Structure of Portland Cement Pastes Blended with Sonicated Silica Fume
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 24, Issue 10
Abstract
Application of power ultrasound to enhance dispersion of commercial densified silica fume leads to increased compressive strengths and refinement of the pore structure in mortars, compared with those that are untreated. This was attributed to the enhanced pozzolanic reactivity achieved by particle dispersion through sonication, leading to higher consumption of portlandite during curing, and formation of a calcium silicate hydrate gel with a higher degree of cross-linking than is identified in specimens with densified silica fume. This suggests that with the use of sonicated silica fume, it is possible to reduce the required quantity of admixture in blended cements to achieve specified performance, with the additional advantage of the formation of a highly densified structure and refined pore network, contributing to potential improvements in durability.
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Acknowledgements
This study was sponsored by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain (Project SILISONIC BIA-2007-63252 and research scholarships BES-2008-002440 and EEBB-2011-43847), the European regional development fund (FEDER), and the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain). Participation of SAB and JLP was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), including partial funding through the Particulate Fluids Processing Centre, a Special Research Centre of the ARC. The authors thank Dr. John Gehman for support in conducting the NMR experiments at the Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 24 • Issue 10 • October 2012
Pages: 1295 - 1304
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© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Nov 16, 2011
Accepted: Feb 16, 2012
Published online: Feb 21, 2012
Published in print: Oct 1, 2012
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