Preparation and properties of sulphoaluminate cement-based foamed concrete with high performance

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to prepare a foamed concrete with low thermal conductivity from the perspective of raw material selection. According to the results of literature survey, sulphoaluminate cement (SAC) is selected as the cementing material, and the mixture of aluminum nitrate and sodium bicarbonate is selected as the foaming agent. Subsequently, the related properties of the sulphoaluminate cement foamed concrete (SAC-FC) were evaluated. The results show that the SAC-FC not only possesses good thermal insulation performance, but also exhibits excellent mechanical and water-resistant properties. The compressive strength, thermal conductivity, water absorption and softening coefficient of the SAC-FC with 0.3 ~ 1.0 g/cm3 bulk density are 1.2 MPa ~ 15.2 MPa, 0.052 ~ 0.129 W/(m • K), 38.2% ~ 7.6% and 0.764 ~ 0.952, respectively. And the fluctuation ranges of the ratio of flexural strength to compressive strength and the ratio of tensile strength to compressive strength are 20% ~ 30% and 17.5% ~ 22.5%, respectively. In addition, the SAC-FC also presents the early strength characteristic and its 7-day strength is approximately 83% of the 28-day strength.