Influence of filler type on the properties of foam concrete

Most of the investigations on foam concrete in the past have been confined to neat cement paste, cement paste with partial replacement with admixtures and to cement-sand mixes. This paper reports the results of a systematic study to ascertain the influence of filler type (i.e., sand and fly ash) and the particle size of sand on the properties of moist cured foam concrete. This study shows that the consistency of mixture, for achieving pre-formed foam concrete of design density, mainly depends on the filler type. The flow behaviour of foam concrete is mainly influenced by the foam volume. A reduction in particle size of sand caused an improvement in strength of foam concrete. For a given density, replacement of sand with fly ash resulted in higher strength. Finer filler resulted in a higher ratio of strength to density. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.