Mechanical and Durability Properties of Cement Paste, Mortar and Concrete Incorporating Nanomaterials.

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to systematically investigate the effect on mechanical properties of cement paste, mortar and concrete by incorporating nanomaterials (nano-silica) in the same. By using nanomaterials state-of-the-art materials can be produced which could be better than conventional materials which are commercially used. Mechanical properties such as compressive strength, flexural strength and setting time of the cement were determined and further compared to the properties of the control mixes. An experimental programme was conducted in which mortar cubes incorporated with 1%, 3% and 5% nano-silica replaced with cement weight were prepared and tested for compressive strength at 7, 14 and 28 days after curing. Results of various tests conducted on the specimens using nano-silica were analyzed thoroughly. Percentage of nanomaterials to be incorporated was studied in details considering a governing factor for enhancing the properties of cement paste, mortar and concrete. It was observed that the design mix with 1% incorporation of nano-silica replacing the weight of cement performed the best with 22% increase in compressive strength compared to the control mix. An attempt is made to adopt an optimization technique namely Taguchi method. By using this method, the number of trials required to find the optimum mix design will be significantly reduced. With the help of Taguchi's method of design, an experiment has been designed for nano-silica where 16 different mixture proportions will be prepared and various tests will be performed on the same to find the optimum design mixture. Also, with the help of Taguchi's method of optimization, an experiment was designed and performed in laboratory and accordingly observations were made regarding the parameters that influences the compressive strength of the specimen.Also, with further analysis in the Minitab software, the design mix was optimized based on the parameters, levels and results and new mix was predicted which will result in highest compressive strength compared to the previous mixes performed experimentally.