Cement & Concrete Composites 16 (1994) 273-277
O 1994 Elsevier Science Limited
ELSEVIER
Properties of Hardened Concrete Containing Treated
Expanded Polystyrene Beads
R. Sri Ravindrarajah & A. J. Tuck
School of Civil Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
(Received 4 October 1993; accepted 4 July 1994)
Abstract
This paper reports the results of an experimental
investigation into the properties of hardened con-
crete containing chemically treated expanded poly-
styrene beads. The results showed that the strength,
stiffness and chemical resistance of polystyrene
aggregate concrete of a constant density were
affected by the water to cement ratio. Drying
shrinkage after 84 days of drying for polystyrene
concretes, having 10 mm coarse aggregate and a
nominal density of 1300 kg/m 3, were 730 and 655
microstrains. Empirical equations were developed
to relate the strength and pulse velocity and to
predict the modulus of elasticity from its strength.
Keywords: Lightweight concrete, polystyrene
beads, compressive strength, tensile strength,
drying shrinkage, modulus of elasticity, pulse
velocity, chemical resistance.
INTRODUCTION
Expanded polystyrene is a stable low density
foam and consists of discrete air voids in a poly-
mer matrix. The polystyrene beads can be easily
incoporated in mortar or concrete to produce
lightweight concrete with a wide range of density.
Applications of polystyrene concrete were
reviewed by Cook ~ and they include curtain walls,
cladding panels, tilt-up panels and composite
flooring systems. Polystyrene concrete was used to
produce load-bearing concrete blocks, 2 as the
273
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sub-base material 3 for a pavement, as the material
of construction for floating marine structures. 4
Bischoff et al.5 suggested that an overlaying layer
of polystyrene concrete could provide protection
to structures against impact loading.
In the past, the use of polystyrene beads in
concrete produced segregation due to extreme
lightness and hydrophobic nature of the untreated
beads. C o o k 6 reported the use of bonding ad-
mixture to improve the stability of concrete mixes,
incorporating the beads. On the other hand,
chemically treated expanded polystyrene beads,
which are commercially available as BST aggre-
gate in Australia, are capable of preventing the
segregation in the concrete mixes. This paper
reports the results of an investigation into the
properties of polystyrene aggregate concrete with
this type of beads.
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
Materials
Type GP Portland cement, conforming to AS
3972, and silica fume from Tasmania were used
as cementitious materials in the concrete mixes.
Fine sand from Kurnell and coarse Nepean river
sand were used in equal weight proportions. For
the fine and coarse sands, the percentages passing
on 600/~m standard sieve were 87% and 57%,
respectively. In some mixes, 10 mm crushed
basalt was used as coarse aggregate. Commer-
cially available spherical-shaped polystyrene
beads with hydrophilic type chemical coating,
274 R. Sri Ravindrarajah, A. J. Tuck

known as BST aggregate, were used in this study.
The sieve analysis on the beads showed that the
beads completely passed through a 4.75 m m sieve
and 90% was retained on a 2.36 m m sieve. The
particle and bulk densities of the beads are
measured as 67 and 35 kg/m 3, respectively.
Compositions of polystyrene aggregate concrete
mixes
In the first part of the study, the effects of the
water to cement ratio on the properties of poly-
styrene aggregate concrete having a nominal
density of 1300 kg/m 3 were studied. The cement
content was kept at 400 kg/m 3 for the mixes
(mixes 1-4). The water to cement ratio by weight
was varied between 0.35 and 0"60. In the second
part of the study, silica fume was used as an addi-
tion or replacement material to cement. The silica
fume content in the mixes (mixes 5 and 6) was
kept at 10% of cement weight. The water to
cement plus silica fume ratio was kept at 0.40 and
the beads content was targeted to 40% by volume.
The mix details of the polystyrene aggregate
concrete are given in Table 1 including the bulk
volume of the BST aggregate used.
Production of polystyrene aggregate concrete
The coarse sand, fine sand, cement and 10 mm
basalt (mixes 5 and 6) were first dry-mixed in a
pan-type mixer. The mixing water was then gradu-
ally added while the mixing was in progress and
the mixing was continued until uniformity in the
mix was achieved. Finally, the beads were gradu-
ally added and the mixing was continued for at
least 3 min to achieve proper distribution of the
beads. Superplasticizer was used in some mixes to
increase their workability. For each mix, the wet
density of concrete was determined and necessary
adjustment to the beads content was made to
achieve the desired density.
Table 1. Mix c o m p o s i t i o n s ( k g / m 3) o f p o l y s t y r e n e aggregate
concrete
Casting, curing and testing of concrete specimens
A number of standard test specimens, long cylin-
ders having the dimensions of 100 mm diameter
by 200 m m for compressive and in-direct tensile
strengths tests, 150 m m diameter by 300 mm long
cylinders for static modulus of elasticity tests,
100 mm cubes for compressive strength and
chemical resistance tests and 100 nun by 100 mm
by 380 m m prisms for pulse velocity and drying
shrinkage tests were cast. The specimens were
demoulded after 24 h and stored in water. The
cylinders and cubes were kept in water for either
3 days (mixes 1-4) or 28 days (mixes 5 and 6).
Following this period, the specimens were placed
in a curing room, having the mean temperature
and humidity of 22°C and 90% RH, respectively.
The concrete prisms were placed in the labora-
tory conditions of 22_+3°C and 65_+5% RH,
after the initial water curing period of 7 days. The
concrete cubes were stored in several chemical
solutions at room temperature. The solutions
used were saturated calcium hydroxide, 5°/;
hydrochloric acid, 10% sodium sulphate and 10%
ammonium sulphate. The cube specimens were
taken out at different time intervals and changes
in appearance and weight were monitored.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Properties of fresh polystyrene aggregate
concrete
The fresh polystyrene concrete mixes were lumpy,
stiff and rubbery and caused some difficulties
during the mixing of concrete and casting of the
specimens. Table 2 shows the measured wet
density, entrapped air content and the particle
volume of BST aggregate for the mixes. The
entrapped air content for a mix was calculated
from a knowledge of the expected theoretical
density of the mix based on the batch weights and
particle densities of the mix components and the
measured wet density.
Table 2. P r o p e r t i e s of f r e s h p o l y s t y r e n e aggregate c o n c r e t e

