The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008

A.42

RESEARCH ON MAKING HIGH STRENGTH CONCRETE USING SILICA COLLOID ADDITIVE

Nguyen Van Huynh1, Pham Vinh Nga1, Thai Hong Chuong2 1 Vietnam Institute for Building Materials, Vietnam 2 Vietnam Association for Building Materials, Vietnam ABSTRACT: This

paper presents experimental data on the time depending characteristics of slump and strength development of silica colloid incorporated concrete using naphthalene based and acrylic ester based superplasticizer, compared to those of silica fume incorporated concrete and pozzolanic additive-free concrete. Experimental data showed that silica colloid addition enhances mechanical properties of concrete and it allows to make concrete with high initial slump (over 20 cm), high early compressive strength (up to 57 MPa at 03 days and 82 MPa at 07 days) and high mechanical properties at 28 days (compressive strength up to 93 MPa and flexural strength up to 11 MPa). However, slump loss of those concrete mixtures using naphthalene based superplasticizer is high and it is not suitable for ready-mix concrete. There should be further investigated the way to control slump loss of concrete, especially when naphthalene based superplasticizer is used. silica colloid, high strength concrete, slump loss.

KEYWORDS: Ultrafine active additive,

1. INTRODUCTION Ultrafine active additives (UFA) have been studied for use in production of portland cement and portland cement based concrete. They are utilized for increase in cement productivity, partial replacement of cement, improvement of concrete properties. Since superplasticizing admixtures were produced and use at a industrial scale (in the sixties for naphthalene formaldehyde sulphonate and in the seventies for melamine formaldehyde sulphonate), UFA have been investigated in making high strength, high performance concrete. Many projects in many countries all over the world were constructed using higher and higher strength concrete [1,2]. At present, concrete with 60-100MPa compressive strength is popular in several countries. In lab, 200-250MPa concrete can be made by conventional concrete technology [4]. UFA as fly ash, rice husk ash, meta kaolin, silica fume have been used in production of high performance concrete [2, 3]. Among them, silica fume is a UFA with superior properties because of its very high specific surface area and high pozzolanic activity. In recent years, a new UFA has been developed and studied. It's an amorphous silica dioxide of nanometre particle size. The new UFA is made in dispersing form in water (silica colloid) or in precipitated form (precipitated silica). The characteristics of this UFA is a very high fineness (particle of nanometre size), a high quality stability (because it's formed by a chemical way) and very high pozzolanic activity [5, 6, 7, 8]. By using this additive, concrete with 800MPa compressive strength and 60MPa flexural strength can be made [9]. Besides, this additive greatly enhances concrete resistance and durability in aggressive environments [5,8]. This paper presents research data on high strength concrete using silica colloid in comparison to silica fume in order to evaluate its application ability in the concrete field.

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1. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS 1.1.Materials + Binder: Chingphong Portland cement PC40, 5% retaining on Sieve 008. Its chemical, mineralogical composition, physical and mechanical properties are given in table 1. Table 1: Properties of Chingphong Portland cement PC40. Other properties Chemical composition (%) Mineral. composition (%) CaO 64.12 SiO2 21.13 C3 S * Fineness (Blaine): 58.45 Al2O3 5.52 0.38 m2/g Fe2O3 3.40 C2 S 16.50 Na2O 0.15 * Compressive strength at K2O 0.72 28 days: 56 MPa C3 A 8.87 MgO 0.80 TiO2 0.15 C4AF 13.35 SO3 2.19 LoI 1.20 + Fine aggregate: Lo river sand, fineness modulus 2.78; density 2.64 g/cm3; water absorption 1.2%; bulk porosity 35.1%. + Coarse aggregate: Basalt crushed stone of Sungeiway Co., Dmax = 20 mm; density 2.82 g/cm3; water absorption 0.45%; bulk porosity 39.6%. + Naphthalene formaldehyde sulphonate superplasticizer (NFS): Mighty 150 of KAO; dark brown colour; density 1.21 g/cm3; solid content 42.2%. + Polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PCA): Mighty 2060RS of IMAG; light yellow colour; density 1.10 g/cm3; solid content 23.4%. + Silica colloid (SC): Cembinder 508 of EKA Chemicals AB. - Colour : Milky white - Solid content : 33.8% 3 - Density : 1.21 g/cm - SiO2 : 33.1% : 0.56% - pH : 10 - 11 - Na2O 2 - Spec. surface area : 80 m /g + Silica fume (SF): MB-SF of MBT. - SiO2 : 90.1% - MgO : 1.2% - CaO : 1.6% -C : 4.8% - Fe2O3 : 1.2% 1.2.Experimental procedure 1.3. High strength concrete proportioning followed de Larrard's method [10]. The test for determination of saturation amount of superplasticizers created a database for designing high strength concrete proportions [11]. Concrete mixture of a low water-cement ratio normally possesses a high cohesiveness, concrete proportions were therefore designed having initial slump over 20 cm, what facilitates the placing, compacting and finishing work. Water-cement ratios were fixed at 0.35; 0.325; 0.30 and 0.275. Composition of concrete samples is shown in tables 2, 3 and 4.

