EFFECT OF NANOMATERIAL ON STRENGTH HIGH

VOLUME FLY ASH PAVEMENT QUALITY

CONCRETE
A DISSERTATION

Submitted for the partial fulfilment of requirement of degree of

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
CIVIL ENGINEERING
Specialization: Transportation Engineering
BY
SANTOSH KUMAR MANDAL
1524010
SESSION: 2015-17
UNDER THE GUIDENCE OF
Dr. Sanjeev Sinha
Professor&Dean P&D

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PATNA- 800005
Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 3

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ...................................................................................................................... 5

1.3 OBJECTIVE ......................................................................................................................................... 5

1.4 Scope ................................................................................................................................................. 6

1.5 Methodology...................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

1.6 Expected outcome ............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Compression test ............................................................................................................................ 15

2.2 Flexure tensile test .......................................................................................................................... 18

2.3 Split tensile test............................................................................................................................... 19

3. Results and Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 21

3.1. 7-days test results .......................................................................................................................... 21

3.2. 28-days test results ........................................................................................................................ 22

3.3 56-days test results ......................................................................................................................... 22

References ............................................................................................................................................ 23
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Roads make a crucial contribution to economic development and growth and bring
important social benefits. They are of vital importance in order to make a nation grow
and develop. In addition, providing access to employment, social, health and
education services makes a road network crucial in fighting against poverty. Roads
open up more areas and stimulate economic and social development. For those
reasons, road infrastructure is the most important of all public assets. Transportation
is the movement something from one place to another place. Road Transportation is
the movement of something, usually goods or people upon a road network.

There are mainly two types of road; Rigid and flexible pavement. Bituminous roads
reflect the deformations of the underneath layers and hence, is termed as flexible
pavement. But, it is susceptible to environmental conditions such as moisture. Due to
that, these roads have short serviceable life as compared to rigid pavements. The
rigid characteristic of the pavement are associated with rigidity or flexural strength or
slab action so the load is distributed over a wide area of subgrade soil. Rigid
pavement is laid in slabs with steel reinforcement. The rigid pavements are made of
cement concrete either plan, reinforced or prestressed concrete. Critical condition of
stress in the rigid pavement is the maximum flexural stress occurring in the slab due
to wheel load and the temperature changes. Rigid pavement is designed and
analysed by using the elastic theory. Rigid lasts much, much longer i.e. 30+ years
compared to 5-10 years of flexible pavements. In the long run it is about half the cost
to install and maintain. But the initial costs are somewhat high. Rigid pavement has
the ability to bridge small imperfections in the subgrade. Less Maintenance cost,
Continuous Traffic and Flow and High efficiency in terms of functionality are those
pavements which reflect the deformation of subgrade and the subsequent layers to
the surface.

The concrete slab, which constitute the rigid pavement, is generally of M40 to M50
grade of concrete as per India specification (IRC:15-2002) and is called as pavement
quality concrete(PQC). The PQC is a composite material having rationally chosen
mixture of binding material such as lime or cement, well graded fine and coarse
aggregates, water and admixtures. But, the cement production process is
environmentally polluting and hence, there is a need for use of alternative materials
to reduce the CO2 emission from cement production process. Fly ash is one of such
materials.

Fly ash is a waste product generated by coal burning power plants. During
combustion, mineral impurities in the coal (clay, feldspar, quartz) fuse in suspension
and float out of the combustion chamber with the exhaust gases. Fly ash is collected
by the mechanical or electrostatic separators from the flue gases or power plants.
Two classes of fly ash defined by ASTM C618: Class C and Class F.

