Basic Research on the Development of Light Weight Concrete Mixed With Hollow Spheres

Abstract

Bubble Concrete, introduced in the present paper, is a composite material made from concrete mixed with high strength hollow bubbles, which leads to lightweight and remains its strength and stiffness higher enough for practical application. In the present paper, the authors introduce the basic principle of the Bubble Concrete, and report the results of compression tests of concrete mixed with steel spheres, and analyze its failure mechanism by researching the deformation features of the steel spheres. The authors point out that the density of the Bubble Concrete may be reduced to 1.9-2.2g/cm³, the strengths may be degraded but the Young’s modulus declined slightly, and splitting and stretching failures due to the lateral expansion of the steel spheres are observed.