8 also found from SEM image that ternary shrinkage.19,20 Rath et al.21 found the shrinkage strain of
blending of cement, rice husk ash, and fly ash increased cement concrete with supplementary cementitious mate-
the packing density of mortar mix which achieved 25.06% rials due to hydrostatic tension in the capillary water and
higher strength as compared to the strength of control modified the equation of the ACI shrinkage model.22
mix. Manigandan et al.13 used chemically treated natural Some proposed equations by Powers20 given related to
fiber and polyurethane-coated coarse aggregate in con- the above mechanisms are given below. The change in
crete to improve strength and durability. They explained volume in a solid particle due to surface free energy can
that natural fiber was more flexible and able to fill the be expressed by Equation (1).
voids in the cement matrix, which improved the micro-
Z
structural property. Rath et al.14 increased the durability ΔV 2 RT h2
wa
¼ K dðlnhÞ: ð1Þ
of concrete by replacing both cement and sand simulta- V 3 M h1 V s
neously by fly ash and pond ash with the addition of 0.1%
glass fiber. The partial replacement of cement with fly
ash helped in the formation of secondary C S H gel by The change in volume due to hydrostatic tension can be
reducing additional Ca(OH)2, the partial replacement of expressed by Equation (2).
RATH 3

 
ΔV RT certain amount to improve the performance of concrete
¼β lnh : ð2Þ
V Mvw because at the higher dose the concrete mold cannot be
demoulded in a stipulated time which hampers the
proper curing process. The improper curing process will
The change in volume for disjoining pressure can be decrease the strength and durability of concrete. But this
expressed by Equation (3). natural rubber latex can be used at a higher dose without
facing any demoulding problem after casting for 24 h.
ΔV RT Hence, the curing process can be forwarded smoothly for
¼ βf ðwa Þ lnh: ð3Þ
V Mvw rubber latex concrete.
The development of cracks on structural or non-
The Equation (2) of change in volume due to hydrostatic structural elements may be due to the shrinkage of con-
tension can be derived from the Laplace equation and crete. The shrinkage of concrete occurs due to losses of
kelvin equation which is given below water within the concrete due to various reasons such as
evaporation, chemical reactions, bleedings, and so
2σ on. Many researchers have suggested using fiber, expan-
pv  pc ¼ cosθ ðLaplace EquationÞ, ð4Þ
r sive cement, SRA, and so on, for controlling the develop-
ment of shrinkage cracks in concrete structure.25–27 But
RT those suggestions have some limitations. The fiber does
pc  pv ¼ lnh ðKelvin EquationÞ, ð5Þ
Mvw not reduce the shrinkage but prevents the cracks from
widening more. Using fiber at a higher percentage may
where V is the volume, M is molecular weight, T is the cause fiber balling, which results in the segregation of
temperature, wa is the absorbed water content, Vs is concrete. The expansive cement expands more after hard-
the absorbed volume, vw is the specific volume of water, ening by the formation of ettringite, which compensates
“h” is the relative vapor pressure, K is the compressible for the possible shrinkage. Since the production of
coefficient of solid particles, R is the universal gas con- ettringite is not possible in the fresh stage of concrete, it
stant. The above deformational behavior of concrete is is very difficult to reduce the early age shrinkage of con-
influenced by relative humidity, microstructure geome- crete by using expansive cement. On the other hand, the
try, and interaction between solid substance and water. It shrinkage-reducing admixture plays a vital role to reduce
is found that the disjoining pressure is nothing but the the early age shrinkage, but they are chemical-based and
change in volume at relative humidity beyond 50%.23 hazardous as well as highly expensive. It cannot be used
The characteristics of an intervening fluid can modify to in concrete at a higher percentage. Because a high dose
potential energy interaction between two planar surfaces. of chemical-based admixture prolongs the setting time of
Both surface force and corresponding shrinkage may be concrete and cannot be demoulded easily at a stipulated
changed by the presence or absence of a shrinkage- time. Also, the polycarboxylate easter-based admixture
reducing admixture in capillary pore solution. From creates bleeding initially and later makes the mix stick
Equation (3), it can be found that increasing water pres- which creates a honeycomb. Hence, a nonchemical SRA
sure results in a reduction in surface tension keeping should be searched to use in concrete at a higher dose
constant water vapor pressure and pore radius. It is and to avoid the demoulding problem. Hence, natural
observed that the addition of SRA to water reduces the rubber latex has been selected as an organic shrinkage-
surface tension.24 A protective outer layer of mortar con- reducing admixture in the present research. Also, it was
sisting rich SRA protects the inner layer from drying found that rubber latex improved both the workability
because of its lower surface tension. and rheology properties of concrete.21 Hence, the other
durability properties and improvement of the microstruc-
ture of various types of concrete should be checked by
2 | R ESEAR CH SIGNIFICANCE using rubber latex at a higher percentage. Various dura-
bility tests such as shrinkage, oxygen permeability, capil-
In the present research, an organic, renewable, and low- lary suction, and water absorption of concrete with and
cost shrinkage-reducing admixture has been explored, without rubber latex have been measured in the present
which can easily replace to chemical admixture available research and results are correlated with the shrinkage
in the market. The main aim of this research is to mechanism.
increase the workability and durability of cement con- The novelty of the present research is to analyze the
crete/geopolymer concrete with the help of natural volumetric shrinkage of geopolymer concrete with and
admixture. The chemical admixture can be used up to a without rubber latex and establish a correlation between
4 RATH