Table 1: Fly Ashs formation by burning these Component in their proportion

Component Bituminous Subbituminous Lignite

SiO2 (%) 20-60 40-60 15-45

Al2O3 (%) 5-35 20-30 20-25

Fe2O3 (%) 10-40 4-10 4-15

CaO (%) 1-12 5-30 15-40

LOI (%) 0-15 0-3 0-5

Class C are often high-calcium fly ashes with carbon content less than 2%; whereas,
Class F are generally low calcium fly ashes with carbon contents less than 5% but
sometimes as high as 10%. In general, Class C ashes are produced from burning
sub-bituminous or lignite coals and Class F ashes bituminous or anthracite coals.
Currently, more than 50% of the concrete placed in the U.S. contains fly ash.
Dosage rates vary depending on the type of fly ash and its reactivity level. Typically,
Class F fly ash is used at dosages of 15% to 25% by mass of cementitious material
and Class C fly ash at 15% to 40%. The use of fly ash in Portland cement concrete
(PCC) has many benefits and improves concrete performance in both the fresh and
hardened state. Fly ash use in concrete improves workability of plastic concrete, and
the strength and durability of hardened concrete. Fly ash use is also cost effective.
When fly ash is added to concrete, the amount of Portland cement may be reduced.
Nanomaterials are materials with at least one external dimension in the size range
from approximately 1-100 nanometres. Nanoparticles are objects with all three
external dimensions at the nanoscale1. Nanoparticles that are naturally occurring
(e.g., volcanic ash, soot from forest fires) or are the incidental by products of
combustion processes (e.g., welding, diesel engines) are usually physically and
chemically heterogeneous and often termed ultrafine particles. Engineered
nanoparticles are intentionally produced and designed with very specific properties
related to shape, size, surface properties and chemistry. These properties are
reflected in aerosols, colloids, or powders. Often, the behaviour of nanomaterials
may depend more on surface area than particle composition itself. Relative surface
area is one of the principal factors that enhance its reactivity, strength and electrical
properties.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The cement industry contributes about 5% to global anthropogenic CO2 emissions,

making the cement industry an important sector for CO2 emission mitigation
strategies. CO2 is emitted from the calcination process of limestone, from
combustion of fuels in the kiln, as well as from power generation. On the other hand,
fly ash is a waste material from thermal power plant. Disposal of this material is of
concern. But, it has been seen that individually it has no cementing property, but
when used with cement, it shows pozzolana properties. Replacing cement by high
volume fly ash may be way to reduce the emission. But, the variation of strength of
concrete is a matter of study.

1.3 OBJECTIVE
Because of tremendous turnover and economical significance, concrete industry has
always been a good target for deployment of latest achievements in science and
technology. In particular, the developments in nanotechnology have had a great
impact on concrete industry.

Main objectives of the study are:

(a) Use of high volume fly ash (more than 50%) in cement concrete to be used for
rigid pavement and measure the strength properties of the cement concrete.

(b)Use of nanomaterials to modify the high-volume fly ash concrete and check the
variation of strength as well as strength development rate of the fly ash.

1.4 Scope
Scope of this study is limited to behaviour of pavement quality concrete using fly ash
as admixtures and use of nanomaterial to enhance the strength and durability of
pavement quality concrete. The study shall be based on utilization of nanomaterials
but not limited to like Nano silica, Nano clay, Nano iron-oxide. Broadly the present
study shall include the study of impact of use of Nano material on compressive
strength, flexural strength, split tensile strength of pavement quality concrete.
1.5 METHODOLOGY
PROBLEM
IDENTIFICATION

