• Flores, Ismael
• Torres-Martínez, Leticia M.
• Sobolev, Konstantin

Abstract

Nanotechnology has changed our vision, expectations and abilities to control the material world. The developments in nano-science can also have a great impact on the field of construction materials. Portland cement, one of the largest commodities consumed by mankind, is obviously the product with great, but not completely explored potential. Better understanding and engineering of complex structure of cement based materials at nano-level will definitely result in a new generation of concrete, stronger and more durable, with desired stress-strain behavior and, possibly, with the whole range of newly introduced “smart ” properties. The reported research examined the mechanical properties of mortars with nano-SiO2 synthesized by sol-gel method. Experimental results demonstrate an increase in compressive strength of mortars with developed nano-particles at early stages of hardening followed by the strength reduction at later age (vs. the reference). Addition of superplasticizer was proposed to overcome this obstacle. Superplasticized mortars with selected nano-SiO2 demonstrated a 15-20 % increase of compressive strength, reaching up to 144.8 MPa at 90-day age. Mechano-chemical

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• strength
• stress-strain behavior
• composite
• cement