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In this study, the effect of nano-Cr2O3 and different-phase Al2O3 nanoparticles addition on the
fresh and hardened properties of cement mortar has been investigated. Ordinary Portland cement
was replaced by nano powder at 0.5%, 1.25% and 2.5%wt percent. Nano Cr 2O3 and
Al2O3 nanoparticles were prepared via citrate-precursor autocombustion method. The structure
of the prepared nanoparticles was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results
illustrate that the obtained powders have a single phase structure. The morphology and the size
of the synthesized nano-particles were analyzed using Transmission Electron Microscope
(TEM). Photographs confirmed nanoscale crystallized structure. Properties of fresh density and
flow percentage were evaluated in fresh state. The compressive strength along age of the cement
paste was the evaluated property in hardened state. Different mixing methods to uniformly
disperse the nanoparticles within the cement matrix were explored and a suitable mixing
technique was suggested. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that the microstructure
of the composites with -phase Al2O3 nanoparticles were more compact and dense than that of
plain composite.
Keywords: Nano-Cr2O3, Nano-Al2O3, cementitious materials.
1 Introduction
In the field of nanotechnology, tailored nano-composites have the prime focus as one of the most
major and significant areas of research. There is a particular interest in developing
nanotechnology for cement and concrete. Not only the chemistry that forms cement hydration
products but also the physical behaviour of those products are acceptable for manipulation
through nanotechnology. The mechanical properties of nanoparticles depict their immense
potential for use as reinforcements in composite materials.
Most of the published studies on the use of nano-particles in cement and concrete have
utilized nano-oxides, especially SiO2 and Fe2O3 (Li 2004, Li et al. 2004, Korpa et al. 2005, Lin
et al. 2008, Abbas 2009, Qing et al. 2009). The early work of Li (Li 2004) showed that nano-
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International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE 2015)
SiO2 could significantly increase the early compressive strength of concrete containing large
amounts of fly ash (Kopra et al. 2005), and improve pore size distribution by filling the pores
between large fly ash and cement particles at the nano-scale. Also, the slurry of amorphous
nano-silica was used to improve the segregation resistance of self-compacting concrete. Another
nano-sized oxide of interest in construction is titanium oxide (TiO2) (Han et al. 2004, Xiong et
al. 2006).
To our knowledge, there are few works on incorporating nanoparticles into cementitious
materials to achieve improved physical and mechanical properties. There are several reports on
incorporation of nanoparticles in normally vibrated concretes, most of which have focused on
using SiO2 nanoparticles (Bjornstorm et al. 2004). In addition, some of the works have
utilizednano-Al2O3 (Li et al. 2006, Campillo et al. 2007), and zinc–iron oxide nanoparticles
(Flores-Velez and Dominguez 2002). Previously, the effects of ZnO2 (Nazari and Riahi 2010e,
Nazari and Riahi 2010d) nanoparticles on different properties of self-compacting concrete have
been studied.
In addition, the works investigating the effects of several types of nanoparticles on properties
of concrete specimens (Nazari 2010, Nazari and Riahi 2010a, Nazari and Riahi 2010b, Nazari
and Riahi 2010c) which are cured in different curing media have been reported. Incorporation of
other nanoparticles is rarely reported. Therefore, introducing some other lab-made nanoparticles,
which probably could improve the mechanical and physical properties of cementitious
composites, taking into considerations the low cost of the additives would be interesting.
The use of different-phase Al2O3 nanoparticles had not been examined in previous work. So
the main aim of this study is preparing -phase Al2O3, -phase Al2O3, in addition to Cr2O3
nanoparticles by laboratory method and incorporating them into cement matrix as a replacement
to study its impact to the fresh and hardened properties of cementitious materials. Several
specimens with fixed amounts of superplasticizer have been prepared and their physical and
mechanical properties have been considered.
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International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE 2015)
2.2 Materials
Ordinary Portland cement CEMI-42.5N in compliance with EN196-1 was used in this study.
