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Procedia Engineering 125 (2015) 608 – 612

The 5th International Conference of Euro Asia Civil Engineering Forum (EACEF-5)

Improvement of concrete durability by nanomaterials

Salomaa,*, Amrinsyah Nasutionb, Iswandi Imranb, Mikrajuddin Abdullahb
a
Sriwijaya University, Jl. Palembang-Prabumulih, KM.32, Inderalaya, Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, 30662, Indonesia
b
Bandung Intitute of Technology, Jl. Ganesa No.10 Bandung, 40132, Indonesia

Abstract

The green concrete capable for sustainable development is characterized by application of industrial wastes to reduce pollution of
the environment. Fly ash processed with nanotechnology developed by Indonesia Center for Ceramics using Polishing Liquid
Milling Technology. Nanomaterial concrete is new generation concrete formed of materials of the grain size of nanoscale. The
materials used in this research were cement type I, nanosilica 10 - 150 nm, quartz powder in 0.3 - 25.0 Pm, fine sand (quartz of
sand) size of 50 - 650 Pm, coarse aggregate in 5 - 10 mm, and superplasticizer. In this paper, mechanisms are discussed by which
the incorporation of nanomaterials in concrete enhances durability to sulfate attack. Application of nanotechnology is an effective
way to reduce environment pollution and improve durability of concrete. For countries like Indonesia, this technology can play an
important role in meeting the huge demand for infrastructure in a sustainable manner.
©©2015
2015The
TheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by by Elsevier
Elsevier Ltd.Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of The 5th International Conference of Euro Asia Civil Engineering
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of The 5th International Conference of Euro Asia Civil Engineering
Forum (EACEF-5).
Forum (EACEF-5)
Keywords: nanomaterial; nanotechnology; nanosilica; durability

1. Introduction

The utilization of high performance concrete in the field of construction engineering has been developed
continuously. An innovation in material technology is needed in order to obtain higher performance concrete. The
criteria of high-performance concrete are the workability, homogeneousness, strength, durability, and stability.
In general, a lot of researches in high-performance concrete have been done and show promising results that will
benefit the field of construction engineering. However, the utilization of high-performance concrete in Indonesia is

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +62-085320011159

E-mail address: saloma_571@yahoo.co.id

1877-7058 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of The 5th International Conference of Euro Asia Civil Engineering Forum (EACEF-5)
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2015.11.078
 Saloma et al. / Procedia Engineering 125 (2015) 608 – 612 609

still very limited due to (1) the difficulties in the technology of producing nano scale materials; (2) the standards for
mix-design are not available yet; (3) inefficient of based material utilization; (4) the practical methods for field
application have not been established; (5) the availability of equipments needed for producing high-performance
concrete are also limited.
The development of nanotechnology has made it possible for nanomaterials to be used as concrete forming
materials. With nanotechnology as the basis it is expected that a given material can have specific ultra-dense volume
or referred to as packing density.
There are several previous studies related to the use of nanomaterials on the performance of concrete. Nazari (2010)
and Luciano (2009) have conducted research on the workability and setting time of nanomaterial concrete.
Furthermore, Ozyildirim (2010) and Nittaya (2008) examined the effect of adding nanosilica on the density of
concrete. Meanwhile, Valquíria (2011), Zhang (2011), Nili (2010), and Abbas (2009) conducted a study on the effects
of the use of nanosilica on compressive strength of concrete. Then, a review of the effect of nanomaterials on the
microstructure of concrete has also been done by Nittaya (2008) and Khanzadi (2010).
Based on those previous researches, this research discusses increases in compressive strength and resistance of
nanomaterial concrete to sulfate attack.

2. Experimental Program

2.1. Scope of work

The purpose of this study is to investigate the compressive strength and resistance of nanomaterial concrete to
sulfate attack of concrete by partial replacement of cement with nano silica. Nano silica used in this study has the size
of 10-140 nm with a mixed composition of 10% of the cement weight.

2.2. Raw materials

Cement used with relative specific gravity of 3.15 gram/cm3. Nanosilica to be used has the characteristics as given
in Table 1. Distribution of nanosilica size by PSA test is ranged from 10 to 140 nm. The chemical composition of
XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) test results for cement and nanosilica are shown in Table 2.

Table 1. Characteristics of nanosilica

Characteristics Test procedure Unit Value
BET-surface area DIN ISO 9277 m2/g 170 – 230
pH, in 4% aqueous dispersion DIN EN ISO 787-9 3.8 – 4.3
Density of SiO2 g/l 2200
Tamped density DIN EN ISO 787-11 g/l ca. 40
Loss on drying (2 h at 105qC) DIN EN ISO 787-2 % < 1.5
Sieve residue, acc. to Mocker >40 Pm DIN EN ISO 787-18 % < 0.04

Table 2. Chemical composition of XRF test result on nanosilica and cement

Chemical Composition SiO2 Al2O3 CaO Fe2O3 SO3 MgO
Cement 21.20 6.00 64.90 3.10 2.10 1.20
Nanosilica 99.99

