Quality Characteristics of Sustainable High-Performance Concrete Formulated from Binary, Ternary, and Quaternary Supplementary Cementitious Materials Under Various Curing Conditions

The formulation of binary, ternary, and quaternary supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) on an optimized silica fume amount using fly ash, ultrafine (MQ), and limestone powders (LS) is the most sustainable approach to recycling these types of solid wastes for durable concrete. The optimum replacement level of 10% silica fume was blended with different replacement levels of 5, 8, 10, and 15% MQ to formulate different ternary mixes to evaluate the filling effect of MQ. Different ternary mixes containing 10% silica fume and 5, 10, and 15% LS were also produced to examine the effectiveness of both ternary mixtures with either MQ or LS. The quaternary mixtures with 10% silica fume optimized with 20% fly ash and 10% MQ or 10% LS were evaluated for compressive strength, chloride permeability, and porosity. The MQ showed the best filling effect compared to LS. The hot curing conditions significantly enhanced the performance of ternary and quaternary mixtures. Two effects of fillers were observed: the diluting effect brought on by replacement levels and the enhanced filling effect. At early curing, the strength loss resulting from the high replacement level was around 39%; however, this drop could be minimized to approximately 7% under hot curing conditions. It has been demonstrated that the binary, ternary, and quaternary systems offer the best solution to the environmental and durability issues caused by cement. The economic analysis highlights that optimized HPC mixtures with SCMs and fillers, particularly the quaternary mix, achieve superior cost-efficiency and mechanical performance, demonstrating their potential for sustainable and high-performance engineering applications.