No-Fines Concrete, Advantages & Disadvantages

The no-fines concrete consists of cement, coarse aggregate and water. Thus the fine aggregate or sand is eliminated and such concrete has been adopted for cast-in-situ external load bearing walls of single and multi-storey houses, small retaining walls, damp-proofing sub-base material, etc.

USES OF NO-FINES CONCRETE:

As we said earlier this concrete is not suitable for use in reinforced concrete structure. However, the walls made of no-fines concrete can be used in cold countries because of its good thermal insulating characteristics.

ADVANTAGES OF NO-FINES CONCRETE:

The principal advantages claimed for no–fines concrete are economy in materials, somewhat higher thermal insulating values, lower shrinkage, and lower unit weight. The major disadvantages are its low compressive, flexural, and bond strength, and higher permeability.

  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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