Advantages and Disadvantages of No-Fines Concrete

No-fines concrete does not contain any fine aggregates. This concrete is produced by eliminating fine aggregates from plain concrete. Only cement, coarse aggregate, and water are used. The coarse aggregate particles are surrounded by a thin cement paste coating.

Advantages of No-Fines Concrete:
  1. The density of no fines concrete is very low.
  2. No fines concrete does not segregate and the capillary movement of water is almost nil.
  3. It has better thermal insulating characters due to the presence of large voids.
  4. This concrete can be used by dropping from a permissible height.
  5. Shrinkage is also lower than normal concrete.
  6. It is lightweight.
  7. The formwork can be removed earlier.
  8. No mechanical vibrator is required for compacting no fines concrete, simple rodding method is sufficient for full compaction.
  9. It gives better and attractive appearances.
  10. Production cost is comparatively lower than other conventional concrete because lower cement content is used.
Disadvantages of No-Fines Concrete:
  1. The strength of no-fines concrete is lower than ordinary concrete.
  2. No-fines concrete cannot be used in reinforced concrete structure.
  3. The consistency of no-fines concrete cannot be measured by any available standard methods such as slump test, compacting factor test etc.


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