Strength, Durability and Permeability Studies on Cement Concrete with and without Nano-Silica

The application of nanomaterials in cement/concrete has resulted in the development of smart materials which are durable, sustainable and high performance oriented apart from being eco-friendly. Several types of nanomaterials are being used by researchers all over the world to improve the properties of cementitious system, amongst them silica nanoparticles (SNPs) have been credited with high pozzolanic reactivity and pore filling effects. It is also very well known that permeability is the major factor for deteriorations of concrete structures in the long term thus affecting its durability. A thorough study was performed on cement mortar composites and standard grade concrete with the additions of colloidal silica nanoparticles(SNPs) in various dosages starting from 0.5%,0.75%,1.0%,1.25% and 1.5% by weight of cement(b.w.c.) to understand the impact from micro-structure improvement to macro-level property enhancement. The results show that in presence of colloidal SNPs (Indian branded) having 35-40% active nano content with 5-40nm particle size the strength increase at 28 days is 32% increasing to 59% at 90 days. An influence on durability is also observed with strength increasing from 4% to 8% with the addition of more SNPs from 0.75% to 1.0% b.w.c. The microstructural investigations reveal that silica nanoparticles refines the pore structure due to accelerated hydrated mechanisms leading to the creation of more hydration products and thus to a more denser microstructure. A M-40 grade standard concrete was prepared as per IS:10262 with the addition of optimized SNPs as found for cement mortar composites strength results at 28 days maximum strength keeping the water-cement(w/c) ratio fixed at 0.4. Tests were conducted on concrete to find out the compressive strength and permeability of concrete. The compressive strength of concrete containing nano materials were found to be 24% more than that of normal cement concrete (NCC) of M-40 grade. The permeability values were found to be decreased by 57% with the addition of nano silica particles to concrete.