Experimental Evaluation of Nano Silica Effects to High Performance Concrete Strength in Early Age

Abstract

Nano silicate SiO2 (NS) in the high-performance concrete (HPC) mixture is becoming great interest because it improves the mechanical properties of concrete. As the ultra-fine SiO2 particles with a very high ratio of surface area to mass, NS can tightening the structure and produces better quality gel products and thus concrete strength increases. However, the optimal rate of NS in high-performance concrete has not been investigated. This study experimentally evaluates the influence of NS on compressive strength and flexure strength of HPC of which nominal strength is 70MPa. Seven mixtures of HPC at NS rate of 0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5% and 3% over the total weight of the adhesive were conducted. Each mixture provides six samples for compressive tests and six samples for flexure tests. Total samples are 336 samples for four ages of concrete. Reliability of test results was carried out and results shown that at the early stage of HPC, an NS ratio of 1.5% shows the optimal value to improve the performance of concrete. This result also helps to apply NS in HPC in quality control in site application.