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Dr Manjari Chakraborty | Dr Rizwan Kazmi
ISBN:
978-81-180058-1-0
DOI:
13. Micro Structural Behaviour of Concrete with Colloidal Silica
Circular Economy in the Construction Industry: Waste Management Practices
G. Prasanna Kumar | K. Rajasekhar
DOI:
2026 | 337 pp.
Concrete has been the major choice of material for the construction of various civil engineering structures over the decades. An explosion in technological growth has developed various innovative construction materials as well as modern concrete. The application of nanomaterials in concrete is among the trending advances in modern civil engineering structures. These nanomaterials have nano-sized particles of a larger specific surface area, which helps in accelerating the pozzolanic reaction in concrete and making the concrete denser. The main research gap considered in the experimental work is to correlate the hydration compounds formed in analytical methods using SEM and XRD. Among the various nanomaterials available in the market, colloidal nano silica is used in the present study. The percentage of nano-solids content is varied at 30% and 40%, respectively. The study mainly comprises microstructural elements of concrete using the optimum dosage of two types of colloidal silica. Contemporary methods such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis are adopted on concrete mixes of grades M20 and M40 with optimum content. The constituents formed during the hydration process of the concrete mixes are identified from the patterns obtained from XRD analysis and are compared with the respective concrete micrographs captured from SEM analysis. The major products of hydration, CH, CSH, and SiO2, are identified from the peak intensities of the XRD patterns of all the concrete mixes and are correlated with the morphological structure from SEM analysis to predict the strength parameters. The morphological structure of concrete mixes made with the two types of colloidal silica has shown a more compact and denser matrix when compared to normal concrete. The peak intensity of the CSH gel from the XRD pattern of M20 grade concrete with 30% nano-solids content resulted in a higher value than the other mixes, whereas M40 grade concrete has shown a higher value for concrete having 40% nano-solids content. Results of the study revealed that the colloidal silica having 30% and 40% nano-solids content, respectively, can be used to obtain a new innovative sustainable concrete with identified properties.
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