Influence of Type of Superpalsticizers On

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945
IJAET/Vol.I/ Issue II/July-Sept.,2010/123-130

Research Article
INFLUENCE OF TYPE OF SUPERPALSTICIZERS ON
WORKABILITY AND COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
OF REACTIVE POWDER CONCRETE

1
M K Maroliya* ,
2
C D Modhera
Address for Correspondence
*
1
Research Scholar, Department Of Applied Mechanics, S.V. National Institute Of
Technology, Surat-395007, Gujarat, India
E-mail: mkmmsu@gmail.com
2
Professor, Department Of Applied Mechanics, S.V. National Institute Of Technology,
Surat-395007, Gujarat, India
ABSTRACT
Reactive powder concrete is a special concrete having ultra high strength and ductility. It is an
engineered cementitious composite where the microstructure is optimized by precise gradation of
all particles in the mix to yield the maximum density. It uses extensively the pozzolanic properties
of highly reactive silica fume and optimization of Portland cement to produce the highest strength
hydrates. Potential application of reactive powder concrete (RPC) include, prestress structures
without passive reinforcement, pressure precast pipe, impermeable container for hazardous fluids of
nuclear waste. RPC is a cold cast cementitious material, in which the mechanical properties of the
composite matrix are improved by,
Suppression of the weak interfacial transition Zone normally developed around the
aggregates through improved particle packing and,
Refinement of the hydrated paste microstructure by extensive use of pozzolanic silica and
elevated temperature curing.
RPC is unique in attempting to optimize the entire grain size distribution of the composite matrix in
particular; there are five central design tenets for RPC
Enhancement of homogeneity by the elimination of coarse aggregate
Enhancement of the compacted density by optimizing the granular mixture and optionally
applying pressure before and during setting.
Enhancement of the microstructure by heat treatment after hardening
Improved ductility through the incorporation of steel fibers.
Maintaining mixing and casting procedure as close as to existing concrete industries
practice.
This paper reports the influence of the type of superplasticizers (SNF, SMF, Polycarboxylic
ether) on strength and workability of reactive powder concrete.
KEYWORDS: Reactive Powder Concrete, workability, super plasticizer, Curing Condition.
INTRODUCTION
Over the year, concrete has become
considerably more complex than the
original crushed stone plus sand, lime and
water used by the Romans. The use of
supplementary cementations materials
and additives designed to enhance the
properties of concrete has grown
significantly. The primary focus of this
development has been on the
achievement of greater compressive
strength and it is now no longer possible
to refer all concrete as merely concrete.


Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is ultra
high strength cementitious material
composed of very fine powder with a
maximum particle size of approximately
800 and containing very high silica fume
and very low water cement ratio.
The silica fume by itself, do not
contribute to the strength dramatically,
although it does contribute to the strength
property by being very fine pozzolanic
material and also creating dense packing
and acting as pore filler of cement paste.
Silica fume is much more reactive than
fly ash or any other natural pozzolana.
The reactivity of pozzolana can be
quantified by measuring the amount of
Ca(OH)
2
in the cement paste at different
times. Pozzolanic silica is added in the
stoichiometric quantity necessary to react
with all the calcium hydroxide that would
be produced assuming complete cement
hydration. The Hydration reaction is as
follows;
2C
3
S + 6H C
3
S
2
H
3
+ 3CH
2C
2
S + 4H C
3
S
2
H
3
+ CH
[Where C = CaO; S = SiO
2
; H = H
2
O]
The C3S2H3 is referred to as C-S-H or
calcium silicate hydrate. The calcium
hydroxide (CH) produced by hydration
occupies 20 25% of the cement paste by
volume and makes no contribution to
strength and durability. Addition to
amorphous silica forms further desirable
C-S-H at the expense of calcium
hydroxide.
CH + S + H C-S-H
However, metakaolin is easily available
in India and High reactive metakaolin
shows high pozzolanic reactivity and
reduction in Ca(OH)
2
even as early as one
day. It is also observed that the cement
paste undergoes distinct densification.
The improvement offered by this
densification includes an increase in
strength and decrease in permeability.
MATERIAL SELECTION
Silica Pozzolan
a. A highly reactive silica pozzolan is
an essential component of reactive
powder concrete, performing three
vital roles for which it needs the
following properties:
b. It must be sufficiently fine to pack
closely around the cement grains,
improving the density of the
composite matrix and minimizing the
potential for voids between the
particles.
c. It should possess considerable
pozzolanic activity, such that the non-
cementing portlandite crystals
[Ca(OH)
2
] generated by hydration of
the cement react with the silica to form
additional C-S-H gel, reinforcing the
binding of the composite.
d. The particles should have a basically
spherical shape to act as a lubricant
within the fresh mix, improving its
ability to flow and be cast into
moulds.


