DOI: 10.15415/jotitt.2013.

12006

Application of Silica Fume and Nanosilica in

Cement and Concrete – A Review
Sakshi Gupta

Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Dronacharya College of

Engineering, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Email: [email protected]

Abstract:  This paper reviews the recent developments and present state of
the application of silica fume (micro-silica) and nano-silica for sustainable
development of concrete industry. This would save not only the natural
resources and energy but also protect the environment with the reduction
of waste material. Limited work is done on use of nano-silica and micro-
silica in paste, mortar and concrete and whatever work is available is highly
contradictory about their influence on mechanical strength development and
durability properties. Various literatures have been reviewed to understand
the influence of micro and nano-silica on fresh, hardened and microstructural
properties of paste, cement mortar and concrete. Taking advantage of
nanostructure and microstructure characterization tools and materials, the
simultaneous and also separate optimal use of micro-silica and nano-silica
will create a new concrete mixture that will result in long lasting concrete
structures in the future.

Keywords: Micro-silica, Nano-silica, mortar, concrete, compressive strength.

1. Introduction
In the most customary sense, cement is a binder that sets and hardens
Journal on Today’s Ideas –
independently as well as binds other materials together. Cement mortar is Tomorrow’s Technologies,
a building compound created by mixing fine aggregate and a selection of Vol. 1, No. 2,
cementing material with a specified amount of water. Mortar has been used December 2013
pp. 85–98
for centuries as a means of adhering bricks or concrete blocks to one another.
Cement mortar continues to be used in many different types of construction
such as the binder between bricks in walls, fences, and walkways, to make
quick repairs in patio slabs and reset loosened stones or bricks in a walkway or
retaining wall. Unfortunately, construction industry is not only one of the largest ©2013 by Chitkara
consumers of natural resources and energy, but is also responsible for large University. All Rights
emissions of green house gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide responsible Reserved.

85
Gupta, S. for global warming. It is estimated that one ton of Portland cement clinker
production yields one ton of GHGs. In addition, due to the accumulation of
natural aggregate extraction from quarries; it poses an immediate concern for
sustainable construction development.

1.1 Concrete and Sustainability

Concrete is probably unique in construction, it is the only material exclusive to
the business and therefore is the beneficiary of a fair proportion of the research
and development money from industry. Concrete is a composite construction
material composed primarily of aggregate, cement, and water, which is a nano-
structured, complex, multi-phase material that ages over time.
Sustainability is defined by the World Commission on Environment and
Development as the development that meets the needs of the present, without
compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. It is
basically an idea for concern for the well being of planet Earth with continued
growth and human development. The current construction practices are based
on the consumption of enormous quantities of building materials and drinking
water, resulting in the scarcity of these resources after a long turn.
The sustainable development of the cement mortar would save not only
the natural resources and energy but also protect the environment with the
reduction of waste material. The mortar properties in fresh state such as
workability are governed by the particle size distribution and the properties in
hardened state, such as strength and durability, are affected by the mix grading
and resulting particle packing. Rheological properties of a fresh cement paste
play an important role in determining the workability of concrete. The water
requirement for flow, hydration behavior, and properties of the hardened state
largely depends upon the degree of dispersion of cement in water. Factors
such as water content, early hydration, water reducing admixtures and mineral
admixtures like silica fume determine the degree of flocculation in a cement
paste (Sanchez and Sobolev, 2010).

