| publication name | Physico-mechanical, microstructure characteristics and fire resistance of cement pastes containing Al2O3 nano-particles |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mohamed Heikal, M.N. Ismail, N.S. Ibrahim |
| year | 2015 |
| keywords | Nano-alumina; Heat-treatment; Phase composition; Gel/space ratio; Morphology |
| journal | Construction and Building Materials |
| volume | 91 |
| issue | Not Available |
| pages | 232–242 |
| publisher | Elsevier Ltd. |
| Local/International | International |
| Paper Link | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950061815005334 |
| Full paper | download |
| Supplementary materials | Not Available |
Abstract
This article aims to study the physico-mechanical and fire resistance of cement pastes containing Al2O3 nano-particles. The results show that the water of consistency increases as well as the initial and final setting times accelerated with NA content up to 6 mass%, indicating that NA enhances the hydration reaction of OPC cement phases. The compressive strength increases with 0%, 27.22% and 11.07% for unsuperplasticizered NA–OPC pastes, whereas with superplasticizered NA–OPC pastes increase by 10.89%, 30.67% and 16.70% with the increase of NA contents from 0, 1 and 2 mass%. The results show that 1 mass% of NA gives a higher value of compressive strength, bulk density, chemically combined water content and gel/space ratio than OPC paste. 1 mass% NA acts as nano-filler which accelerates the rate of hydration. SEM micrograph reveals the formation of much denser nano-structure with nano-Al2O3 addition. The structure was found to be denser compact matrix. The increase of thermally treated temperature from 25 to 450 °C, the compressive strength increases by 10.89%, 31.03% and 20.33% with the increase of NA contents from 0, 1 and 2 mass% for unsuperplasticizered NA–OPC pastes, whereas with superplasticizered OPC–NA increases by 25.22%, 45.74% and 28.49% with the increase of NA contents from 0, 1 and 2 mass%. It can be concluded that NA–OPC pastes containing 1 mass% NA has an optimum mix composition, which having a good firing resistance than those of other pastes.