REVIEW OF RELEVANT
LITERATURE

NANOTECHNOLOGY
STUDY OF
CHARACTERISTIC OF PQC

APPLICATION OF EFFECT OF FLY

NANOTECHNOLOGY ASH ON PQC

STUDY OF
CHARACTERISTIC OF
NANOMATERIALS

STUDY OF PQC BY THE

USE OF DIFFERENT %
OF NANOMATERIALS

MEASUREMENT
OF STRENGTH

CONCLUSION AND
REMARKS
CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW
Fly ash has been used by various researchers for replacing cement. But, high
volume replacement has not been worked upon to a large extent. Very limited works
has been done by researchers such as Wang and Park 15, Alaka and Oyedele 16,
Yoo et al. 16, Shaikh and Supit 15 etc. Alaka and Oyedele 16 used three groups of
HVFA concrete mixes were designed for this purpose. Each group consisted of 3
mixes. Except for superplasticizer dose, the proportion of materials in the three
group 1 mixes were the same, each mix containing 50% fly ash as replacement for
cement. Of the three mixes, one contained maximum superplasticizer dose at 2% of
binder by mass, the second contained superabundant dose at 3% while the third
contained 4% dose. Group 2 and 3 mixes were similar to those of group 1 except
that they contained 60% and 65% fly ash content respectively. Fresh concrete tests
performed on the mixes included flow table and slump tests. Mechanical tests
included compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and wear
resistance tests. The outcome of the tests revealed that superabundant
superplasticizer doses helped to obtain relatively lower water binder ratios with good
workability; led to reduction in wear/abrasion resistance; and had no observable
relationship, beneficial or adverse, with the compressive, splitting tensile and flexural
strengths of the HVFA concrete mixes. Increase in fly ash content was also noted to
beget reduction in wear/abrasion resistance. In addition, the outcome indicated that
increase in compressive strength does not necessarily translate to improved
abrasion or wear resistance.

Yoo et al. 16 studied the flexural behaviour and performance of structures using
HVFA concrete in order to promote further field applications. Therefore, this study
presents the results of a series of tests conducted on reinforced concrete beam
specimens with various fly ash replacement ratios of 0%, 35% and 50%, various
tensile steel ratios and concrete compressive strengths to evaluate their flexural
behaviour. Moreover, based upon the experimental results, an analysis model is
proposed to predict the behaviour of the reinforced concrete beams. The comparison
With the test data verifies that the analytic results predict accurately the behaviour of
the beams for all the considered replacement ratios in fly ash.

Shaikh and Sup it 15 presented the effect ultrafine fly ash (UFFA) on compressive
strength and durability properties of concretes containing high volume class F fly ash
as partial replacement of cement. The compressive strengths are measured at 3, 7,
28, 56 and 90 days, whereas the durability properties are measured at 28 and 90
days. Chloride induced corrosion, water sportively, volume of permeable voids,
chloride ion penetration, chloride diffusivity and porosity of above concretes are
measured in durability properties.

Microstructural analysis in terms of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is also

conducted to identify the reaction phases of calcium hydroxide in the HVFA matrix
containing UFFA. Results show that the addition of 8 wt.% UFFA significantly
improved the early age as well as later age compressive strengths of ordinary and
HVFA concretes. All above measured durability properties of HVFA concretes are
also improved and in most cases the HVFA concrete containing 32% fly ash and 8%
UFFA exhibited superior durability properties than ordinary concrete containing
100% cement. The results also indicate the effectiveness of UFFA in producing high
packing density and in accelerating the pozzolanic activity to produce more CSH
gel by consuming calcium hydroxide (CH) in HVFA concretes.

During recent years, Nano technology is developing with an ascending rate. Due to
the new uses of Nano particles there is an interest in the investigation of the effect of
Nano-particles; especially in concrete and cement mortar. Many of the available
studies have focused on the effect of Nano-SiO2 on the properties of hardened
cement paste, cement mortar and/ or concrete (Mohamed,14). Mechanical
properties have been investigated such as compressive and flexure strength through
testing concrete prisms 40, 40 and 160 mm at 7, 28 and 90 days in order to explore
the influence of these Nano particles on the mechanical properties of concrete.
Results of this study showed that Nano particles can be very effective in improving
mechanical properties of concrete, Nano-silica is more effective than Nano clay in
mechanical properties and wet mix gives higher efficiency than dry mix. Exceeding a
certain percentage of Nano particles in concrete negatively affects the mechanical
properties. Also, binary usage of Nano particles; (NS+ NC) had a remarkable
improvement appearing in concrete compressive strength than using the same
percentage of single type of Nano particles. This improvement can be attributed to
the reaction of Nano materials with calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)2 crystals, which are
arrayed in the interfacial zone (ITZ) between hardened cement paste and
aggregates, and produce C- S-H gel and the filling action of Nano particles which
cause more densified microstructure.