1.2 Nanotechnology in Concrete

Nanotechnology is rapidly becoming the Industrial Revolution of 21st century
(Siegel et al., 1999). It will affect almost every aspect of one’s life (IWGN,
1999). In comparison to other technologies, nanotechnology is much less well-
defined and well-structured. It is known that ‘Nano’ is a Greek word and means
‘dwarf’. It does not mean dealing with dwarfs but it became a common word
for everything which is smaller than 1 Micron or 1 million of a millimeter.
1 Micron is 1000 Nanometer. The nanoscience and nano-engineering (nano-

86
modification) of concrete are terms that have come into common usage and Application of
describe two main approaches of applications of nanotechnology in concrete Silica Fume
(Scrivener and Kirkpatrick, 2008; Scrivener, 2009). and Nanosilica
Until today, concrete has primarily been seen as a structural material. in Cement and
Nanotechnology is helping to make it a multipurpose ‘‘smart’’ functional Concrete – A
Review
material. Concrete can be nano-engineered by the incorporation of nano-sized
building blocks or objects e.g., nanoparticles, nano admixtures and nanotubes)
to control material behavior and add trailblazing properties, or by the grafting of
molecules onto the cement particles, cement phases, aggregates, and additives
(including nano-sized additives) to provide the surface functionality adjusted
to promote the specific interfacial interactions of the molecules. Recently,
nanotechnology is being used in many applications and it has received increasing
attention also in building materials, with potential advantages and drawbacks
being underlined (Campillo et al., 2003; Pacheco-Torgal and Jalali, 2011).

1.3 Silica fume

Silica is the common name for materials composed of silicon dioxide (SiO2)
and occurs in crystalline and amorphous forms. Silica fume or micro-silica
(SF) is a byproduct of the smelting process in the silicon and ferrosilicon
industry. The American concrete institute defines silica fume as ‘Very fine non-
crystalline silica produced in electric arc furnaces as a by-product of production
of elemental silicon or alloys containing silicon’ (ACI Committee 226., 1987b).
It is a grey colored powder, similar to Portland cement or fly ashes. It is an
ultrafine powder collected as a by-product of the silicon and ferrosilicon alloy
production and consists of spherical particles with an average particle size
(diameter) of 150 nm. The main field of application is as pozzolanic material
for high performance concrete (Prasad et al., 2003).

1.4 Nano-silica
Nanosilica is typically a highly effective pozzolanic material. It normally
consists of very fine vitreous particles approximately 1000 times smaller
than the average cement particles. It has proven to be an excellent admixture
for cement to improve strength and durability and decrease permeability
(Loland, 1981; Aitcin et al., 1981). NS reduces the setting time and increases
the strength (compressive, tensile) of resulting cement in relation with other
silica components that were tested (Roddy et al., 2008). Nano-silica is obtained
by direct synthesis of silica sol or by crystallization of nano-sized crystals of
quartz.

87
Gupta, S. 2. Effect of addition of silica fume and nano-silica
Silica fume has been recognized as a pozzolanic and cementitious admixture
which is effective in enhancing the mechanical properties to a great extent. The
pozzolanic reaction results in a reduction of the amount of calcium hydroxide
in concrete, and silica fume reduces porosity and improves durability. It
accelerates the dissolution of C-S and formation of C-S-H with its activity
being inversely proportional to the size, and also provides nucleation sites for
C-S-H. It is responsible for an additional increase in strength and chemical
resistance and decrease in water absorption (Diab et al., 2012). The addition
of micro and nano silica particles to cement paste could effectively reduce the
degradation rate as well as its negative consequences. Even small additions (0.5
wt. % binder) of these particles are very efficient in terms of improvement in
mechanical properties of cement based materials. This is especially pronounced
at early ages and for concretes with regular strength grade. Therefore,
application of SF and nS could be a successful method for improvement of low
strengths of cement based materials. In addition, when low water content is
used, economical advantages and higher durability are expected.
However, when mortars with nanosilica (nS) and silica fume (SF) are
produced using low water content, the resulting material has inadequate
workability for most applications. In this case, adding extra amount of water
has to be done, but the benefits of mineral additions on the hardened state
properties would be minimized. The use of plasticizers and superplasticizers
(SP) is always desirable to improve the rheological properties without the need
for addition of extra water (Qing et al., 2007).