Mix Cement Silica 10 mm Sand Water BST 141/ Mix Wet density BST Entrapped
no. (C) fume basalt (W) aggregate [C + SF] no. (kg/m ~) aggregate air
(SF) (I/m-') (% by vol.) (% by vol.)
1 400 -- -- 753 140 690 0"35 1 1325 36'3 8'10
2 400 -- -- 713 160 775 0-40 2 1230 36"3 13-8
3 400 -- -- 673 200 710 0"50 3 1220 34"9 10"4
4 400 -- -- 633 240 775 0"60 4 1165 36"4 9"30
5 400 40 250 507 176 675 0"40 5 1305 33"0 10"3
6 360 40 250 563 160 675 0-40 6 1350 34'2 8"00
 Properties of hardened concrete containing treated expanded polystyrene beads 275

It was apparent that full compaction was diffi- concrete at the ages of 7 and 28 days. A reduction
cult to achieve with the polystyrene concrete in the water to cement ratio from 0.60 to 0"35
mixes. A maximum air content of 13.8% was resulted in the 28-day compressive strength of
observed for mix 2. Visual examination of the polystyrene concrete increasing from 5.6 MPa to
concrete slices has indicated that the beads are 11.9 MPa. No attempt was made to isolate the
uniformly distributed in a concrete matrix. The effect of the entrapped air content on the
absence of segregation of beads in concrete is measured strength. It is evident the water to
partly due to the presence of chemical coating on cement ratio of polystyrene concrete should be
the beads. Quantitative evaluation on several kept as low as possible to achieve the highest
concrete slices within and among the specimens strength. Low values for the water to cement ratio
indicated that the variation in the bead content may increase the entrapped air content due to
was within + 2% of the mean value. incomplete compaction and this can be overcome
Figure 1 shows the effect of the water to to some extent by using water reducing admix-
cement ratio on the density of fresh concrete and tures or superplasticizer.
the density of concrete which was dried for 90
days in air. As expected, both densities decreased Development of compressive strength with age
with an increase in the water to cement ratio. The Figure 3 shows the development of compressive
density variations are partly due to the variations strength with age for polystyrene concrete. Gener-
in the entrapped air content among the mixes as ally, the compressive strength increased with age
shown in Table 2. The differences between the at a decreasing rate. Although the water curing
wet and dry densities are small in mixes 1, 2 and was only for 3 days, the compressive strength
3, probably due to the presence of discrete non- showed a continuous increase with age. At the age
absorbent polystyrene beads. of 7 days, the concrete with the water to cement
ratio of 0.35 developed 85% of its 28-day
Effect of water to cement ratio on compressive strength. The compressive strength ratio of 7-day
strength to 28-day decreased with an increase in the water
Figure 2 shows the effect of the water to cement to cement ratio, and was equal to 63% for the
ratio on the compressive strengths of polystyrene polystyrene concrete with a water to cement ratio
of 0"60. Comparison of the strengths at 28 and 90
1400 days indicated that all mixes, except mix 4,
13oo showed improvement in compressive strength
with age. Mix 1 showed a maximum strength
12oo
increase of 12% whereas surprisingly mix 4
1100
O Wet Density
showed a strength decrease of 25%.
z
'"
Q 1000
. .
I
.
(~) Dry density

. I . . . . i . . . . i . .
Indirect tensile strength
9OO
0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 Table 3 summarizes the properties of hardened
polystyrene aggregate concrete. The tensile
WATER/CEMENT RATIO
Fig. 1. Effect of water to c e m e n t ratio on density of
strength of polystyrene aggregate concrete, which
polystyrene concrete. ranged from 13"6% to 15.3% of the correspond-

~" 16
r~ 7 days
12 m 28 days
1 [] 90 days

o 0
4
, 4Iii
~
0
. .
0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.35 0.4 0.5 0.6

WATER/CEMENT RATIO WATER/CEMENT RATIO

Fig. 2. Effect of water to c e m e n t ratio o n compressive Fig. 3. Effect of water to c e m e n t ratio and age o n com-
strength. pressive strength.
 276 R. Sri Ravindrarajah, A. J. Tuck