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Sample Label N-DC-1 A-DC-1 N-DC-2 A-DC-2 N-DC-3 A-DC-3 N-DC-4 A-DC-4

Table 2: Proportions of control concrete without UFA Concrete Composition (kg/m3) WaterCement Fine Coarse Superplasticizer Cement Ratio Agg. Agg. NFS PCA 465 735 1110 3.45 0.350 465 735 1110 3.33 480 735 1110 6.00 0.325 480 735 1110 4.80 500 735 1110 8.75 0.300 500 735 1110 6.25 520 735 1110 12.00 0.275 520 735 1110 9.00 Table 3: Concrete proportions with silica colloid Concrete Composition (kg/m3) Fine Coarse Silica Superplasticizer Cement Agg. Agg. colloid NFS PCA 445 740 1120 8.9 4.45 445 740 1120 8.9 2.23 445 735 1110 17.8 5.56 445 735 1110 17.8 3.34 465 740 1120 9.3 6.97 465 740 1120 9.3 3.49 465 735 1110 18.6 8.14 465 735 1110 18.6 4.65 485 740 1120 9.7 10.91 485 740 1120 9.7 6.06 485 735 1110 19.4 10.91 485 735 1110 19.4 7.28 500 740 1120 10 15.00 500 740 1120 10 8.75 500 735 1110 20 17.50 500 735 1110 20 11.25

Water 164 164 157 157 151 151 145 145

Sample Label N-SC2-1 A-SC2-1 N-SC4-1 A-SC4-1 N-SC2-2 A-SC2-2 N-SC4-2 A-SC4-2 N-SC2-3 A-SC2-3 N-SC4-3 A-SC4-3 N-SC2-4 A-SC2-4 N-SC4-4 A-SC4-4

WaterCement Ratio 0.350

Water 156 156 156 156 152 152 152 152 146 146 147 147 138 138 140 140

0.325

0.300

0.275

Sample Label N-SF5-1 A-SF5-1 N-SF10-1 A-SF10-1 N-SF5-2 A-SF5-2 N-SF10-2 A-SF10-2

Table 4: Concrete proportions with silica fume Concrete Composition (kg/m3) WaterCement Fine Coarse Silica Superplasticizer Cement Ratio Agg. Agg. fume NFS PCA 445 735 1110 22 5.56 445 735 1110 22 4.45 0.350 465 715 1080 46.5 6.98 465 715 1080 46.5 5.81 465 735 1110 23 9.3 465 735 1110 23 5.81 0.325 480 715 1080 48 9.6 480 715 1080 48 8.40 428

Water 156 156 162 162 152 152 157 157

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N-SF5-3 A-SF5-3 N-SF10-3 A-SF10-3 N-SF5-4 A-SF5-4

0.300

0.275

485 485 500 500 500 500

735 735 715 715 735 735

1110 1110 1080 1080 1110 1110

24 24 50 50 25 25

12.1 13.75 15.0 -

7.28 11.25 11.25

146 146 152 152 140 140

The concrete sample using 10% silica fume with water-cement ratio of 0.275 is of very high cohesiveness what can not be placed conventionally. So the sample was put out of the experimental programme. Slump, compressive and flexural strength of concrete were determined following present Vietnam standards. 2. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 2.1. Slump loss of concrete mixtures The results of slump and slump loss of different concrete mixtures are shown in figures 1-10. The experimental data show general laws as follows:
N-DC-1 N-DC-3 25 Slump (cm) 20 15 10 5 0 30 60 Time (min) 90 120
5 0 30 60 Time (min) 90 120 Slump (cm)

N-DC-2 N-DC-4
25 20 15 10

A-DC-1 A-DC-3

A-DC-2 A-DC-4

Figure 1: Slump of UFA free concrete mixtures with NFS.

Figure 2: Slump of UFA free concrete mixtures with PCA.

N-SC2-1 N-SC2-3 25 Slump (cm) 20 15 10 5 0 30 60 Time (min)

N-SC2-2 N-SC2-4
25 20 Slump (cm) 15 10

A-SC2-1 A-SC2-3

A-SC2-2 A-SC2-4

90

120

5 0 30 60 Time (min) 90 120

Figure 3: Slump of 2% silica colloid concrete mixtures with NFS.