3. Literatures reviewed
The fundamental processes that govern the most pertinent issues to the study
of concrete technology (strength, ductility, early age rheology, creep, shrinkage,
durability, fracture behavior, etc) are affected (dominatingly or not), by the
performance of the material at the nanoscale. The use of supplementary cementing
materials have become an essential part of the Portland cement concrete
production, and the research on new materials with supplementary cementing
potential is receiving considerable attention from the scientific point of view.

3.1 Influence on Fresh and Mechanical properties

Experiments using nanosilica and silica fume were conducted and the results
showed that with 5% replacement of cement by nS (mean size 15±5 nm), 7

88
& 28-days compressive strength of mortars were increased by 20% and 17%, Application of
respectively, whereas 15% silica fume replacement increased mortar strengths Silica Fume
by 7% and 10% compared with those of control Portland cement mortar. With and Nanosilica
the experimental analysis, it was proved that the compressive and flexural in Cement and
strengths of the cement mortars with nano-silica and with nano-Fe2O3 were Concrete – A
Review
both higher than that of the plain cement mortar with the same water to binder
ratio (Li et al., 2004).
In a study to evaluate the effect of silica fume on the compressive strength,
split tensile strength and modulus of elasticity of low quality coarse aggregate
concrete was conducted whose results indicated that the type of coarse aggregate
influenced the compressive strength, split tensile strength and modulus of
elasticity of both plain and silica fume cement concretes. Incorporation of
silica fume enhanced the compressive strength and split tensile strength of all
concretes especially that of the low quality limestone aggregates (Abdullah et
al., 2004).
In an experiment it was showed that the compressive and tensile strengths
increased with silica fume incorporation, and the results indicated that the
optimum replacement percentage is not constant but depends on the water-
cementitious material ratio of the mix. They also found that compared with
split tensile strengths, flexural strengths have exhibited greater improvements
(Bhanja and Sengupta, 2005) while in another, it was showed experimentally
that the compressive strengths of mortars with nano-SiO2 particles were
all higher than those of mortars containing silica fume at 7 and 28 days (Jo

Table 1: C
 ompressive strength (MPa) after 7 and 28 days
comparing the mortars containing nano-silica and
silica fume (Jo et al.,2007).

7 Days 28 days
OPC 18.3 25.6
SF5 22.5 35.1
SF10 24.7 37.4
SF15 26.1 38.0
NS3 39.5 54.3
NS6 46.1 61.9
NS10 49.3 68.2
NS12 50.7 68.8

89
Gupta, S. et al., 2007). It was demonstrated that the nano-particles are more valuable
in enhancing strength than silica fume. The addition of nano-silica and silica
fume enhances mechanical properties of cement-based materials. Various
conclusions were made regarding the effect of nano-silica that made cement
paste thicker and accelerated the cement hydration process.
Compressive strengths of hardened cement paste increased with increasing
the nano-SiO2 content, especially at early ages. The pozzolanic activity of
nano-SiO2 is much greater than that of silica fume (Qing et al., 2007). The
effect of silica fume on compressive and split tensile strength of lightweight
concrete after high temperature was studied in which the level of importance
of percentage of silica fume and heating degree on compressive and splitting
tensile strength was determined by using analysis of variance (ANOVA)
method (Tanyildizi and Coskun, 2008).
Researchers carried out an experimental investigation to study the effect
of nano-silica on rheology and fresh properties of cement pastes and mortars.
It was seen that nano-SiO2 modified the characteristics of fresh mortars. The
mortar with nanosilica showed the higher torque along all the testing period
due to the plastic viscosity and yield stress increase (Senff et al., 2009). The
addition of nano-silica reduced the spread diameter on the flow table of mortars,

Figure 1: Influence of nS content on spread (after 0 and 15 strokes) and

rheological parameters estimated after mixing (Senff et al., 2009).

