Behaviour of Self-Compacting Concrete incorporating Natural Perlite used as Part of Cement and as Aggregates

Perlite, a natural glassy volcanic rock could be used as supplementary cementitious material to reduce environmental pollution and the consumption of precious natural resources in the concrete industries. The aim of this work is to assess natural perlite used as 50% aggregates substitution by volume (sand or gravel) and as 10%, 15%, 20% cement substitution in self-compacting concrete. Workability characteristics and mechanical properties were analysed. Results showed that replacing 50% of natural aggregates with 50% of perlite aggregates or substituting cement with 10% of perlite powder generated the best workability characteristics and improved compressive, flexural strength, and elastic modulus of concrete at 28 days. Moreover, the results were combined to develop correlations that prove to be good between mechanical properties of self-compacting. Using perlite as aggregates offers a new source of supply and saves natural aggregates. Also, perlite used as cement substitution helps to reduce PC consumption, cost, and CO₂ emission.