four types of volumetric shrinkage strain such as volu-

metric shrinkage strain due to water evaporation, surface
energy, hydrostatic tension, and disjoining pressure. In
the previous day, many researchers have studied the lin-
ear shrinkage of concrete. A limited number of
researches have found about the volumetric shrinkage of
geopolymer concrete. In the present, research volumetric
shrinkage of traditional concrete and geopolymer con-
crete with and without rubber latex has been determined.
From these data, four types of shrinkage strains are deter-
mined by using the powers equation.20 Also, it has been
discussed how rubber latex has improved the durability
of concrete by improving the microstructure of concrete
and decreasing its internal porosity. In previous research,
the durability of concrete was increased by using mar-
ginal materials, chemical admixtures, and fibers. But in
this research, the durability of concrete has been
achieved by adding organic admixture.

3 | METHOD OLOG Y
FIGURE 1 Shrinkage cone used in present research

In the present study, sustainable geopolymer concrete mixes

were prepared by using calcined clay, sodium hydroxide, constantly on the cone specimen. The concrete inside the
calcium silicate, sand, brick aggregate, rubber latex, and cone shrinked as time passed and settled down with
water. The brick aggregate of the maximum size of 20 mm decreasing its height. This decreasing of height was mea-
had used as coarse aggregate. For getting a better packing sured by laser ray and recorded at every 15 min interval up
density, the ratio of fine aggregate to coarse aggregate was to 8 h. The results of shrinkage resulting in different mixes
taken as 50:50.28 A solution of sodium hydroxide and cal- of fresh concrete are shown in Figure 2.
cium silicate was used as an activator and their ratio was Oxygen penetration, capillary suction, and water
kept as 1:2.5. Also, the alkali activator (NaOH) to calcined absorption tests were performed on a cylindrical mold of
clay ratio was fixed as 0.35. The volumetric shrinkage was 100 mm diameter and 50 mm height and compacted
measured by shrinkage meter as shown in Figure 1. A properly. After 24 h, the specimen was remolded and
cone-shaped mold was used for determining the total volu- kept inside water for 7 days curing. On the 8th day, they
metric shrinkage. The reduction of the volume of the cone were removed from the curing tank, properly sealed, and
was directly proportional to the reduction of its height. By placed inside the oven for 30 days at 50 C for humidity
measuring the change in height of the cone, the total redistribution. After that, they were taken from the oven
change in volume was determined. Total six mixes of M40 and cooled at room temperature. The oxygen penetration
grade were prepared for different doses of rubber latex measurement was conducted according to Cembureau
(i.e., 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2.0% of water) as an organic admixture, method, applying absolute pressures of 0.15, 0.25, and
shown in Table 2. To compare the shrinkage properties of 0.35 MPa.29 After the oxygen penetration test measure-
geopolymer concrete, traditional cement concrete of the ment, all the specimens were kept inside a water con-
same grade was also prepared. The physical and chemical tainer for the capillary suction test. The water uptake was
properties of the above materials are shown in Table 1. measured at a time interval of 15 min, 30 min, 1, 2, 4, 8,
After the dry mixing of calcined clay, brick aggregate, and 24, and 48 h. After conducting the capillary suction test,
sand, prepared sodium hydroxide solution and calcium sili- the same specimens were kept inside the oven for 24 h at
cate hydrate gel were poured to mix as per mix design. A 105 C for complete drying. For measuring water absorp-