90
 Application of
Silica Fume
and Nanosilica
in Cement and
Concrete – A
Review

Figure 2: Variation of setting time (initial and final) on the mortar with the
nS content (Senff et al., 2009).

due to the gain in cohesiveness of the paste. By adding nS, the beginning of
setting was anticipated and the dormant period was reduced. Samples with
nS (0–7 wt. %), SF (0–20 wt. %) and water/binder ratio (0.35–0.59), were
investigated through factorial design experiments. Nanosilica with 7 wt. %
showed a faster formation of structures during the rheological measurements.
It was investigated that there are effects of size of nS on compressive,
flexural and tensile strength of binary blended concrete. It was found that the
cement could be advantageously replaced by nS up to maximum limit of 2.0%
with average particle sizes of 15 and 80 nm. Although the optimal replacement
level of nano-Silica particles for 15 and 80 nm size were gained at 1.0% and
1.5%, respectively (Givi et al., 2010).
In another experiment, the properties of cement mortars with nano-SiO2
were studied. Test data showed that nano-SiO2 made cement paste thicker and
accelerates the cement hydration process. Compressive strengths increased on
increasing the nano-SiO2 content (Ltifia et al., 2011). Researchers addressed
the effect of nano-silica on the rheological behaviour and mechanical strength
development of cementitious mixes. The addition of nano-silica to cementitious
mixes produced a remarkable reduction of the mix workability (Berra et al.,
2012). It was experimentally investigated about the influence of nano-SiO2 on
the Portland cement pastes. It was concluded that nano-SiO2 appeared to affect
the mechanical properties and the structure of high-strength cement pastes
even in low concentration. The addition of nanosilica seemed to create two
competing mechanisms in terms of the overall chemomechanical response of

91
Gupta, S. cement pastes. On one hand, the addition of extra water to the paste increased
the water/cement ratio with all the well-established consequences, while the
addition of nanoparticles tended to primarily increase the mechanical response.
In that case, 0.5% up to 2% w/w of cement nanoparticles caused 20–25%
strength increase despite the increased demand in water in the fresh state.
In the second set of specimens the above mentioned problem was restricted
(Stefanidou and Papayianni 2012).
It was reported that the use of nS and nano-TiO2 in cement pastes and
mortars have an effect on various properties. Rheological and flow table
measurements were carried out. The values of torque, yield stress and plastic
viscosity of mortars with nanoadditives increased significantly, reducing the
open testing time in rheology tests. Meanwhile, the flow table values reduced.
Mechanical properties were not significantly affected by nano particles in the
range considered in the work (Senffa et al., 2012).
Mini-slump and rheometric tests were carried out on cement pastes made
with three dose levels of nanosilica at different water/binder ratios. Cement
paste workability resulted to be significantly lower than expected for the
adopted water/binder ratios, as a consequence of instantaneous interactions
between nanosilica sol and the liquid phase of cement pastes, which evidenced
the formation of gels characterized by significant water retention capacity.
The resulting reduction of the mix workability was avoided by suitable
addition procedures of superplasticizers. No appreciable improvement in the
compressive strength development of cementitious mixes by nanosilica addition
was observed, in contrast with some results from literature. This confirmed
conflicting experience on the problem, but some parameters (composition
and content of mineral in mortars; water cement ratio and hydration degree
of cement; size, number and distribution of capillary) affecting the strength
development were identified and discussed (Berra et al., 2012). It was further
studied about the effect of colloidal nano-silica on concrete incorporating single
(ordinary cement) and binary (ordinary cement + Class F fly ash) binders.
Significant improvement was observed in mixtures incorporating nano-silica
in terms of reactivity and strength development (Said et al., 2012).
The effects of nano-silica on setting time and early strengths of high
volume slag mortar and concrete was experimentally studied and results
indicated that the incorporation of a small amount of nS reduced setting
times, and increased 3-day and 7-day compressive strengths of high-volume
slag concrete, significantly, in comparison to the reference slag concrete with
no silica inclusion. The results also indicated that length of dormant period
was shortened, and rate of cement and slag hydration was accelerated with
the incorporation of 1% nS in the cement pastes with high volumes of fly