Fig. 1: Effect of Nano silica on compressive strength.

Fig.2: Optimum percentage of Nano silica for compressive strength.

Source: Housing and Building National Research Centre (HBRC), Egypt, 11
November 2014.

Fig. 3 Effect of Nano silica on flexure strength.

Source: Housing and Building National Research Centre (HBRC), Egypt, 11
November 2014.
 Fig.4 Optimum percentage of Nano silica for flexure strength
Source: Housing and Building National Research Centre (HBRC), Egypt, 11
November 2014.
Amin and El-Hassan 15 evaluates the effect of addition of Nano silica,
Cu0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 (Cu-Zn ferrite) and NiFe2O4 (Ni ferrite) on the compressive
strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and modulus of elasticity of
concrete. Nano-silica (NS), Cu-Zn ferrite and Ni ferrite, was added in five
percentages (1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%) of weight of cementitious materials (cement
and SF). We use two types of coarse aggregate (dolomite and granite) and the study
of the effect on the mechanical properties of concrete containing nanomaterials.
Results indicated that the optimum dose of Nano-silica was 3% by weight and the
optimum dose of Ni ferrite and Cu-Zn ferrite was 2% by weight. The samples of
concrete-containing Nano-silica gave better results from samples of concrete-
containing Nano ferrite and the approximate rate of about 10%. Also, the samples of
concrete containing granite gave better results than similar-containing dolomite and
the approximate rate of about 10%.
Concrete is a mixture of Ordinary Portland Cement or any other hydraulic cement,
fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and water with or without admixtures.
It is the second most consumed substance in the world after water. All over the
world, approximately for 80 % of the construction, concrete is required. It is often
looked upon as man-made rock. It has strength, durability and economy.

Concrete today is sophisticated material to which exotic (foreign) constituents can be

added and with computer-controlled batching can be produce a product capable of
achieving 50,000 psi compressive strength.

The word concrete comes from the Latin word Concretes (meaning compact or
condensed). The perfect passive participle of concrete from con-(together) and
crescere (to grove).

Types of concrete

There are many types of concrete designed to suit a variety or purposes coupled
with a range of compositions, fitness and performance characteristics

Normal concrete 10MPa to 40MPa

High Strength concrete >40 MPa in UK, BS EN 206-1.It is made by lowering the
W/C ratio to .35 or lower. Often silica fume is added to prevent the formation of free
calcium hydroxide crystal in the cement matrix.

Stamped concrete: is an architectural concrete which has a superior surface finish.

High performance concrete(HPC):- High strength concrete is also high performance

concrete but all HPC is not high strength concrete.It has following characteristics:-

Ease of placement

Compaction without segregation

Early age strength

Long term mechanical properties

Permeability density heat of hydration

Ultra high performance concrete:- It is concerned with infrastructure protection. It is

characterized by being a steel fibre. Reinforced cement composite material with
compressive strength in excess of 150MPa, up to and possibly exceeding 250MPa

Micro-reinforced ultra-high-performance concrete is the next generation of UHPC.

Micro-reinforced UHPC is characterized by extreme ductility, energy absorption and
resistance to chemicals, water and temperature- Ducon/Developer new world trade
cente in New York.

Self-Consolidating concrete:- It is characterized by the following

Extreme fluidity as measured by flow, typically between 650-750mm on a flow table

rather than slump(height)

No need for vibraters to compact the concrete

Easier placement

No bleeding or aggregate segregation

Increased liquid head pressure which can be determined to safety and workmanship.
SCC can save up to 50. In labour cost due to

Main constituents of concrete are ordinary Portland cement (OPC), fine aggregates
(clean dry sand), Coarse aggregates (angular stone chips), potable water with
suitable admixture.

Advancement in concrete technology have resulted in the development of a new

type of concrete, which is known as self-compacting concrete (SSC). It is a fluid
concrete that spreads through congested reinforcement, fills every corner of the
formwork and is consolidated under its weight (Khayar KH.workability testing and
performance of self-consolidating concrete. ACI Mater J 1999-96(3):346-53)

Further advancement in concrete technology has resulted in the development of a

new type of concrete, which is known as self-compacting high performance
(SCHPC).

