Properties of concrete incorporating different nano silica particles

Abstract

This paper aims to evaluate the influence of surface area and amount of nano silica (NS) on the performance of concrete with different water/binder (w/b) ratios. For this purpose, 63 different mixes were produced using three NS having three differentsurface areas (52, 250 and 500 m2/g) and w/b ratios (0.4, 0.5 and 0.6). Compressive strengths , workability, water absorption and the microstrcture of concrete mixtures were measured and analysed. and the optimum ratio for each type was determined. The results indicated that the performance of NS particles in concrete is significantly dependent on its amount and surface area as well as w/b ratio. As the w/b ratio increased, a better performance was observed for all types of NS used, whilst NS having 250m2/g surface area was found to be the most effective. The optimum amount of NS ranged from 2 to 5%, depending on NS surface area.