homogenous mixture was prepared by mixing the above tion, they were again immersed in a water bath at room
ingredient by adding the calculated quantity of water temperature until they gain constant weight.
derived from the mix design process. That prepared con- To study the pore size distribution of various mixes,
crete was poured inside a conical-shaped mold whose diam- the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test was per-
eter was 11 cm and height was measured as 9 cm. Over the formed on 28 days cured sample by using Auto IV 9510
conical mold, a laser beam was mounted and focused mercury porosimeter. It could inject a pressure up to
RATH 5

414 MPa and reach a cylindrical pore diameter of approx- early age shrinkage property has been studied in the pre-
imately 890 μm. The mercury porosity of the sample can sent experiment. How the various doses of natural rubber
be found by taking the ratio of the volume of total latex affect different mixes of concrete are explained
injected mercury to the total volume of the sample. below. Comparing the shrinkage result of traditional
cement concrete (MT-0) and calcined clay-based geo-
polymer concrete (MG-0), it was found that the calcined
4 | R ES U L T S A N D D I S C U S S I O N clay-based geopolymer concrete shrinked 47% less than
traditional cement concrete (Figure 2). There are two rea-
4.1 | Shrinkage sons behind the less shrinkage value of calcined clay-
based geopolymer concrete. The first reason is that the
The early age shrinkage had been found out in present calcined clay did not shrink like the cement. As the parti-
research because it was found that the shrinkage rate was cle size of calcined clay was less than 45 μm, the fineness
more for the first 8 h for traditional concrete without rub- value of calcined clay was more than the cement. Hence,
ber latex (MT-0). After 8 h, the shrinkage process slowed the bleeding was restricted by the calcined clay. The sec-
down and it appeared near about to constant. Hence, the ond one is that saturated brick aggregate inside geo-
polymer concrete had absorbed water before mixing and
T A B L E 1 Properties of different ingredients used in released that absorbed water at the time of setting. This
geopolymer concrete released water compensated for the evaporation of water
S. No. Material Properties
from the concrete. Hence, the shrinkage of concrete was
restricted. Again, it was noticed that the shrinkage value
1 Cement OPC of 43 grade
of geopolymer concrete gradually decreased as the dose
2 Sand Specific gravity of 2.65, grading as of rubber latex increased. The shrinkage of geopolymer
zone-III
concrete reduced 18, 43, 59, and 69% for the dose of rub-
3 Aggregate Maximum sizes are 20 mm, ber latex 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0%, respectively, added to
specific gravity = 2.73
control geopolymer concrete mix (MG-0) after 8 h. It hap-
4 Calcined clay Particle sizes are finer than 45 μm, pened due to the restriction of evaporation of water from
specific gravity = 2.85, blain air
the concrete by the rubber latex. It is concluded that a
permeability = 410 m2/kg
higher dose of rubber latex helps to decrease the shrink-
5 Brick aggregate Maximum sizes are 20 mm, age rate of geopolymer concrete.
specific gravity = 1.84
There are so many reasons for the reduction of
6 Sodium White color pellets having a shrinkage of concrete due to the addition of rubber latex.
hydroxide density of 2.15 g/cm3
The first one is, when rubber latex was mixed in cement
7 Calcium Viscous gel concrete or geopolymer concrete, a thin layer of rubber
silicate
latex was formed around the water particle by which
8 Rubber latex The natural white liquid collected water could not evaporate easily. This increases the dura-
from the rubber tree, specific tion of the constant rate period. The constant rate period
gravity = 1.1, pH = 8.1
is nothing but the loss of water in the first stage of drying.