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Regarding the constituent materials of concrete, the strategic Development council

from the USA states that there exists a variety of research needs to improve energy
efficiency, productivity and the performance of concrete and concrete
products(Strategic Development Council 2002)

Nanotechnology application to concrete presents an innovative approach to improve

concrete properties based on the ability to manipulate the cementitious material at
an atomic scale.(International Journal of pavement Engineering, 2014 vol-15 No
10,940-949)

The important reasons to apply nanotechnology on concrete are to control material

behaviour, achieve superior mechanical and durability performance and to provide
novel properties in concrete such as low electrical resistivity, self-sensing capability,
self-cleaning and self-healing abilities, high ductility and self-control of cracks
(Sanchez and Sobolev 2010). Enhancement of concrete properties and durability
would compensate the adverse effect and thus the use of nano-concrete could be a
strong motivation towards environmental sustainability.
2.1 Nano-materials and Nano-concrete
The application of nanotechnology in concrete is still in its infancy, but it has been
recognised that Nano-particles can be used to produce Nano-concrete with
enhanced concretperformance (Ashby et al. 2009). According to research inrecent
years, Nano-concrete is defined as a concrete made byPortland cement and
cementitious particles with sizessmaller than 500nm (Balaguru and Chong 2008,
Sanchezand Sobolev 2010). The important reasons to applynanotechnology on
concrete are to control material behaviour,achieve superior mechanical and
durability performance, andto provide novel properties in concrete such as low
electricalresistivity, self-sensing capability, self-cleaning and self-healingabilities,
high ductility and self-control of cracks(Sanchez and Sobolev 2010). Because of the
high surfacearea to volume ratio, Nano-particles can act as nuclei for cement
phases, providing excellent chemical reactivity to promote cement hydration. shows
the range of specific surface area for different materials used in concrete. This figure
also provides the definition of Nano-concrete (Nano-engineered concrete) (Ashby et
al. 2009).

2.2 Different types of nanomaterials used for concrete

Following are the important types of nanomaterials which are used in
concrete- related research.

(1) Nano-silica (nano-Sio2)

(2) Nano-iron (nano-Fe203)

(3) Nano-titanium dioxide (nano-Tio2)

(4) Nano-clay

(5) Nano-alumina (nano-Al2o3)

(6) Carbon Nano-tubes (CNT)

(7) Nano calcium- aluminate (Nano- CaAl2O4)

(8) Nano-fly ash

(9) Nano- zirconium dioxide (nano-ZrO2)

(10) Nano-cellulose

2.2.1. Nano-silica
Nano-SiO2 is a widely used nanomaterial in concrete. The main chemical component
of nano-SiO2 is silicon dioxide (SiO2); it can be present in crystalline and amorphous
forms. The amorphous nano-SiO2 is most commonly used in Nano-concrete
(Quercia et al. 2012). Nano-SiO2 presents sphere morphology and its particles size
is variable. According to Quercia and Brouwers (2010), the particle size varied in the
range of 5658nm in six different nano-SiO2 products.Nano-SiO2 is available in
powder and slurry forms. The slurry form is attractive in order to avoid health
problems associated with ingesting the powder.

2.2.2. Nano iron oxide

Iron oxide nanoparticles are iron oxide particles with diameters between about 1 and
100 nanometres. The two main forms are magnetite (Fe3O4) and its oxidized
form maghemite (-Fe2O3). They have attracted extensive interest due to
their superparamagnetic properties and their potential applications in many fields
(although Co and Ni are also highly magnetic materials, they are toxic and easily
oxidized).

