Influence of nano-silica agglomeration on microstructure and properties of the hardened cement-based materials

By D. Kong, Xiangfei Du, Su Wei, Hua Zhang, Yang Yang, Surendra P. Shah. 2012

388 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Influence of nano-silica agglomeration on microstructure and properties of the hardened cement-based materials was investigated by using precipitated silica (PS) with very large agglomerates and fumed silica (FS) with much smaller ones as nanoscale additives. The results showed that the addition of either PS or FS refines pore structure of the hardened cement paste. However, the SEM observation revealed that the pozzolanic C–S–H gels from the agglomerates cannot function as binder. There even exists interfacial transition zone between the agglomerates and the bulk paste. The nano-indentation test indicated that the large agglomerates may become weak zones due to their low strength and elastic modulus. It is proposed that the microstructure improvement have nothing to do with the seeding effect, but result from the water-absorbing, filling, and pozzolanic effects. Through PS addition, compressive strength of the mortars and their resistance to calcium leaching and chloride penetration were enhanced. However, these improvements were less significant than those with FS addition. The reason is that much more fillers are provided whereas much fewer weak zones are introduced in the mortar with FS addition than that with PS.

Subfields: Ceramics and Composites, Civil and Structural Engineering, Materials Chemistry

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5b30cbf1f23804794afda5c43b743b43b94ac47d

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ceramics and Composites

1. Paratibha Aggarwal
2. Yogesh Aggarwal

In Civil and Structural Engineering

1. Hongjian Du
2. S. Pang
3. Rahul Singh
4. Paratibha Aggarwal
5. Yogesh Aggarwal
6. Asghar Habibnejad Korayem
7. K. Tan

In Materials Chemistry

1. Rahul Singh
2. Paratibha Aggarwal
3. Yogesh Aggarwal
4. S. Pang
5. Hongjian Du
6. Asghar Habibnejad Korayem
7. Ö. Civalek

Citations in the corpus

• The effect of nano-SiO2 on concrete properties: a review (2019, background): “Therefore, the application of colloidal silica sol in concrete deserves attention [109, 110].”
• A review of dispersion of nanoparticles in cementitious matrices: Nanoparticle geometry perspective (2017, background): “As-received dry nanosilica powders, as a result of their high specific surface area, are often in the form of large agglomerates (loosely-held clusters) and aggregates (firmly-held clusters) with dimensions greater than 1 micrometre to more than 100 micrometres [124-127].”