Table 1 shows the chemical and physical properties of cement. Sand with bulk density of 2.55
and fineness modulus 2.2 was used. Water to cement ratio of 0.40 and superplasticizer type F
were used according to ASTM C494 of dose 0.7% of cement mass based on polycarboxylate
ether.
Table 1: The chemical composition and physical properties of the conducted cement
Chemical composition (%) CEM I-42.5N
Cao 65.4
SiO2 20.4
Al2O3 4.9
Fe2O3 3.1
MgO 1.7
Na2O 0.28
K2O 0.24
SO3 3.6
Specific gravity (gm/cm3) 3.15
Blaine fineness (cm2/gm) 3400
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International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE 2015)
can observe a large quantity of uniform nanoparticles (NPs) with average particle size of 40-90
nm, indicates that our synthesis process is an easy method for the preparation of this
nanoparticles.
Cr2O3
Intensity(a. u.)
Al2O3( )
Al2O3( )
20 30 40 50 60 70
2
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International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE 2015)
the severe agglomeration is possible to estimate. From TEM images, and the distribution of the
-alumina particles are about 400- 700 nm, and those -alumina nanoparticles are about 10–40
nm as shown in the histogram fig.3.
14.1
15
11.0
10
4.4 4.4
5 3.1 2.2
1.3 0.9 0.4
0
20 30 40 50
60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130
Particles size, nm
(b) Particle size distribution of Cr2O3 nanoparticles
Figure 2. (a) TEM images and (b) Particle size distribution of Cr2O3 nanoparticles
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International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE 2015)
25
Al2 O3 (alpha)
20
16.6 17.1
Percentage, %
14.5
15
9.3 9.8
10 7.8
6.2 5.2 6.2
4.7
5 2.6
0
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200
Particles size, nm
(b) Particle size distribution of -Al2O3 nanoparticles
3.2 Consistency
Fig. 4 shows the flow ability of cement mortar. Where the initial flow percentage indicates the
spreading value of the cement mortar after lifting the conical mold without chaking the table.
The final flow percentage measured after standard number of chaking cycles equal to 25. The
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International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE 2015)
high concentration of nanoparticles additives reduces the flow significantly due to its high
specific area. The final flow value also reduced with increasing the dose of nanoparticles except
for -Al2O3. The -Al2O3 nano particles replacements show the minimum flow values between
nanoparticles. This may be due to the smaller size of such nano as shown from TEM results,
thus increase the ability of filling the spaces of the produced specimens.
132 137
132 121
111 105
100
99 89
68 74
66 53
33 21
5 11
0
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International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE 2015)
50 50 50
45 45 45
Compressive strength, MPa
40 40 40
35 35 35
30 30 30
Control without SP Control without SP Control without SP
Control with SP Control with SP Control with SP
25 Al2O3- - 0.5% 25 Al2O3- - 1.25% 25 Al2O3- - 2.5%
Al2O3- - 0.5% Al2O3- - 1.25% Al2O3- - 2.5%
Cr2O3 - 0.5% Cr2O3 - 1.25% Cr2O3 - 2.5%
20 20 20
0 60 120 180 0 60 120 180 0 60 120 180
Age, days Age, days Age, days
Figure 5. Compressive strength of cement replaced with 0%, 0.5%, 1.25% and 2.5%
examined nanoparticles
The structure was found to have more and larger voids compared with control specimen
without SP. SEM analysis reveals formation of much denser microstructure using both nano -
Al2O3, and nano Cr2O3. Images revealed that the nano-particles were not only acting as a ller,
but also as an activator to promote hydration proves. Agglomerations of nano -Al2O3, and
nano Cr2O3 particles were also observed as represented by the white circles in the SEM
images.
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International Conference on Advances in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering (ICASGE 2015)
4 Conclusions
From the experimental results obtained, the following conclusions are drawn:
Using 1.25% of -Al2O3 nanoparticles as a replacement raised compressive strength up to
16%.
Addition of nano-Cr 2O3 does not improve the compressive strength of cement paste.
SEM con rms the formation of much denser microstructure with nano - Al2O3 addition
and agglomeration of nano- Al2O3 particles.
Further study in this direction is recommended.
5 References
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