TABLE 2 Mix proportion of

Ingredient MT-0 MG-0 MG-0.5 MG-1.0 MG-1.5 MG-2.0
concrete
Cement 413 0 0 0 0 0
Calcined clay 0 413 413 413 413 413
Sand 914 611 611 611 611 611
Stone aggregate 956 0 0 0 0 0
Brick aggregate 0 1155 1155 1155 1155 1155
NaOH 0 42 42 42 42 42
CaSiO3 0 105 105 105 105 105
Water 186 186 176 167 158 149
Rubber latex 0 0 10 19 28 37

Note: (i) The number attached with each code of mix denoted as percentage rubber latex added to that
corresponding mix. (ii) All ingredients are in kg/m3.
6 RATH

F I G U R E 2 Effect of various doses of

rubber latex on shrinkage of different
concrete mix

The second reason is due to the addition of rubber latex increased the specific surfaces. Hence, the require-
in the concrete mixture resulted in decreasing the surface ment of water had increased for the hydration pro-
tension of the pore water in the geopolymer concrete and cess. Also, the rubber latex reduced the large pores of
increased the viscosity of the pore fluid. Rubber latex the concrete and delayed the crack initiation time. As
reduced the moisture saturation at most for the interme- a result, the crack width reduced significantly. From
diate values of relative humidity. As a result, the main the above results, it is concluded that natural rubber
driving force (known as capillary suction) for transporta- latex can be used as a shrinkage-reducing admixture
tion of water to the concrete surface at a constant rate in concrete. It can minimize the shrinkage cracks and
decreased. Hence, it broke the continuous capillary brid- allow to decline both curling and joint contraction.
ges between the interior matrix and surface of the con- Also using broken brick pieces as coarse aggregate
crete. It reduced the capillary tension within the pore provided an additional benefit to reduce the shrink-
structure as a result shrinkage process was obstructed age of concrete.
during the evaporation of water. The water transporta-
tion from the interior matrix to the concrete surface is
further reduced due to the increased viscosity of the 4.2 | Shrinkage strain of different mixes
matrix. As a result, the earlier rate of evaporation of
the concrete with rubber latex decreased in the first hours In the present research, the shrinkage strain has been
of drying. The third reason is saturated brick aggregate calculated for four different mechanisms such as water
released water from its surface up to the initial setting of evaporation, the surface energy of solid gel particles,
cement paste. At that time, the capillary suction started hydrostatic tension due to capillary action, and dis-
by pulling the water drops from the large pores of brick joining pressure. Shrinkage strain due to evaporation
aggregate. Since the brick aggregate released the water at of water has been determined from the present experi-
an earlier stage, it is responsible for capillary suction ment and the other three types of shrinkage strains
developing in between the fresh and plastic stage of con- have been determined from Power's equation and tab-
crete. It may be influenced positively on reduction of ulated in Table 3. Shrinkage strain due to evaporation
plastic shrinkage cracking since the water supplied by was calculated by dividing the shrinkage of the
saturated brick aggregate might retard the capillary pres- corresponding mix by the total volume of the conical
sure development in the concrete matrix and ultimately sample.
reduce the amount and width of plastic shrinkage cracks. V = Volume of concrete mix = Volume of shrinkage
The fourth reason might be the delaying of hydration cone = 285,099 mm3.
reaction at the initial setting of concrete due to the addi- K = Compressible coefficient of solid particles = 0.85.
tion of rubber latex. It happened due to the presence of R = Universal gas constant = 8.314  103 N-m-
organic molecules in natural rubber latex. Rubber latex kmol1 k1.
molecules decreased the polarity of concrete and T = Room temperature = 35 C.
RATH 7

