Experimental Investigations of Light Weight Cellular Concrete fabricated using Sodium Lauryl Sulphate based Foam/Aerosol with Flyash as a stabilizer for structural applications

Abstract Light Weight Cellular Concrete (LWCC) was prepared in this work using Portland Pozzolana cement and river sand as fine aggregate with air voids induced using Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate (SLES) and Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) as foaming agents along with foam stabilizers. The sustainability of foam in the base mix was attained by dispersing 4 g of foam stabilizers such as Fly ash (FA), Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and Silica Fume (SF) in the surfactant solution. The optimum foam concentration was evaluated by varying the concentration of surfactant as 0.25 M, 0.5 M, 0.75 M and 1 M. Various characteristics of foam such as Surfactant Liquid Density (SLD), Foam Expansion Ratio (FER), Initial Foam Density (IFD) and Foam Stability (FS) with and without foam stabilizers were assessed using foam drainage test as per the ASTM standard 869 − 91. Taking into account the results obtained, the foam generated using SLS in 1 M concentration sustains the foam while being dispersed in the concrete manufacturing process. Furthermore, the optimization of foam characteristics was also performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software (SPSS Ver. 26.0). After setting the foam concrete followed by curing under water, the density of foam/aerosol concrete and their compressive strength were measured. The SLS foam-based LWCC produced using FA as stabilizer showed the maximum compressive strength of 6.56 MPa with its corresponding density of 1705.28 kg/m3. In contrast, the LWCC produced using SLS-based aerosol with same concentration of 1 M showed a remarkable compressive strength of 16.8 MPa and density of 1742.94 kg/m3. The aerosol-based LWCC paved the way for a novel method of producing LWCC to build structural elements in construction industry.