STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF SILICA FUME ON THE

COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH AND WATER ABSORPTION OF

CONCRETE BRICK

Adji, R.P.,1 Taveriyanto Arie.,2

1
Universitas Negeri Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia, [email protected]
1
Universitas Negeri Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia, [email protected]

Keywords : Silicafume, Concrete brick, Strength, Water absorption

Abstract : Along with technological advances, many materials can be used as additives to increase the quality of the
concrete brick, one of which is the silica fume additive. This research uses the main constituent ingredients
such as PC cement, silica fume additives, sand, and water. The composition of silica fume is 0% (normal),
10%, 20%, 30% by weight of cement. The concrete brick sample measures 15 x 15 x 15 cm for compressive
strength and measuring 37 x 10 x 15 cm for water absorption. From the research results, the ratio between
cement, sand and silica fume additives are added to concrete brick, it can be seen from the compressive
strength of the addition of silica fume as a substitute for cement as much as 10% - 30% can increase the
compressive strength of the concrete brick by 9.10% to 23.90% compared without the addition of silica
fume additives. The addition of silica fume additives to the concrete brick also make the permeability of the
concrete bricks been small because it can be seen from the lower water absorption value. The water
absorption at the hollow block with 0% silica fume is equal to 7.32%, at 10% is equal to 6.23%, at 20% is
equal to 5.28%, at 30% is equal 4.40%.

1. INTRODUCTION Silica fume is an additive (ad-mixture) in

the concrete mixture, which is specifically for
The technological advances are currently building structures with environmental conditions
developing create new innovations in the world of that are directly related to the weather, or
construction. However, the innovations are created structures are close to chemical substances that can
must be environmentally friendly so they can inhibit the durability and stability of the structure.
overcome the issue of global warming is currently This material is good to be used in industrial
being discussed. Based on this, environmentally plants, gas stations, dams, docks are requiring a
friendly materials are made, such as material for mixture that has high durability. In the concrete
wall constructionIn a construction project, both in brick mixture, Silica Fume fine particles that are
simple buildings and even tall buildings, the wall finer than cement grains will fill the gaps in the
pairs are formed with named Concrete bricks. concrete brick mixture, so the air cavity will be
The concrete bricks mixture consists of reduced and the mixture is denser. ( Technical
Portland cement, aggregate, and water. the data, PT. Sika Nusa Indonesia 2011).
concrete brick consists of various shapes and sizes.
The concrete brick is related to the rectangular 2. EXECUTION METHOD
shape used for concrete walls. Along with time and
technology, many innovations or alternatives have 2.1 Concrete Brick
been found in making concrete bricks to improve
class and quality. By adding additional materials, it Concrete brick or cement brick is a
will increase the compressive strength of the component of building materials used for walls and
concrete brick. An innovation that can be used as made simply from a mixture of Portland cement,
additional material by adding a Silica Fume. sand, and water with or without additives, using a
manual printing press or a press vibration press. Chemical Weight in percent
( Housing and settlements,2000 : 100). SiO 2 92 - 94
The Concrete brick consists of portland Karbon 3-5
cement, aggregate, and water. The definition of Fe2 O 3 0,10 - 0,50
block or tras-lime printing stone according to CaO 0,10 - 0,15
PUBI - 1982 is block made by printing and
Al2 O 3 0,20 - 0,30
maintaining in a humid atmosphere, a mixture of
MgO 0,10 - 0,20
tras, lime, and water with or without other
MnO 0,008
additives. Building materials such as block in
general is usually used for walls. Concrete brick K2 O 0,10
consists of various shapes and sizes. The term Na2 O 0,10
concrete brick is related to the rectangular shape Physics Weight in percent
used for concrete walls. Concrete brick is classified Density 2,02
into two main groups, namely solid block and Average of particle size 0,1
hollow block. The hollow block has better heat Slip of Filter, Number.325 in Percent 99
absorbing properties than solid block using the pH acidity (10% water in the slurry) 73
same material and same thickness.
Table 2.1 Composition of silica fume
2.2 Materials and Mixture
2.3 Characteristic of research
2.2.1. Portland Cement
2.3.1. Compressive strenght
Portland cement is a hydraulic cement is
produced by refining clinker, especially from Compressive strength is a material which
calcium silicates which are hydraulic (can harden is the ratio of the maximum load that can be held
when reacting with water) with plaster as with the cross-sectional area of the material
additional material ( SK SNI S-04-1989; 1). The experiencing this force. (Mariq R.2009).
silicate and aluminate contained in Portland The maximum compressive strength value
cement, when reacted with water, will form an of the mortar specimen with the following
adhesive which solidifies and forms a hard mass. formula :
The reaction forms this adhesive media is called p max
hydration ( Neville, 1977 : 10 ).  f ' c= .................................... (1)
A
Keterangan :
2.2.2. Aggregat
In general, the aggregate can be f’’c = Maximum compressive strength
distinguished based on its size, namely coarse (Mpa)
aggregate, and fine aggregate. The boundary P max = Maximum load (N)
between coarse aggregate and fine aggregate lies
A = Surface area (mm2)
between one discipline and another. However, a
size limitation can be given between fine and 2.3.2. Water Absorption
coarse aggregates, namely 4.80 mm (British
Standard) or 4.75 mm (Standard ASTM), and fine The effect of too large a ratio can cause a
aggregate is rock smaller than 4.80 mm (4.75 mm). cavity because there is water that does not react
and then evaporates and leaves the cavity
2.2.3. Silica fume ( Sipayung.M. 1995). Water absorption can be
calculated by the following formula :
Silica Fume is the latest generation additive
from silica fume technology in the form of flour,
mb−mk
SikaFume can be used very effectively to produce  Water absorption (%) ¿ x 100 %
high-quality concrete. There are more than 95% of mk
SiO2 particles. Which is less than one micron ........................... (3)
(Sika Indonesia, 2003). Keterangan :
The following table of the chemical and mb = The wet mass of the sample (gr)
physical composition of silica fume:
mk = The dry mass of the sample (gr) The data obtained from the compressive
strength research will be displayed in graphical
3. RESULT AND ANALYSIS form, To state the relation between the percentage
of the compressive strength of the concrete blocks
3.1 Sand with the sikafume mixture, it can be seen in table
3.2 as follow :
From the sand inspection results, the
average density of sand from the two samples are
2.48 gr/cm3. Based on the results of the inspection,
the sand fulfills the requirements to be used as a
building material, according to the 1982 PUBI
article 11 concrete sand. "Requirements for the
specific gravity of good sand are 2.4 - 2.9".
The results of the examination of the sludge
levels obtained were 0.51%. ased on the results of
the sand inspection fulfill the requirements
according to SNI 03 - 6821-2002 "fine aggregate
may not contain more than 5% sludge (of dry
weight), if the sludge content exceeds 5% then the Table 3.2 The results of the compressive strength
sand must be washed.”. of concrete brick with the silica fume mixture
And to check the results of the modulus of It can be seen that the compressive strength
sand grains, it was obtained 2.51 (the allowable of the concrete blocks will increase with the adding
MHB limit of sand (1.5 - 3.8). silica fume content in the concrete brick mixture.
The highest compressive strength of brick is 19.27
Mpa and the lowest compressive strength is 15.56
Mpa.