Cement
Due to the very high cement factor, the
choice of cement can be an important
factor in the performance of RPC. Based on
published practice, the ideal cement has a
high C
3
S and C
2
S (di-& tri-calcium
silicate) content and very little C
3
A (tri-
calcium aluminates). This is
understandable because C
3
A has little
intrinsic value as a binding agent and is
primarily included in cement due to its
role as a flux during the calcinations
process. Ordinary Portland cement
commercially available is used in the
investigation.
Quartz Sand
For RPC mixes designed to be cured at
temperatures exceeding 90C, including
autoclaving at elevated pressures,
additional silica is necessary to modify
the CaO/SiO
2
ratio of the binder. In
these cases powdered quartz flour with
a mean particle size of 10 - 15 m was
employed.
Fine Aggregates
The maximum size of the ingredients in
RPC is 600m, and that is of fine
aggregates. The fine aggregate used is
the normal sand with size of particles
between 150 to600m. As the coarse
aggregates are totally removed so these
fine aggregates give strength.
Super Plasticizer
The very low w/b (cement + silica fume)
ratios used in RPC are only possible
because of the fluidizing power of high-
quality third generation super-
politicizing agents. So SMF, SNF and
Polycarboxylic ether is used which is
designed specifically for ultra-high
water reduction applications.
Three different types of super
plasticizers have been used to check the
effects on the workability and
compressive strength of RPC.
Super plasticizer used are as below
followed by their technical data
Supercon 100 (Sulfonated
melamine-formaldehyde), Procured
from Krishna Conchem Products
Pvt. Ltd. (Table 1)
Fosroc (Sulfonated naphthalene-
formaldehyde) Procured from
Fosroc Chemicals Ltd. (Table 2)
Glenium-51 (Polycarboxylic ether)
Procured from BASF Chemicals
(India) Pvt. Ltd. (Table 3)
The specifications of all the materials
used for RPC is shown in Table 4.

Table 1: Supercon 100(Sulfonated melamine-formaldehyde)


Sr.
No.
Properties Units Specification Limit
1. Specific Gravity -- 1.10 to 8.5
2. Appearance -- Slightly bazy
3. pH -- 7.8 to 8.5
4. Water Reduction % 13 to 20

Table 2: Fosroc (Sulfonated naphthalene-formaldehyde)
Sr.
No.
1. Specific Gravity -- 1.10 to 8.5
2. Appearance -- Slightly bazy
3. pH -- 7.8 to 8.5
4. Water Reduction % 13 to 20

Table 3: Glenium-51 (Polycarboxylic ether)
Sr.
No.
1. Specific Gravity -- 1.095
2. Chloride % 0.10
3. pH -- 7.2
4. Alkali % 4
Table 4: Specification of The Materials Used For RPC.
Sample Specific Gravity Particle Size Range
Cement
(IS 12269: 1987)
3.15 31 m 7.5 m
Silica fume
(ASTM C1240-97B)
2.2 5.3 m 1.8 m
Quartz sand 2.7 5.3 m 1.3 m
River sand
(IS 383: 1970)
2.61 2.36 mm 0.15 mm
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
RPC Mixture Design
Optimization of the granular mixture is
achieved by trial and error mixes in the
experimental method is adopted. Table 2
presents various mixture proportions for
RPC obtained from the available
literature


.Table 5: Proportion of RPC Mixtures Tested For Workability and Compressive
Strength for various W/C ratios
(Without Steel Fibers)
Super-Plasticizer SMF SNF PCE SMF SNF PCE
Cement 1 1 1 1 1 1
Silica Fume 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27
Quartz Sand 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35
Sand 150 600m. 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55
Super Plasticizer 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.035 0.03
Water/Cement 0.25 0.25 0.22 0.27 0.27 0.25
Flow Table (mm) NW NW 128 NW NW 165
Compressive Strength
7 - Days
--- --- 107 --- --- 101
28 - Days
--- --- 124 --- --- 116
SMF: Sulfonated melamine-formaldehyde PCE: Polycarboxylic Ether, SNF:
Sulfonated naphthalene-formaldehyde NW: Not Workable
Table 6: RPC mixture design from literature
(Parts by mass)
Materials
P. Richard,
M. Cheyrezy
S. A.
Bouygues
A. S. Dili,
M. Santhanam
Fibered
(12mm)
Fibred
(25mm)
Without
Fiber
Fibered
(25mm)
Cement 1 1 1 1
Sand 1.1 1.423 1.6 1.6
Silica fume 0.23 0.324 0.25 0.25
Powdered 0.39 0.296 0.31 0.31
Steel fibres 0.175 0.268 - 0.20
Water 0.19 0.282 0.25 0.25
Super-
plasticizer
0.019 0.027 0.03 0.03


