Drying of lightweight concrete produced from crushed expanded clay aggregates

When crushed lightweight aggregates are used in lightweight aggregate concretes very small water amounts evaporate from the concrete even in a dry environment. It is shown that a large portion of the free batch water is absorbed into the pore structure of the crushed aggregates. The relative humidity in concrete pore structure diminishes faster than in normal weight aggregate comparison concretes. Lightweight aggregate concrete is drying internally and therefore the structure thickness has a minor effect on concrete drying times. The exceptional drying properties of lightweight concretes produced from crushed aggregates enables a fast execution of the floor covering works without time consuming drying operations.