IMPROVEMENT OF CONCRETE PROPERTIES AND REINFORCING STEEL INHIBITION USING A NATURAL PRODUCT ADMIXTURE

The use of a natural white juice, taken from magrabe banana stem, as c oncrete admixture to improve mechanical and physico-chemical propertie s of concrete has been studied. The compressive strength, bulk density , the free lime liberated during hydration and the combined water cont ent were determined. The results indicate that the admixture acts as a retarder in most cases and as accelerator in some ones. Also, the adm ixture effect on the corrosion resistance of the reinforcing steel aga inst surrounding aggressive media has been investigated using galvanos tatic polarization technique. The addition of 0.2% admixture leads to the more inhibition of the steel.