92
ash or slag. The incorporation of 2% nS by mass of cementitious materials Application of
reduced initial and final setting times by 90 and 100 min, and increased 3- Silica Fume
and 7-day compressive strengths of high-volume fly ash concrete by 30% and Nanosilica
and 25%, respectively, in comparison to the reference concrete with 50% fly in Cement and
ash (Zhang et al., 2012). Concrete – A
Review
The effect of micro and nano-silica under various dosages of carboxylated-
polyether-copolymer-type superplasticizer on the rheological properties of
grouts in the fresh state was determined. Data mentioned that the maximum
strength in nS-system was reached at 1.0 wt%, whereas in SF-systems, it
was at a level of replacement in the order of 15 wt%. In addition, the highest
compressive strength was obtained in SF-systems (Zapata et al., 2013). In
another experiment, the addition of nano-silica (NS), nano-Al2O3 (NA) and
nano-Fe2O3 (NF) powders and their binary and ternary combinations on the
compressive strength of cement mortars containing flyash (FA) was determined
and the results showed that addition of any single type of oxide powders at
1.25% increased compressive strength of the mortars much further than the
other proportions (Oltulu and Sahin, 2013).
Thus, it was found that in most of the cases, addition of nano-silica and
silica fume enhanced the compressive strength and flexural strength with
optimized percentages.

3.2 Influence on Durability properties

The water absorption, capillary absorption and distribution of chloride ion
tests indicated that the nano-silica concrete has better permeability resistance
than the normal concretes. This was evident from the studies carried out
that the water permeability resistant behaviour whose results showed that nS
concrete is stickier than normal concrete due to the larger specific surface
area (Ji, 2005). Through various experiments carried out, it was evident
that for mixtures with 0.35W/B, the water absorption and apparent porosity
reached the maximum values for mortars with 7% nS (Senff et al., 2010).
The factorial design showed that the unrestrained shrinkage and weight loss
of mortar did not follow a linear regression model and the mortars with nS
showed higher values than SF. With 7 days the shrinkage increased 80%,
while at 28 days it increased 54%. The chloride permeability of concrete
containing nano-particles (TiO2 and SiO2) for pavement and compared with
that of plain concrete, concrete containing polypropylene (PP) fibers and
concrete containing both nano-TiO2 and PP fibers (Zhang and Li, 2011).
The test results indicated that the addition of nano-particles refines the pore
structure of concrete and enhances the resistance to chloride penetration of

93
Gupta, S. concrete. The nS addition decreased the apparent density and increased the air
content in the mortars. It was investigated that the addition of superplasticizers
in 1% w/w of cement reduced the water demand and the strength increase
varied from 30% to 35% (Stefanidou nad Papayianni 2012); Quercia et
al., 2012) addressed the characterization of six different amorphous silica
samples with respect to their application in cement paste. It was determined
that the addition of 0.5 to 4.0% nano-silica to the cement paste reduced the
water demand without the use of superplasticizers. A linear relationship
between the deformation coefficient and the specific surface area of nS/mS
particles was confirmed. Higher deformation coefficients (Ep) for amorphous
silica with high content of nanoparticles were found which were bigger than
that of cement. Guidelines in compressive strength assessment of concrete
modified with silica fume due to magnesium sulfate attack were suggested.
These guidelines could be used to check the safety of any structural element
subjected to any concentration of magnesium sulfate attack after any service
time knowing the mix proportions of the used concrete mix. Application of
these guidelines shows the hazards of using Portland cement and silica fume
in concrete subjected to magnesium sulfate attack.
The possibility of using waste ground ceramic powder and the combination
of ground ceramic powder with nano-silica as a replacement for cement was
studied and the results showed that concrete with ceramic waste powder
ultimately demonstrated only minor strength loss, and ceramic waste powder
exhibits very good pozzolanic reactivity and could be used as a cement
replacement. Water absorption capacity of concrete was decreased by using
pozzolan. The greatest decrease was observed in the sample containing 20%
pozzolan (Heidari and Tavakoli 2013). Kawashima (2013) summarized the
current work being done at ACBM-NU on nano-modification of cement-based
materials. Shear rheology results indicated that nano clays have an immediate
stiffening effect, governed by flocculation not water adsorption, but with little
influence over time.