Table 7: Proportion of RPC Mixtures Tested for Workability and Compressive
Strength for various W/C ratios (Without Steel Fibers)
The major parameter that decides the
quality of the mixture is its water demand
(quantity of water for minimum flow of
concrete). In fact, the voids index of the
mixture is related to the sum of water
demand and entrapped air. After selecting
a mixture design according to minimum
water demand, cubes were caste and
compressive strength is measured at 7
days and 28 days.
Sample Production
The RPC mixes were produced in batches
using an Epicyclic mixer compliant with
the requirements of ASTM C 305.
The mixing protocol adopted is shown in
Table 8.
Table 8: Procedure for Production of RPC mixes
Mixing protocol
Elapsed time
(Minutes)
Lightly grind cement and silica fume to break-up agglomerates -
Add all dry powders and aggregate 0
Start mixing
Add 75% of water required 3
Add steel micro-fibres (if used) 5
Add remainder of water and super-plasticizer 8
Stop mixing and cast test specimens 30
Super-Plasticizer SMF SNF PCE SMF SNF PCE
Cement 1 1 1 1 1 1
Silica Fume 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.30
Quartz Sand 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35
Sand 150 600 m. 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55 1.55
Super Plasticizer 0.035 0.035 0.028 0.03 0.03 0.03
Water/Cement 0.30 0.30 0.27 0.3 0.3 0.22
Flow Table (mm) NW NW 185 108 110 112
7 - Days
--- --- 93.5 70 71 108
28 - Days
--- --- 107 81 82.5 125


The extended mixing time is necessary
both to fully disperse the silica fume,
breaking up any agglomerated particles,
and to allow the super-politicizing agent to
develop its full potential.
At the conclusion of the mixing period,
the workability of the mix was assessed
according to the ASTM C 1437 'flow
table' test From the fresh RPC, 50 mm cube
specimens for determination of
compressive strength compacted into
moulds by first hand tamping in two layers
and then vibrating on the vibrator. The
specimens were allowed to harden in their
moulds for 24 hours at normal temp. &
Humidity, before being stripped and
subjected to curing at 90 C for next 48
hours and then subjected to normal curing.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Twelve number of unique composition of
RPC were produced to evaluate the
effect of different types of super
plasticizer at different water/cement ratio
on the workability and the compressive
strength of RPC. The results of the flow
test for workability of RPC and
compressive strength are summarized in
the Table 5 and Table 6 SMF and SNF
will not be helpful in producing workable
RPC. It requires compulsory polyacrylate
based or polycarboxylic based super
plasticizers.
0 0 0
108
0 0 0
110
128
165
185
215
0
50
100
150
200
250
0.22 0.25 0.27 0.3
W/C Ratio
F
l
o
w

i
n

m
m
.
SMF SNF PCE

Figure 1: Flow measurement for workability of RPC


50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
0.2 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.3
W/C Ratio
C
o
m
p
r
e
s
s
i
v
e

S
t
r
e
n
g
t
h

i
n

N
/
m
m
2
7 days comprssive strength 28 days compressive strength

Figure 2: Variation of Compressive Strength of RPC with W/C ratio
CONCLUSION
1. The effect of different Super
plasticizer i.e. Sulfonated
melamine-formaldehyde and
sulfonated naphthalene-
formaldehyde has been checked in
the RPC. This shows that the
suitable workability in reactive
powder concrete is not possible
without new generation plasticizer
like polyacrylate (PA) based or
carboxylated acrylic ester (CAE)
super plasticizers as shown in
figure 1 and figure 2.
2. The studies on new generation
super plasticizer have shown that
the fluidity is due to the higher
polymer adsorption and steric
hindrance effect.
3. Because of the very low W/C
ratio and higher percentage of
plasticizers setting of RPC is
increased. But it is more sensitive
to water, so its flow will be
reduced with the time (like a
slump loss in ordinary concrete).
REFERENCES
1. A. S. Dili and Manu Santhanam.
Investigation on reactive
powder concrete: a developing
ultra high-strength technology.
April 2004, the Indian concrete
journal
2. Marcel Cheyrezy*, Vincent
Maret, And Laurent Frouin.
Micro structural analysis of
RPC (Reactive powder
concrete). Cement and Concrete
Research, Vol. 25, No. 7. pp.
1491-1500.1995.
3. Pierre Richard, Marcel Cheyrezy,
Composition of reactive powder
concretes. Cement and Concrete
Research, Vol. 25. No. 7, pp.
1501-1511.1995.
4. Silvia Collepardi, Luigi Coppola,
Roberto Troli,Pasquale
Zaffaroni.Influence of the
super plasticizers type on the
compressive strength of
reactive powder concrete for
precast structures.

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology E-ISSN 0976-3945

IJAET/Vol.I/ Issue II/July-Sept.,2010/123-130

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