TABLE 3 Shrinkage strains from different mechanisms

Shrinkage strain

MIx Water evaporation Surface energy Hydrostatic tension Disjoining pressure

MT-0 0.001305 0.000811 0.000326 0.000169
MG-0 0.000691 0.000428 0.000172 0.000089
MG-0.5 0.000561 0.000348 0.000141 0.000072
MG-1.0 0.000392 0.000243 0.000098 0.000051
MG-1.5 0.000283 0.000175 0.000072 0.000036
MG-2.0 0.000213 0.000132 0.000053 0.000027

Wa = Absorbed water content = Water added in the 4.3 | Oxygen penetration test
mix (from Table 2).
h = Relative vapor pressure = 101,325 Pa. The oxygen penetration test results are shown in Figure 3.
It is found that the shrinkage strain due to evapora- It was found that as the dose of rubber latex was increased,
tion of water for traditional concrete is 83% more than there is a significant reduction in the penetration of oxygen.
the shrinkage strain of geopolymer concrete with 2% rub- The oxygen penetration value of traditional cement con-
ber latex. From Table 3, it can be noticed that the shrink- crete (MT-0) was 30% more than geopolymer concrete with-
age strain for all mechanisms gradually decreased as the out rubber latex (MG-0). It can be assumed that part of the
dose of rubber latex increased. It happened due to oxygen permeability reduction in geopolymer concrete may
the dual action of geopolymer concrete. The first one is be attributed to the presence of brick aggregate since it was
saturated brick aggregate-released water, which compen- continuously releasing water and compensating for water
sated the evaporation at the fresh stage and the second loss due to drying. But if it is compared with the test result
one is rubber latex reduced the number of micropores in of oxygen permeability in between MG-0 and MG-2.0, it
fresh concrete and sealed all the pores in the hardening can be found that the oxygen penetration value of MG-2.0
stage. One interesting thing is found that is the summa- is one-fourth of the MG-0. The result indicates that the liq-
tion of shrinkage strains due to surface energy, hydro- uid rubber latex filled internal pores, which reduced the
static tension, and disjoining pressure gives the shrinkage connectivity between the open pores. From the bulk liquids
strain at water evaporation. That means the shrinkage test, it is observed that the natural rubber latex remained in
strain due to water evaporation is showing as total liquid form after evaporation of the water up to the first
shrinkage strain. Among the three mechanisms described 8 h. After that, the rubber latex became solid inside the con-
by power, more than 60% contribution contributes by crete mix. That means it indicates that rubber latex did not
shrinkage due to surface energy. participate in the hydration reaction. Despite this, the
The weight loss of the concrete specimens without released water from the brick aggregate compensated for
rubber latex was found 3% more than the concrete speci- the loss of evaporated water and participated in the hydra-
men with rubber latex during the period of shrinkage. tion process. In a later period, the solid form of rubber latex
That means all the mixtures contained the same amount improved the microstructure of concrete and formed a pro-
of pore water and assume a negligible difference in the tective layer on the concrete surface, helped to decrease the
solid part of the pore structure of all mixes of concrete. liquid and gas permeability.21
The rubber latex had formed a thin film that acted as a
protective cover and resisted evaporating the water from
the concrete specimen. Again, according to the Laplace 4.4 | Capillary suction test
equation (i.e., Equation (4)) the difference between the
pressure in water vapor and the pressure in pore water From Figure 4, it is found that the capillary suction value
reduces as the surface tension decreases for the same is increasing with lapsing of time for each mix. Initially,
radius of the pore. The reduction of shrinkage for the tra- the capillary suction was very less, but after 24 h it was
ditional mix of concrete may be due to a reduction in the eight times more than the capillary suction of 15 min of
depression of pore water pressure (pc). For getting a bet- the traditional mix (MT-0). But the rate of increase
ter understanding of the mechanism of reduction of of capillary suction is slightly less than geopolymer con-
shrinkage oxygen permeability and capillary suction, crete mix (MG-0). This happened due to the presence of
tests were carried out. saturated brick aggregate in geopolymer concrete. The
8 RATH