3.3 Influence on Microstructural properties

The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observations revealed that the
nano-particles were not only acting as filler, but also as an activator to
promote hydration and to improve the microstructure of the cement paste if
the nano-particles were uniformly dispersed (Li et al., 2004). The results of
the experimental analysis indicated that nano-scale SiO2 behaves not only as a
filler to improve microstructure, but also as an activator to promote pozzolanic
reaction (Qing et al., 2007); Jo et al., 2007).

94
 Application of
Silica Fume
and Nanosilica
in Cement and
Concrete – A
Review

Figure 3: XRD powder pattern of nano-silica and silica fume (Qing et al., 2007).

The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) showed the presence of CH, already after
9 hours, in samples with nanosilica addition. The nS addition contributed to
an increased production of CH at early age compared with samples without
nanosilica (Senff et al., 2010). Impressive changes were recorded in the
structure of nanomodified samples as the calcium silicate crystal size was
larger in samples with high nano-SiO2 content (Stefanidou and Papayianni
(2012). This was obvious in pastes with 5% nanoparticles where crystals were
formed at 14 days, while at the same age, in pastes with 1% nano-SiO2 the
average crystal size was 600 nm. Microstructure observation also recorded
a denser structure in nano-modified samples. The results showed that nS can
reduce the size of CH crystals at the interface more effectively than SF (Qing
et al., 2007).
It was showed that C–S–H gels from pozzolanic reaction of the agglomerates
cannot function as binder. The nano-indentation test results revealed that the
pozzolanic C–S–H gels from reacted agglomerates showed nearly the same
properties as the C–S–H gels from cement hydration (Kong et al., 2012).
The effect of colloidal nano-silica on concrete and significant improvement
was observed pertaining to refinement of pore structure and densification of
interfacial transition zone. Micro-structural and thermal analyses indicated that
the contribution of pozzolanic and filler effects to the pore structure refinement
depended on the dosage of nano-silica (Said et al., 2012).

4. Conclusion
Nanotechnology has the potential to be the key to a brand new world in
the field of construction and building materials. The role and application of
the nano and micro silica particles with cementitious materials have been
reviewed and discussed in details. It is evident from the literatures reviewed

95
Gupta, S. that none of the researchers have carried out extensive or comprehensive study
of the properties of paste and mortar, with nano silica, micro silica and their
simultaneous use. There is a limited knowledge about the mechanisms by
which nano silica & micro silica affects the flow properties of cementitious
mixes. In India, the research work on use of nano silica is still in elementary
stage. Thus, a need arises to study extensively the various properties of paste,
mortar, and concrete containing various percentages of nano silica, micro
silica alone as partial replacement of cement and then studying their combined
percentage effects. As the properties of nano-silica and micro-silica reported
in literatures relate with those manufactured or exported from abroad, there is
urgent need to study the effect of these materials (manufactured in India) on
various properties of cement paste, mortar and concrete. Major parties in the
construction materials industry should divert more funds to research work on
incorporating nanotechnology in construction materials.
Thus, the main motive is to provide practical information, regarding the
strength, sustainability & durability properties of nano silica, micro-silica
and their simultaneous use in paste, mortar and concrete. Also, the aim is to
carry out the extensive studies to conceive the general purpose of testing new
sustainable building processes and modern production systems, aimed at saving
natural raw materials and reducing energy consumption. Taking advantage
of nanostructure and microstructure characterization tools and materials, the
simultaneous and also separate optimal use of micro-silica and nano-silica will
create a new concrete mixture that will result in long lasting concrete structures
in the future. Thus, there is a gap or room available for further research towards
the fruitful application of especially nano-silica for construction with different
nano structure characterization tools, which will be enable to understand many
mysteries of concrete.

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