Effects of cooking oil on the shrinkage-reducing of high-strength concrete

Autogenous shrinkage is a serious problem for high-strength concrete, which may lead to early-age cracking. Shrinkage-reducing agents are typically used to mitigate the autogenous shrinkage of concrete. However, some negative effects, such as unstable workability and the reduction of compressive strength, will be caused. In this study, emulsified or plain cooking oil is used as a shrinkage-reducing agent in low water-binder ratio concrete. Deformational behaviours of concrete with cooking oil and normal commercially available shrinkage-reducing agent are investigated. Experimental results show that the utilization of cooking oil could significantly reduce the autogenous shrinkage of high-strength concrete due to the reduction of surface tension. Additionally, emulsified cooking oil is better than normal shrinkage-reducing agents and plain cooking oil in many aspects of the concrete. Micro-structure of the concrete with different shrinkage-reducing agents is also observed. Emulsified cooking oil is considered a promising admixture for the mitigation of autogenous shrinkage of high-strength concrete.