Strength and durability study on cement mortar containing nano materials

Abstract

Nano particles have been gaining increasing attention and applied in many fields to fabricate new materials with novel functions due to their unique physical and chemical properties. In the present study two nano materials, namely nano silica (NS) and nano clay metakaolin (NMK) were partially replaced with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The replacement level was varied from 0.5 to 2.0% in OPC and blended in cement mortar with a water cement ratio of 0.40. Mechanical property studies and durability experiments such as compressive strength, tensile strength, water absorption, depth of chloride penetration test. Nano silica was synthesized from rice husk ash and analyze the size using particle size analyzer. The results indicate that the compressive and tensile strength of the cement mortars containing nano materials were higher strength compared to the plain mortar with the same water cement ratio.