F I G U R E 3 Oxygen permeability test

results of different mixes

F I G U R E 4 Capillary suction of different

mixes at a regular time interval

saturated aggregate released water at a regular interval 2.0 was one-fifth of the capillary suction of mix MT-0
and decreased the dryness of concrete, which reduced after 48 hours of immersion in water. The increasing
the formation of capillary tubes inside the concrete dose of rubber latex decreased the capillary suction.
mix. But when the rubber latex was used in the con- The values indicate that the presence of rubber latex
crete mix the capillary suction rate decreased gradually does not take part in the hydration reaction. The rela-
up to 0.5% water replacement and suddenly at beyond tive behavior of concrete mixes is not showing any
0.1% of water replacement. It indicates that there was change significantly, indicating the presence of homo-
a tremendous improvement in the microstructure of geneous pore structure in depth. But, the initial mois-
concrete for the replacement water above 1% with rub- ture profile of concrete may change the relative
ber latex. Generally, the rubber latex is in the liquid behavior of mix with the presence or absence of rubber
stage up to the first few hours of the collection and it latex. It may be concluded that the initial condition
becomes solid after that. Hence, after 24 h of cube cast- has not induced significant heterogeneity in the distri-
ing, rubber latex became solid and filled all the micro- bution of moisture and rubber latex.
pores of the concrete. Also, it forms a solid coating on
the surface of the concrete. Hence, not only the water
permeability had reduced but also decreased in the 4.5 | Water absorption test
rate of capillary suction. The best result goes in favor
of mix MG-2.0 in accordance with the oxygen perme- After the capillary suction test, the specimen cubes of all
ability test results. The capillary suction for mix MG- mixes were immersed in water until gaining constant
RATH 9

i. The addition of rubber latex had increased the

coarseness of pore size.
ii. More numbers of fine pores were found in traditional
cement concrete and geopolymer concrete, but that
amount decreased as the dose of rubber latex was
increased.

iii. Rubber latex converted micropores to mesopores,

results in a decreased evaporation process. All the
mesopores were sealed by a solid paste after comple-
tion of 100% hydration.

