Promoting the physical and the mechanical properties of concrete using nano and waste materials

Abstract

the industry of producing Portland cement concrete (PCC) depends on Portland cement (PC) as a major element. One of the main usages of the PCC is producing concrete members. The use of waste materials in concrete manufacture could be useful to improve the properties of concrete and reduce production costs by replacing the Cementous material with waste materials. Researchers had invested efforts in investigating the effect of using nanomaterials as an add-on to the concrete mixture on the mechanical properties of concrete. As a result, it was concluded that nanomaterials have a considerable impact on promoting the compressive and flexural strength of the PCC. This research illustrates the effect of utilizing nanomaterials, as an add-on to the concrete mixture, combined with using waste materials, as a replacement to PC, to improve the mechanical properties of plain concrete with different types of materials in different dosages. The experimental part has been carried out by using waste materials and nano-based material. The used waste materials were ceramic waste (CW), and marble powder (MP). The nano-based materials that were used were Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) and Graphene oxide (GO). The results were compared in terms of compressive strength and flexure strength to the control concrete mix. These tests aim to investigate the impact of the modified mixtures on the mechanical properties after elapsing 7 and 28 days to obtain the maximum partial replacement percentage of cement with waste and nano-based materials. It could be concluded that using CW and MP combined with either CNTs or GO could be effectively utilized as a replacement of cement in PCC.