A Study on Influence of Dosage of Silica Fume on GGBS based Concrete

Abstract

Concrete is the most adaptable building material since it can be made to resist the most extreme conditions while still taking on the most beautiful forms. With the aid of cutting-edge chemical admixtures and additional cementitious materials, engineers are always pushing the boundaries to increase its performance. Nowadays, the majority of concrete mixtures include supplemental cementitious material as a cementitious component. The majority of these materials are byproducts of other operations. SCMs' primary advantages include their capacity to partially replace cement while retaining cementitious properties, which lowers the cost of utilising Portland cement. Numerous byproducts or waste products, such as fly ash, silica fume, ground granulated blast furnace slag, steel slag, etc., that can be utilised as SCMs have been produced as a result of the rapid rise of industrialization. The usage of these byproducts not only aids in the use of these waste products but also improves the characteristics of fresh and hydrated concrete. The two SCMs that are utilised in concrete the most frequently are slag cement and fly ash. Silica fume is perhaps the most effective SCM since it increases concrete's strength and durability to the point that it is required by contemporary design standards for the creation of high strength concrete. Good-quality aggregates are also necessary when designing high-strength concrete.

flexible and sticky when silica fume was added, especially when used with fly ash cement. When silica fume % is increased with either kind of cement, porosity and capillary absorption tests on mortar mixtures reveal a reduction in both. With fly ash cement, the drop is greater than with slag cement. However, the results demonstrate that the addition of silica fume in the matrix decreased the compressive strength of concrete during 7 days, 28 days, and 56 days. At every stage, the silica fume dosage increases while the strength continues to decline. For flexural strength as well, almost the same trend was seen. Fine fractures were present in the examples free of silica fume, which are more noticeable in concrete built with slag cement as opposed to fly ash cement.