EFFECT OF PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF FINE AGGREGATE WITH METAKAOLIN POWDER ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTY OF CONCRETE

The aim of this project is to determine the effects metakaolin powder has on the mechanical properties of concrete when partially replaced at various percentages (15%, 20% and 25%). The idea behind this study is to assess if metakaolin powder can serve as a suitable substitute for sand as a fine aggregate in terms of responses to various tests. This study seeks to serve as a guide for future research in this field. It also serves to answer the question of why seek substitutes for fine aggregate at all.The tests required for accomplishing this experiment’s objectives are the compressive, flexural, slump and density tests, to determine the compressive strengths, flexural strengths, workability and density, respectively, of various samples been tested. Conventional concrete samples are cast and compared to partially replaced concrete to analyze the effects on concrete. The results for various tests differ showing rises and falls in strengths, slumps and densities. These results are then compared using tables and charts, from which a conclusion is drawn. The conclusion drawn for workability is that it has a low workability due to the pozzolanic nature of metakaolin powder and its reaction to cement and for the strengths, it is ascertained that concrete samples experience an increase in strength at 15% of partial replacement followed by a decrease at 20% and an increase at 25% indicating a possibility of later strengths at higher percentages but more so at longer periods of curing.