Figure 4: Slump of 2% silica colloid concrete mixtures with PCA. 429

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N-SC4-1 N-SC4-3
25 Slump (cm) 20 15 10 5 0 30 60 Time (min)

N-SC4-2 N-SC4-4
25 20 Slump (cm) 15 10 5 0

A-SC4-1 A-SC4-3

A-SC4-2 A-SC4-4

90

120

30

60 Time (min)

90

120

Figure 5: Slump of 4% silica colloid concrete mixtures with NFS.

Figure 6: Slump of 4% silica colloid concrete mixtures with PCA.

N-SF5-1 N-SF5-3 25 Slump (cm) 20 15 10 5 0 30 60 Time (min)

N-SF5-2 N-SF5-4
25 20 Slump (cm) 15 10

A-SF5-1 A-SF5-3

A-SF5-2 A-SF5-4

90

120

5 0 30 60 Time (min) 90 120

Figure 7: Slump of 5% silica fume concrete mixtures with NFS.

Figure 8: Slump of 5% silica fume concrete mixtures with PCA.

N-SF10-1 25 Slump (cm) 20 15 10 5 0 30

N-SF10-2

N-SF10-3

A-SF10-1
25 20 Slump (cm) 15 10

A-SF10-2

A-SF10-3

60 Time (min)

90

120

5 0 30 60 Time (min) 90 120

Figure 9: Slump of 10% silica fume concrete mixtures with NFS.

Figure 10: Slump of 10% silica fume concrete mixtures with PCA.

The 3rd ACF International Conference-ACF/VCA 2008

- Slump loss is higher with concrete mixture of lower water-cement ratio: The law covers all NFS and PCA incorporated concrete mixtures without or with UFA. - All concrete mixtures using NFS face a great slump loss. It causes difficulties for readymixed concrete or even for precast concrete production. - All PCA incorporated concrete mixtures exhibit a low slump loss. Most of the mixtures can be in certain circumstances applied in ready-mixed concrete. - Slump loss of control concrete mixtures without UFA and the mixtures with UFA at the same water-cement ratio is somewhat similar and it does not depend much on UFA content. It can be explained that every UFA amount corresponds to a saturation amount of superplasticizer (the amount of superplasiticizer increases with increasing amount of UFA). 2.2. Concrete strength development Experimental results of compressive and flexural strength of control concrete samples are given in table 5 and of samples with various amount of silica colloid in table 6. Table 5: Mechanical properties of control concrete without UFA. Sample Label N-DC-1 A-DC-1 N-DC-2 A-DC-2 N-DC-3 A-DC-3 N-DC-4 A-DC-4 Water-Cement Ratio 0.350 0.325 0.300 0.275 Comp. Strength/Flex. Strength (MPa/MPa) 03 days 07 days 28 days 40.7/-53.8/5.62 63.3/6.97 43.8/-55.6/5.86 64.2/7.04 43.4/-57.9/6.11 68.5/7.22 46.2/-59.7/6.13 68.4/7.31 47.4/-63.0/6.28 71.7/7.28 47.6/-64.1/6.36 71.3/7.27 48.9/-64.9/6.32 72.4/7.52 49.0/-65.4/6.30 73.2/7.45

There can be seen in table 5 that at a low water-cement ratio, the concrete strength develops rapidly in early stages. Compressive strength at 03 days is over 60% and at 07 days is over 85-90% of strength at 28 days. UFA free control concrete with water-cement ratio of 0.35 still has compressive strength over 60MPa and flexural strength about 7MPa. The lower the water-cement ratio, the higher compressive and flexural strength. However, 28 day strength of this kind of concrete does not improve noticeably when water-cement ratio decreases from 0.325 to 0.275. It is perhaps due to the fact that the bonding between matrix and aggregate already reaches a maximum value, what controls mechanical resistance of UFA free concrete. Sample Label N-SC2-1 A-SC2-1 N-SC4-1 A-SC4-1 N-SC2-2 A-SC2-2 N-SC4-2 A-SC4-2 Table 6: Mechanical properties of concrete with silica colloid. Water-Cement Comp. Strength/Flex. Strength (MPa/MPa) Ratio 03 days 07 days 28 days 45.7/-57.4/6.14 68.3/7.32 47.2/-59.7/6.22 67.8/7.26 0.350 48.8/-63.6/6.54 72.6/7.57 50.0/-62.4/6.47 73.6/7.63 47.8/-63.8/6.52 72.8/7.49 49.7/-62.9/6.60 72.4/7.55 0.325 50.2/-66.2/6.69 77.6/7.94 51.6/-68.7/6.87 78.3/8.12

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N-SC2-3 A-SC2-3 N-SC4-3 A-SC4-3 N-SC2-4 A-SC2-4 N-SC4-4 A-SC4-4