F I G U R E 5 Percentage of water absorption for different mixes

It is found that the cement paste which shows high
of concrete cubes
shrinkage, contains a large number of fine pores. These
fine pores act as capillary tube and water evaporates eas-
ily due to capillary action force. In the present research,
it is also found that the traditional cement concrete has
40% fine pores, whereas geopolymer concrete has 45%
fine pores. Here pores are divided into three categories.
Pore diameters of 2.5 nano microns to 50 nano microns
are known as micropores, 50 nano microns to 10,000
nano microns are known as mesopores and more than
10,000 nano microns are known as voids. The fine parti-
cles of calcined clay present in geopolymer concrete cre-
ate a large number of capillary tubes of micro diameter.
Hence, it has a chance that geopolymer concrete will
F I G U R E 6 Percentage of micropores, mesopores, and voids in shrink more. But the rubber latex converted the micro-
different mixes pores into mesopores in the fresh stage and becomes hard
inside the gap after setting. Hence, all the pores were
weight. From Figure 5, one can notice that the water closed and well finished. Due to the formation of meso-
absorption percentage for mix MG-2.0 is the least and pores in the fresh stage, the shrinkage process decreased
25% less than the mix MT-0. Hence, one can conclude and stopped at the hardening stage due to proper sealing
that replacing water with rubber latex at a higher per- of pores. From Figure 6, it is found that as the rubber
centage seals the pores on the surface of the concrete to latex dose increased, the percentage of micropores, as
resist water from entering inside it. The open porosity well as voids in concrete reduced and mesopores percent-
was measured on all mixes by the water absorption test age increased. Hence, it is recommended that the rubber
and found a lower amount in mix MG-2.0. Here, the latex should be used in concrete as water to increase the
water absorption percentage of traditional concrete and durability of concrete by reducing the 100% shrinkage.
geopolymer concrete was found near to same although For describing the dry shrinkage behavior of concrete
the brick aggregate and calcined clay were the main based on the distribution of pores and thermodynamic
ingredients of the geopolymer concrete. This happened behavior of water inside the pores, Shimomura and
due to the formation of more amount of C A S H gel Maekawa proposed a micromechanical model.30 They
with the help of released water from the brick aggregate. introduced a term named critical pore size (ds), which is
Hence, interfacial transition zone of the concrete surface the maximum diameter of a pore at the meniscus level of
improved in a better way and reduced the water water. According to the above model, the pores having a
permeability. diameter less than ds contains water; otherwise, the
waters are evaporated from the pores having a diameter
size more than ds. As the diameter decreases below the
4.6 | MIP test critical pore size ds, the capillary tensile force increases.
At this stage, the shrinkage rate becomes high. In this
The pore size distribution of all mixes from the MIP research, the various values of ds for different mixes were
test at 28 days is shown in Figure 6 and the following studied as shown in Figure 7 and related to the shrinkage
observations were found. strain due to the evaporation of water as shown in
10 RATH

FIGURE 7 Critical pore size for different

mixes

F I G U R E 8 Co-relation between critical

diameter (ds) and shrinkage (%)

Figure 8. It was found that as the percentage of rubber latex and as well as their physical and chemical properties, but
increased in geopolymer concrete, the diameter of capillary that amount would be negligible.
pores increased rapidly. When 2% of rubber latex was
induced in geopolymer concrete, the pore size diameter
increased 18 times that of geopolymer concrete without 5 | CONCLUSIONS
rubber latex. The water inside the larger diameter dried and
rubber latex filled that empty portion and was sealed by The following conclusions can be drawn from the present
becoming harden paste. Hence, the shrinkage process was research.
stopped for mix MG-2.0. Also, it had found that as the (i) By using rubber latex in calcined clay-based geo-
shrinkage increased, the size of critical diameter ds polymer concrete, it was found that the workability of
decreased. For both traditional concrete and geopolymer geopolymer concrete was increased as well as the micro-
concrete without rubber latex, the shrinkage rate decreased pores inside the concrete mix were decreased.
rapidly as the value of ds decreased from 250 nano micron. (ii) Replacing water with rubber latex up to 2%, the
Beyond this size, the shrinkage rate became constant. Since shrinkage of geopolymer concrete decreased up to 44%,
the particle size of calcined clay was less than the particle shrinkage strain decreased up to 83%, oxygen permeabil-
size of cement, the shrinkage rate was more in geopolymer ity decreased up to one-fourth and capillary suction at
concrete than the traditional concrete. As the rubber latex 48 h decreased up to 66% w.r.t. traditional concrete.
percentage increases in geopolymer concrete from mix MT- (iii) Since the rubber latex is easily available and mixes
0.5 to MT-2.0, the curve becomes flat. Also, the evaporation homogeneously with water, it can be recommended for
of water might be influenced by the geometry of the pores using rubber latex in concrete instead of water.
RATH 11

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