Table 3.0 The results of sand density

3.2 Compresive Strength of Concrete

Brick
Testing of the compressive strength of the Graph 3.3 Graph between the percentage of silica
brick is carried out after 28 days of age, with each fume and compressive strength
test object 3 pieces of bricks using the Universal
From graphical 3.3 the relation
Testing Machine (UTM). Standard that i use in this
between the percentage of silica fume and
research is SNI 03-0349-1989 with dimension of
the compressive strength of the concrete
concrete brick is 15 x 15 x 15 cm for compresive
brick, can use the following equation: y =
strength test.
0.1203 + 15.607 with R2 = 0.092.
From graph 3.2 it can be seen that the
compressive strength continues increasing due to
the addition of silica fume additives at the
percentage of 10%, 20%, and 30%.
Table 3.1 Cement to Silica fume comparision
table
3.3 Water Absorption of Concrete water absorption occurs in the silica fume
Brick mixture with a percentage of 30 %, so it
can be concluded that the addition of
The water absorption test was also carried silica fume can reduce the water
out when the brick was 28 days old, with 3 absorption capacity of the concrete brick.
specimens for each. Standard that i use in this
research is SNI 03-0349-1989 with dimension of
4. CONCLUSION
concrete brick is 37 x 10 x 15 cm for water From this research, it can be seen that the
absorption test The following table of brick water addition of silica fume to the concrete brick as
absorption capacity is: additional material can increase the compressive
strength of the concrete brick, meanwhile, the
addition of silica fume can also reduce the water
absorption power of the concrete brick. The
Addition of Silicafume to concrete brick can
increase the compressive strength and reduce the
water absorption because in geometrical ways
silicafume fill the cavity on the grain of cement
Table 3.3 The results of the water absroption of and affect the pore size distribution be shrink along
concrete brick with the silica fume mixture the volume of the pore be shrink too. I hope this
Based on Table 3.3 above, it can research can be continued by adding the silica
be seen that the more amount of silica fume in the concrete bricks by 40%, 50%, 60%,
fume used in the brick mixture, the water 70% by weight of cement.
absorption capacity will be smaller. The
concrete brick that uses PC cement as a
REFERENCES
bonding material with a percentage of 0% Anonim. 1982. General requirements for building
silica fume is the concrete brick that has materials in Indonesia (PUBI 1982).
the greatest water absorption, amounting Bandung
to 7.32%. Meanwhile, the concrete blocks Departemen Pekerjaan Umum. 2002. Indonesian
that use added silica fume materials show National Standard. SNI 03 - 6821-2002.
a decrease in water absorption.. The more Pangestuti Endah Kanti. 2011. Addition of Fly Ash
percentage of sikafume used, the water to Hollow blocks in terms of compressive
absorption will get smaller. strength and water absorption.
The following graph of water absorption Anggoro Wahyu. 2014. Characteristics of Light
with the percentage of silica fume is: concrete brick with Styrofoam Mixture in
terms of density, compressive strength and,
water absorption. Skripsi, Fakultas Teknik,
Jurusan Sipil, Univeritas Negeri Semarang.
Hermanto Dony. 2014. The compressive strength
of the concrete brick with an adding
material as palm fiber.
Mulyono Tri. 2003. Technology of concrete.
Jakarta : Penerbit Andi.

Graph 3.4 Graph between water absorption and

the percentage of silica fume
From graph 3.4 above, the more
percentage of sikafume used, the less
water absorption capacity is. The optimal