0.300

0.275

50.4/-50.4/-53.9/-56.5/-52.2/-55.4/-55.8/-57.6/--

68.9/6.83 67.3/6.72 72.7/7.16 74.5/7.25 73.0/7.25 74.8/7.22 79.7/8.43 82.0/8.26

76.8/7.68 76.1/7.88 83.2/8.61 85.8/9.17 82.5/9.76 84.6/9.43 92.1/11.5 93.5/11.1

From the data in table 6, when compared to data in table 5, there can be seen that at the same water-cement ratio, silica colloid incorporated concrete samples have higher compressive/flexural strength than that of control ones at all studied ages. The strength increment is proportioned to the content of silica colloid. All samples with silica colloid achieve compressive strength over 60MPa and flexural strength over 7MPa at 28 days. When water-cement ration is lowered, strength increase of samples with silica colloid becomes more obvious. The control concrete only gains maximum of 73MPa in compressive and 7.5MPa in flexural strength, while compressive strength of UFA concrete reaches over 80MPa and over 90MPa with 2% and 4% silica colloid respectively. In particular, flexural strength of concrete with 4% silica colloid gains over 10MPa. The strength increase of concrete is explained by both filling effect and pozzolanic reaction of silica colloid, what results in lowering concrete porosity and improving adhesion between cement matrix and aggregate. There can be clearly seen the role of silica colloid when comparing compressive strength of control concrete, concrete with 2% and 4% silica colloid (the difference is about 10MPa among them). Experimental data also indicate that NFS only slightly affect concrete strength at early stage (namely at 03 days) when compared to PCA. At later ages, especially at 28 days there is no visible difference in effect between the two superplasticizers. In the other words, 28 day strength of concrete is mainly governed by water-cement ratio and the dosage of silica colloid. Strength development of concrete samples with silica fume is given in table 7. Sample Label N-SF10-3 A-SF10-3 N-SF5-4 A-SF5-4 Table 7: Mechanical properties of concrete with silica fume. Water-Cement Comp. Strength/Flex. Strength (MPa/MPa) Ratio 03 days 07 days 28 days 48.5/-63.5/6.40 74.6/7.76 0.300 51.8/-65.2/6.48 75.7/7.92 50.4/-65.8/6.56 75.4/7.52 0.275 51.7/-64.3/6.45 74.5/7.45

The above data show that silica fume has little effect to strength increase when compared to control ones with the same water-cement ratio. It is really not a desired result. The phenomenon is perhaps due to the fact that condensed particles of silica fume could not turn back to its original fine ones during the experiments, that severely affects the role of silica fume as a UFA. Further research should be undertaken for more effective utilization of silica fume. 3. CONCLUSIONS The use of silica colloid allows making flowable concrete with compressive strength over 90MPa and flexural strength over 10MPa by conventional concrete technology. Polycarboxylate superplasticizer gives ability of making ready-mixed high strength concrete. In the case of naphthalene based superplasticizer, further research should be conducted for solving the problem of great slump loss of concrete mixture with low water-cement ratio.

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References 1. Hattori K.: Experience with Mighty Superplasticizers in Japan. Superplasticizers in Concrete. Amer. Conc. Institute, SP-62, 1979. 2. Nawy E.G.: Fundamentals of High Strength High Performance Concrete. Longman Group Ltd., 1996. 3. Ramanchandran V.: Concrete Admixtures Handbook. Noyes Publication, London, 1982. 4. Skarendahl A.: High Performance Concrete - Properties and Production. Swedish Institute for Cement and Concrete Research, 1996. 5. Chandra S.: Use of Silica Colloids to Improve Mortar and Concrete Properties. Ind. Conc. Journal, Vol. 72, No. 2, 1992, pp. 73-75. 6. Chandra S: Early High Strength Mortars and Concretes with Cembinder Mixing. Sixth CANMET/ACI Intl. Conf. On Fly Ash, Silica Fume, Slag and Natural Pozzolans in Concrete. Bangkok, May 1998. 7. Chandra S., Bergqvist H.: Interaction of Silica Colloid with Portland Cement. 10th Intl. Congress on the Chemistry of Cement, Goteborg, June 1997. 8. Chandra S.: Waste Materials in Concrete Manufacturing. Noyes Publication, London, 1996. 9. Kinoshita M., Suzuki T., Soeda K., and Nawa T.: Properties of Methacrylic WaterSoluble Polymer as a Superplastisizer for Ultra High-Strength Concrete. Sixth CANMET/ACI International Conference on Fly Ash, Silica Fume, Slag and Natural Pozzolans in Concrete, Bangkok, 1998. 10. De Larrard F.: A Method for Proportioning High Strength Concrete Mixtures. Cem. Conc. Agg., Vol. 12, No. 2, 1990, pp. 47-52. 11. Thai Hong Chuong, Nguyen Van Huynh, Pham Vinh Nga: Research on Using Silica Colloid Additive in Making High Performance Concrete. Final Report of Research Programme, Vietnam Institute for Building Materials, 2002 (In Vietnamese).