Microstructure, Mineral Phases and Strength of the Foam Concrete

The relationship among the composition, microstructure and strength of materials is always one of the hotspots for scholars of materials research. The influence of curing time on the compressive strength and flexural strength of the foam concrete with the cement, cement-slag and cement-steel slag as main binder respectively was studied in this paper. The microstructure of these foam concrete was analyzed by SEM and the mineral phases of the foam concrete was analyzed by XRD. The relationship among the binders, microstructure, mineral phases and strength of the foam concrete were explored and the reasons of why the strength of the cement foam concrete and cement-slag foam concrete is much higher than that of the cement-steel slag foam concrete are proposed.