Effect of silica fume on the fresh and hardened properties of fly ash-based self-compacting geopolymer concrete

• Published in: International journal of minerals, metallurgy and materials Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 205 - 213
• Main Authors: Memon, Fareed Ahmed, Nuruddin, Muhd Fadhil, Shafiq, Nasir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Berlin Heidelberg University of Science and Technology Beijing 01.02.2013; Springer Nature B.V; Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology,Jamshoro 76062, Pakistan%Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Tronoh 31750, Malaysia; Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Tronoh 31750, Malaysia
• Subjects: Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Compacting; Composites; Compressive strength; Concrete mixes; Concrete testing; Concretes; Corrosion and Coatings; Curing; Flexural strength; Fly ash; Fractions; Geopolymers; Glass; Materials Science; Mechanical properties; Metallic Materials; Metallurgy; Modulus of rupture in bending; Natural Materials; Silica; Silica fume; Surfaces and Interfaces; Tensile strength; Thin Films; Tribology; Workability; compressive strength; silica fume; tensile strength; fresh properties; geopolymer concrete; flexural strength
• ISSN: 1674-4799; 1869-103X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12613-013-0714-7

The effect of silica fume on the fresh and hardened properties of fly ash-based self-compacting geopolymer concrete (SCGC) was investigated in this paper. The work focused on the concrete mixes with a fixed water-to-geopolymer solid (W/Gs) ratio of 0.33 by mass and a constant total binder content of 400 kg/m 3 . The mass fractions of silica fume that replaced fly ash in this research were 0wt%, 5wt%, 10wt%, and 15wt%. The workability-related fresh properties of SCGC were assessed through slump flow, V-funnel, and L-box test methods. Hardened concrete tests were limited to compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths, all of which were measured at the age of 1, 7, and 28 d after 48-h oven curing. The results indicate that the addition of silica fume as a partial replacement of fly ash results in the loss of workability; nevertheless, the mechanical properties of hardened SCGC are significantly improved by incorporating silica fume, especially up to 10wt%. Applying this percentage of silica fume results in 4.3% reduction in the slump flow; however, it increases the compressive strength by 6.9%, tensile strength by 12.8% and flexural strength by 11.5%.