The Viability of Styrofoam Beads in Concrete Mixtures

This experiment revolved around the idea that an aggregate replacement in a concrete mixture could not only maintain its structural integrity but increase its sustainability as well. This idea was formulated into the experiment of embedding Styrofoam beads into concrete. The outcome of this experiment showed the compressive strength of the concrete increased the greatest with the substitution of Styrofoam beads for fine aggregate up to 20%. This 20% Styrofoam replacement mixture exhibited an 189% increase in compressive strength when compared to the control group in the third week of testing. In addition to this impressive compressive strength, the weight of the 20% replacement mixture was 7.7% lighter on average than the control group. Unexpectedly, the mixtures gained slump with each iteration of Styrofoam addition, becoming visibly wetter and more workable. This was attributed to the unabsorbant nature of the Styrofoam beads.