Influence of various amounts of limestone powder on performance of Portland limestone cement concretes

The benefits of limestone as a partial replacement for Portland Cement (PC) are well established. Economic and environmental advantages by reducing CO2 emissions are well known. The paper describes the effect of various amounts of limestone on compressive strength, water penetration, sorptivity, electrical resistivity and rapid chloride permeability on concretes produced by using a combination of PC and limestone at 28, 90 and 180 days. The percentages of limestone that replace PC in this research are 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by mass. The water/(clinker + limestone) or (w/b) ratios are 0.37, 0.45 and 0.55 having a constant total binder content of 350 kg/m(3). Generally, results show that the Portland limestone cement (PLC) concretes having up to 10% limestone provide competitive properties with PC concretes. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.