CE: 798-SEMINAR AND TECHNICAL WRITING REPORT

Short Technical Note

On

Determination of Potential Alkali Reactivity of Cement-Fine Aggregate

Combinations as per IS: 2386 (Part VII) - 1963

Presented

by

Datla Neeraj Varma

Roll No. 519CE1015

(Ph.D research scholar)

Department of Civil Engineering

MAY 2021
1. Introduction

In general, alkali-silica gel formation takes in the concrete by the reaction between alkali
solution in the pore structure and silica component present in the aggregate. This gel absorbs
sufficient water, expands, and develops internal pressure in the concrete which leads to the
formation of cracks. IS 2386-Part-7-1963 provides the test methods for determining the alkali
reaction of aggregates by mortar bar method and chemical method.

1.1 Mortar Bar Method

In mortar bar method, the alkali reaction of aggregates is determined by measuring the
expansion of mortar bar stored under particular curing conditions. For this, cement mortar is
prepared by mixing cement and aggregate in the ratio of 1:2.25, and amount of water required
for mortar preparation is determined by conducting flow table test. Immediately after mixing,
the mortar is placed in the steel moulds (25 mm x 25 mm x 250 mm) as two layers, compacted
by tamping, and stored in the most room at 27±2o C and a relative humidity of 90% for 24±2
hr. At the end of curing, the length of the test specimen is measured using length comparator
and then again stored in metal/plastic containers maintained at a temperature of 38±2o C.
Thereafter, the length of the test specimens are determined at subsequent periods of 1, 2, 3, 6,
9 and 12 months. However, before taking measurements, the container with specimens are
transferred to room temperature of 27±2o C for at least 16 hr prior to the test. The difference
in length of the specimens measured initially and at other subsequent period, to the nearest
0.001 percent of the effective gauge length are calculated and recorded as the expansion of the
specimen at that period.

1.2 Chemical Method

In chemical method, the alkali reaction of aggregates are determined by observing the reactions
between the aggregates and 1 M sodium hydroxide solution. In this method, the crushed
aggregate passing through 300 μ IS sieve and retained on 150 μ IS sieve is used. Four reaction
containers, three reaction containers with each 25 g of dry aggregate and 25 ml of caustic soda
and one with 25 ml of caustic soda alone is sealed and placed in a water bath maintained at a
temperature of 80o C for 24 hr. At the end, remove the containers from water bath and cool the
containers to temperature below 30o C by flowing water. Thereafter, the solution is filtered
using a low-ash filter paper under vacuum pressure. The obtained filtrate is diluted with water
by taking 10 ml of filtrate and 200 ml of water and stored for further usage. The dissolved silica
from diluted solution is then determined by using gravimetric method or photometric method.

1.2.1 Gravimetric method

In gravimetric method, 100 ml of diluted solution is treated with 5-10 ml of hydrochloric acid,
and evaporated to dryness on steam bath. Further, 5-10 ml of hydrochloric acid is added to the
residue and equivalent amount of water is added, and the residue is digested for 10 minutes on
the bath. The solution is further diluted with an equal volume of hot water, immediately filtered,
and the silica which is separated is thoroughly washed with hot water and the residue is
reserved. Again filtrate is evaporated to dryness, the residue is baked in an oven for 1 hr at
105o to 110°C. The residue is further treated with 10 to 15 ml of hydrochloric acid and heated
on the bath plate. Then the solution is diluted with an equal volume of hot water and the small
amount of silica is washed on to a filter paper. Now the filter paper is ignited at 1100 to 1200o
C until weight is constant. The obtained silica is further treated with 10 ml of hydrofluoric acid
and one drop of sulphuric acid to remove the impurities, and heated to 1100°C for 1 to 2
minutes, cooled, and weighed. The difference between this weight and the weight previously
obtained represents the amount of silica. The similar procedure is carried out to the black
solution and amount of silica is determined. The silica concentration from aggregate is
determined by using the following relation.

Sc = (W1 – W2) × 3330

Where, Sc = concentration of silica in millimoles per litre in the original filtrate, W1= weight
of silica in g found in 100 ml of the dilute solution, and W2 = weight of silica in g found in the
blank.

1.2.2 Photometric method

Photometric method is used to determine the non-colloidal silica in aqueous solutions. In this
method, prior to the experiment, calibration curve is prepared. For this, a series of solutions of
known silica concentration varying from 0.0 to 0.5 millimoles per litre are prepared by diluting
sodium silicate solution. The portion of solution is transfer to 100-ml volumetric flasks about
half filled with water. To that, 2 ml of the ammonium molybdate solution and 1 ml of
hydrochloric acid (1:1) are added, and agitate by swirling the flask. The solution is allowed to
stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. Further, 1.5 ± 0.2 ml of the oxalic acid solution is
added, and the flask is filled up to the mark with water, and mix thoroughly. The solution is
allowed to stand for 5.0 ± 0.1 minutes. The transmittance of the prepared solutions are observed
on the photometer at approximately 410 mμ. Now, the diluted solution from the aggregate is
transferred to a 100-ml volumetric flask and the procedure described for preparing various
silica solutions are followed. The concentration of silica in the solution is directly obtained
from the calibration curve correlating transmission of light of this wavelength with silica
concentration. If the transmittance is below 30 percent or above 50 percent, a smaller or larger
aliquot of the diluted solution should be used. The silica concentration is determined by using
the following equation.

100
𝑆𝑐 = 20 x xC
𝑉

Where, Sc = concentration of silica in millimoles per litre in the original filtrate, C=

concentration of silica millimoles per litre in the solution measured in the photometer, and V =
volume of dilute solution in millilitres.

Further, reduction in alkalinity is determined by transferring a 20-ml aliquot of the dilute

solution to a 125-ml conical flask In that, 2 or 3 drops of phenolphthalein solution is added,
and titrate with 0.05 N hydrochloric acid to the phenolphthalein end point. The reduction in
alkalinity is determined using the following relation.

20𝑁
𝑅𝑐 = (𝑉3 − 𝑉2 ) × 1000
𝑉1

Where, Rc = the reduction in alkalinity, in millimoles per litre; N= normality of the

hydrochloric acid used for the titration; V1 = volume in ml of dilute solution used, V2= volume
of hydrochloric acid in ml used to attain the phenolphthalein end point in the test sample; and
V3 = volume of hydrochloric acid in ml used to attain the phenolphthalein end point in the
blank.

In the photometric method, Rc to be used together with Sc values to evaluate the potential
reactivity of aggregates.