2.2.3. Nano-titanium dioxide

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium. In nature, it is
present in the following minerals: rutile, anisate and bookie. TiO2 has historically
been used in a wide range of applications such as paints, cosmetics and drugs
because of its low toxicity, semi-conductivity, high chemical stability, availability and
low industrial cost (Hamady and Ion 2011). TiO2 can also be supplied as nano-TiO2,
which is most widely used as a photo-catalyst due to its extraordinary photo-catalytic
activity (Chen et al. 2012). It has also been used in concrete (Diamante et al. 2008,
Chen et al. 2012, and Jalal et al. 2012).
International Journal of Pavement Engineering

Fig.5 Specific surface area of different constituent materials used in conventional

concrete, high-strength/high-performance concrete and Nano-concrete.

Source: Adopted from Ashby et al. (2009).

2.4 Compression test

Compressive strength test according to EN-BS-1881-119-2011[15] was conducted
on samples. For each mixture eighteen samples were prepared and tested at a rate
of 2400 200 N/ s. The results presented herein for compressive strength tests are
an average of six samples of each mixture at test age (7, 28,45 and 90) days. The
specimen was crushing in cone shape after compression test as shown in fig.6.
Fig. 6. Specimen arrangement in Compression Test

2.5 Flexure tensile strength

Beam mould of size 15 x 15x 70 cm (when size of aggregate is less than 38 mm) or
of size 10 x 10 x 50 cm (when size of aggregate is less than 19 mm) (IS: 516-1959).
A flexure tensile according to EN-196-1-2005 [14] was conducted on prism samples.
For each mixture nine samples were prepared and tested at a rate of 50 10 N/s.
The results presented herein for flexure tensile strength are an average of three
samples of each mixture at test age (7, 28 and 90) days. The apparatus for flexure
device incorporating two steel supporting rollers of (10.0 0.5) mm diameter spaced
(100.0 0.5) mm apart and a third steel loading roller of the same diameter placed
centrally in the middle of the span. The length of these rollers was 50 mm. The
loading arrangement is shown in fig. 7.

Fig. 7. Arrangement of loading for determination of flexural strength.

The Flexural Strength or modulus of rupture (fb) is given by
fb = 3PL/2bd2 (Where L=40 cm )
b = width of specimen (cm)
d = failure point depth (cm)
l = supported length (cm)
p = max. Load (kg)

2.6 Split tensile Strength

The tensile strength of concrete is one of the basic and important properties. Splitting
tensile strength on concrete cylinder is a method to determine the tensile strength of
concrete. The concrete is very weak in tension due to its brittle nature and is
not expected to resist the direct tension. The concrete develops cracks when
subjected to tensile forces. Thus, it is necessary to determine the tensile strength of
concrete to determine the load at which the concrete members may crack.
Cylinders The cylindrical mould shall be of 150 mm diameter and 300 mm height
conforming to (IS: 10086-1982).
Calculate the splitting tensile strength of the specimen as follows: (IS-516)
T = 2P/LD
Where
T = Splitting tensile strength
P = Maximum applied load
L = Length, m
D = Diameter
Fig. 8. Specimen arrangement for Split Tensile strength

CHAPTER 3
Results and Discussion
3.1.7-days test results
TYPE OF TEST NC HVFAC HVFAC + 2% HVFAC + 1% NANO
NANO Sio2 Fe2O3
COMPRESSIVE 33.56 20.97 27.36 26.73
STRENGTH
TEST(MPa)

3.2.28-days test results

TYPE OF TEST NC HVFAC HVFAC + 2% HVAFC + 1% NANO

NANO Sio2 Fe2O3

1. COMPRESSION 43.54 29.92 47.97 44.50

STRENGTH
TEST(MPa)

2.SPLIT TENSILE 3.698 3.142 3.41 3.336

STRENGTH
TEST(MPa)

3.FLEXURAL 4.6 3.83 4.53 4.21

STRENGTH
TEST(MPa)

3.3 56-days test results

TYPE OF TEST HVFAC

1. COMPRESSION STRENGTH TEST(MPa) 40.12

2. SPLIT TENSILE STRENGTH TEST(MPa) 3.48

3.4 90-days test results
The results are yet to be noted.