Effect of nano silica, silica fume and steel slag on concrete properties

Abstract

Concrete is a common material utilized in the structure sector in huge amounts. This man-made construction material is utilized for the construction of bridges, buildings, roads, dams, etc. It has waste usage from structure to roads, drains pipes, etc.Engineers are continuously trying to improve the performance properties of concretes by incorporating supplementary material like blast furnace slag, fly ash, steel slag, silica fume, etc. This review paper is based on the findings of three such supplementary materials – nano-silica (NS), silica fume (SF), and steel slag (SS) which have been reinforced in concrete. However a thorough study of the use, to better understand its mechanism, of NS, SF and SS in concrete is missing. This paper, therefore, seeks to provide a study of the usage of concrete NS, SF, and SS. The Nano silica is comprised of a high purity amorphous silica powder which generally exists in a powdered form. Other materials that are discussed herein are SF and SG. SF is a by-product obtained while producing silicon metal and ferrosilicon alloys whereas SS is obtained when impurities are separated from molten metal in the steelmaking furnace. The main motivation behind this review paper is to gather the relevant papers in a single place so that a concrete mixture can be developed by reinforcing NS, SF, and SS in different percentages. From the results of previous studies, it can be inferred that the combined use of NS, SF, and SS increases certain properties of concrete, particularly mechanical, which may help to produce superior concrete properties in the further studies of NS, SF, and SS. Also, the results from the pilot experiment to affirm that the combined effects of NS, SF, and SS enhance the mechanical properties of concrete are presented herein.