Table 3. Strengthsat 28 daysand modulus of elasticityat 90 days for polystyreneaggregateconcrete

Mix Water/ Compressive Tensile Modulus of 1"ensih,/
no. cement strength strength elasticity compressive
ratio (MPa) (MPa) (GPa) strength
(%)

1 0'35 11'9 1'70 11'8 14'3

2 0'40 9"80 1'50 8"70 15"3
3 0'50 8'70 1"20 8"40 13'8
4 0'60 5'60 0"80 5"40 14"3
5 0'40 11 '8 1'60 11 '6 l 3'6
6 0'40 10'9 1"50 11"9 13'8

ing compressive strength, decreased with an A 14

n f = 0.12 * e^(1,36 V) /
increase in the water to cement ratio. For the 12

cellular concrete the strength ration, in the ranges -1-

I--
10

of 11-12% and 7-12%, were reported, 7.~ respect- o

z
8

ively. The results showed that the influence of 'rr"

I-
6

water to cement ratio on both the compressive V) 4

and tensile strength are nearly the same for poly- n. 2

styrene concrete. Sri Ravindrarajah et al. 9 and o 0 . , i , , , i , , , i , . , ] = t =1 .= ,

o 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6

Johnston ~° reported that for normal weight con-
crete any change in the water to cement ratio had PULSE VELOCITY (km/s)

more influence on compressive strength than on Fig. 4. Relationship between compressive strength and
tensile strength. pulse velocity.

Static modulus of elasticity

The polystyrene concrete with the lowest water to
cement ratio of 0"35 produced the highest static
modulus of elasticity of 11.9 GPa. Equation ( 1 ) is
adopted by AS 3600 ~ to predict the modulus of
elasticity of lightweight concrete from its strength
and density. Modifications to eqn (1) were pro-
posed by others 12,~3 for polystyrene aggregate
concrete and they were found to underestimate
the modulus of elasticity.~4
E = 0"043D I-5fo.5o
E = 1.146D Hfo-5o
where E is the modulus of elasticity (MPa), D is
the air-dried density (kg/m 3) and f is the compres-
sive cylinder strength (MPa). An empirical equa-
tion given by eqn (2) is found to fit the measured
values for cylinder strength and modulus of elas-
ticity for polystyrene aggregate concrete.
Equation (3) was found to fit the relationship with
a correlation coefficient of 0"96.
f=0"12e 136v (3)
Drying shrinkage
Figure 5 shows the development of shrinkage with
time for polystyrene concrete with 10 mm basalt
and silica fume. The concrete having the silica
(1) fume addition (mix 5) showed a shrinkage of 730
(2) microstrains at 84 days compared with 655
microstrains for the concrete with the silica fume
as cement replacement (mix 6). The shrinkage of
polystyrene concrete is expected to be higher than
that for normal weight concrete due to the low
stiffness of the polystyrene beads, which provide
very little restraint to the shrinkage of cement
paste.

Ultrasonic pulse velocity and compressive Resistance to chemical attack

strength relationship
At the age of 28 days, the pulse velocities of poly-
styrene concrete with water to cement ratios of
0.35 and 0.60 are 3"35 km/s and 2.68 km/s,
respectively. The relationship between the com-
pressive cylinder strength (f) and pulse velocity
(V) for polystyrene concrete is shown in Fig. 4.
Visual assessment and weight measurements at
periodic intervals for the 5 weeks duration
showed that polystyrene concrete was unaffacted
by calcium hydroxide and sulphate solutions. The
mortar matrix suffered noticeable attack by
hydrochloric acid. The weight losses were 7.8%,
12"4% and 14.3% for the polystyrene concretes
 Properties of hardened concrete containing treated expanded polystyrene beads
MIX6
400
2oo
K r
Z
(n 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
DRYING TIME (days)
Fig. 5. Development of drying shrinkage with time.
with a water to cement ratio of 0.40, 0.50 and
0.60, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
1. The compressive strength of polystyrene
aggregate concrete is affected by the water
to cement ratio. The relative influence of the
water to cement ratio on both compressive
and tensile strengths is the same.
2. A relationship between cylinder strength (f)
and pulse velocity (F) for the polystyrene
aggregate concrete is given by the equation:
f = 0 . 1 2 e 1"36v
3. A relationship between modulus (E),
density (D) and cylinder strength (f) for
polystyrene aggregate concrete is given by
the equation:
E = 1.146D N f0.50.
4. The drying shrinkages after 84 days for
polystyrene aggregate concretes, having a
nominal density of 1300 k g / m 3 and 10 mm
basalt were 655 and 730 microstrains.
5. Polystyrene aggregate concrete is not
affected by calcium hydroxide, sodium
sulphate and ammonium sulphate solutions.
But the resistance to 5% hydrochloric acid
increased with a decrease in the water to
cement ratio of the polystyrene aggregate
concrete.
2 77
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to thank BST (Australia) Ltd
and BHP Minerals: Electro-Metallurgical Co.,
Tasmania for their support for this project.
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