Fine aggregate used is from Bangka island that is consisting of fine sand with a size of 50 - 650 Pm and quartz
powder of size 0.3-25 Pm. Its gradation is one important factor to be considered. The gradation affects the amount of
water required in concrete mix. Coarse aggregate used was taken from Sidomanik with a maximum size of 10 mm.
Figure 1 shows the gradation curves of materials.
610 Saloma et al. / Procedia Engineering 125 (2015) 608 – 612

100
Nanosilica
Quartz powder
80 Quartz sand

Cumulative distribution (%)

Course aggregate
Cement
60

40

20

0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000

Diameter (Pm)

Fig. 1. Gradation curve of materials

2.3. Concrete mix design

The concrete mix consists of nanosilica as a cement partial substitution material. W/C ratio = 0.20. For the
experiments, nanosilica was added into the concrete mix as cement partial substitution of amount 10% of the weight
of cement. Recapitulation of the concrete mix is given in Figure 2.

Admixtures
1%
Coarse Cement
aggregate 10
22%
mm
Coarse 21%
Nanosilica
aggregate 5 3%
mm
Water
9%
5%
Quartz Quartz sand
powder 31%
8%

Fig. 2. Composition of concrete mix

2.4. Compressive strength testing

The tool used for testing the compressive strength is UTM (Universal testing Machine) of 2000 kN capacity.
Specimens used were cylinders with a diameter of 100 mm and a height of 200 mm, with testing ages of 3, 7, 14, 21
and 28 days. Compressive strength testing methods followed the standard of ASTM C39 test.

2.5. Resistance of nanomaterial concrete to sulfate attack

The resistance to sulfate attack was studied by storage of specimens cured under standard condition for 28, 56, 90,
120, 150 and 180 days in 50 gram/Liter solutions of sodium sulfate. The test followed the ASTM C1012. Then, the
ratio of loss of weight and loss of strength to compressive strength of specimens was determined after 28, 56, 90, 120,
150 and 180 days corrosion, the results were compared with those of specimens stored in fresh water.
 Saloma et al. / Procedia Engineering 125 (2015) 608 – 612 611

3. Experimental result and discussion

3.1. Compressive strength testing

Figure 3 shows a comparison between the development of compressive strength of concrete with nanosilica and
that without nanosilica. It can be seen that concrete containing nanosilica has developed higher compressive strength
than that without nanosilica. The rapid development of the compressive strength of concrete with nanosilica shows
that it not only serves as a filler to increase the density of the micro but also acts as an activator in the hydration
reaction. Nanosilica freely mixes with free calcium oxide resulting in further reactions that form new cement paste.
This gives the effect on the relationship between the mortars, and the inter-surface zone becomes stronger and provides
increases the bonds between coarse aggregate and mortar.

180
Compressive strength (MPa)

150

120

90

60

30 NS = 10%

0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200

Age (day)

Fig. 3. Development of concrete compressive strength

3.2. Resistance of nanomaterial concrete to sulfate attack

Data results obtained from sulfate attack are presented in Figure 4. It can be seen from the test results with storage
in 50 gram/Liter sodium sulfate solution for 28, 56, 90, 120, 150 and 180 days that the corrosion resistance of concrete
specimen with nanosilica is much better than that of control specimen. The effect is better for those with more
additives. This is due to that the active SiO2 in nanosilica can react with the Ca(OH)2 in concrete to form secondary
calcium silicate hydrate and make it chemically stable and structurally dense, the impermeability of concrete is
enhanced as well. In addition, the nanomaterial can reduce the content of calcium aluminate in cementitious material,
leading to increase of sulfate resistance of concrete.
There were loss in weight and strength of specimen occurred. From Figs. 4 it can be seen that the resistance of
ordinary Portland cement to acid corrosion is rather poor, the strength loss of mortar specimen reached 6.21% after
immersion in sulfuric acid solution for 180 days and the strength loss for concrete specimens is 9.90%. For specimens
with additives, those with nanosilica have good performance in acid resistance and better than specimens without
additives both in loss in weight and strength.
612 Saloma et al. / Procedia Engineering 125 (2015) 608 – 612

0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200
0 0
NS = 0% NS = 10% NS = 0%
-1

Loss of strength (%)

-2 NS = 10%
Loss of weight (%)

-2
-4
-3
-6
-4
-8
-5
-6 -10

-7 -12
Age (days) Age (days)
Fig. 4. (a) Loss of weight (b) Loss of strength

4. Conclusion

Based on the research conducted on the concrete nanomaterial can be summarized as follows:
1. Nanosilica is capable of improving the performance of concrete.
2. Based on the test results of concrete compressive strength at 28 days, a maximum compressive strength value is
129.48 MPa.
3. The improvement of 10% nano silica replacement in the resistance to sulfate attack is better than that of 0% nano
silica.

References

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Blended Concrete, Journal of American Science 2010.
[2] Luciano S., Wellington L.R., Phillipe G., Marilena V., Dachamir H., Effect of Addition of Nano-Sio2 on the Setting Time of Cement Hydration,
3rd International Conference on Concrete & Development 2009.
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