Factors Affecting the Compressive Strength of Eco-Friendly Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3): A Review

Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) has become an important alternative for engineers to mitigate the carbon footprint caused by cement production, by a full or a partial replacement of cement with eco-friendly binders to be used in construction industry. The limestone calcined clay cement (LC³) is one of the promising cementitious eco-friendly materials especially due to its ability to reduce up to 40% of carbon dioxide emissions, in addition to its economic benefits resulting from using the abundant clay. Since LC³ is considered a new construction material and the research in this field is still ongoing, the knowledge of engineers and researchers for its mechanical properties is still limited. Given that the compressive strength of the construction materials is an essential property as it provides an indication for their mechanical characteristics, this paper presents a review for the main factors affecting the compressive strength of LC³, and figuring out the values of compressive strength that can be achieved by using this substance as a sustainable cementitious material. Reviewing previous studies and the conclusions obtained from this paper will provide a perception to engineers and researchers for the strength and the feasibility of using this new material (LC³) in various applications of civil engineering constructions.