Overview of effects of internal curing agents on low water to binder concretes

A higher amount of cementitious materials in low water to binder concretes can enhance strength and durability properties but develops self-desiccation due to a higher rate of hydration. The presence of voids due to self-desiccation and shrinkage cracks can lead to high permeability and highly porous microstructure. Due to high cementitious materials in concrete, it develops self-desiccation in conventional curing. So conventional curing is not sufficient to achieve full hydration of total cementitious materials and the use of waste materials will be limited. Utilization of waste materials like fly ash, slag, and rice husk ash can achieve sustainable development by cleaning the environment. This Utilisation will be more when concrete gets 100% hydration. Internal curing (IC) is a suitable method to eliminate these problems. Lightweight aggregates, super absorbent polymers, and Polyethylene glycol are internal curing agents which can reduce shrinkage and enhance the strength & durability. In view of this Internal curing (IC) should be adopted to achieve sustainability using waste materials. This paper reviewed the effects of these IC agents on the fresh, hardened properties and microstructure of concretes with<0.36 w/b ratio. Also on the basis of cost analysis of one cubic meter concrete with different IC agents reveals that SAP is economical than other IC agents.