Durability of high performance concrete composites containing silica fume

Abstract

A parametric experimental study has been conducted to investigate the effect of silica fume on the durability of the concrete composites. Four different silica fume contents (3%, 6%, 9% and 12%) were used. The durability of concrete composites includes water impermeability, dry shrinkage property, the carbonation resistance and the freeze–thaw resistance. The results indicate that the addition of silica fume has a little adverse effect on the dry shrinkage property of concrete composites. With the increase of silica fume content, the dry shrinkage strain is increasing gradually. However, the addition of silica fume has greatly improved the water impermeability, the carbonation resistance and the freeze–thaw resistance of concrete composites. With the increase of silica fume content, the length of water permeability and the carbonation depth of the specimens are decreasing gradually, and the relative dynamic elastic modulus of the specimens has a tendency of increase with the increase of silica fume content.