International Journal of Civil Engineering OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308

8 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME TECHNOLOGY (IJCIET) ISSN 0976 6308 (Print) ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), pp. 455-464 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijciet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2012): 3.1861 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

IJCIET
IAEME

FACTORS AFFECTING THE STRENGTH OF REACTIVE POWDER CONCRETE (RPC)

Khadiranaikar R.B. and Muranal S. M. Mr. Santosh M. Muranal M.Tech (Str.Engg) Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering Basaveshwar Engineering College Vidyagiri, BAGALKOT-587102 Karnataka, India Email-Id: murnal.santosh@gmail.com Dr. R. B. Khadiranaikar M.E, PhD(IIT, Delhi) Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering Basaveshwar Engineering College Vidyagiri, BAGALKOT-587102 Karnataka, India Email-Id: dr.rbknaikar@gmail.com

ABSTRACT Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is catching more attention now days because of its high mechanical and durability characteristics. RPC mainly comprises of cement, silica fume, silica sand, quartz powder and steel fibers. RPC has been able to produce with compressive strength ranging from 200 MPa to 800 MPa with flexural strength up to 50 MPa. Although suitable guidelines are not available to produce RPC in India, the present study focuses on developing RPC of compressive strength up to 150 MPa. Along with the development of RPC, various factors affecting the strength of RPC are studied. The 100100100 mm size RPC cube specimens were cast by varying the constituent materials and cured at both normal and high temperature before testing for their strength. The compressive strength of 146 MPa was achieved with the mix considered. It is observed from the study that w/b ratio, silica fume content, quartz powder, high temperature curing significantly affects the compressive strength of RPC. It was observed that addition of quartz powder and high temperature curing increases the compressive strength up to 10 percent when compared with specimens tested after normal room temperature curing. The material can be effectively utilized in the production of precast elements/PSC structures.
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME
Keywords: Reactive powder concrete, silica fume, quartz powder, accelerated curing, compressive strength. 1. INTRODUCTION Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is an ultra high strength and high ductile composite material with advanced mechanical properties. Reactive powder concrete is a concrete without coarse aggregate, but contains cement, silica fume, sand, quartz powder and steel fiber with very low water binder ratio. The absence of coarse aggregate was considered by inventors to be key aspect for the microstructure and performance of RPC in order to reduce the heterogeneity between cement matrix and aggregate (Richard et al. 1995). The original concept of RPC was first developed, in early 1990, by researchers at Bouygues laboratory in France. The addition of supplementary material, elimination of coarse aggregates, very low water/binder ratio, additional fine steel fibers, heat curing and application of pressure before and during setting were the basic concepts on which it was developed (Richard et al. 1995). Compressive strength of RPC ranges from 200 to 800 MPa, flexural strength between 30-50 MPa and Youngs modulus up to 50-60 GPa. There is a growing use of RPC owing to the outstanding mechanical properties and durability. RPC structural elements can resist chemical attack, impact loading from vehicles and vessels, and sudden kinetic loading due to earthquakes. Ultra high performance is the most important characteristic of RPC (Gilliland et al. 2007). RPC is composed of more compact and arranged hydrates. The microstructure is optimized by precise gradation of all particles in the mix to yield maximum density. It uses extensively the pozzolonic properties of highly refined silica fume and optimization of the Portland cement chemistry to produce highest strength hydrates (Cheyrezy et al. 1995; Reda et al. 1999). RPC will be suitable for pre-stressed application and for structures acquiring light and thin components such as roofs of stadiums, long span bridges, space structures, high pressure pipes, blast resistance structures and the isolation and containment of nuclear wastes (Gowripalan et al. 2003; Bonneau et al. 1996; Hassan et al. 2005). In India the work on RPC has started from last few years. SERC, Chennai, worked towards the development of the UHSPC with and without steel fibers and the effect of various heat curing regimes adopted on the strength properties of the mixtures (Harish et al. 2008). Dili A.S. and Manu Santhanam (2004) have studied mix design, mechanical properties and durability aspects of RPC. The utility of RPC in actual construction is minimal or nil in India, it is because of non-availability of sufficient experimental data regarding production and performance of RPC. So the basic objective of the current investigation is to experience the production of RPC. The key issues of the study are: to develop RPC of compressive strength up to 150 MPa, to determine the effect of silica fume content on compressive strength, to determine the effect of high temperature curing on the compressive strength and to determine the effect of addition of quartz powder on the compressive strength of RPC. As the standard code is not available to design RPC, here an attempt is made to design RPC mix with locally available materials referring literature. The RPC cube specimens were cast and cured for both normal and high temperature curing. The cured specimens were tested to evaluate the compressive strength. 2. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS 2.1 Raw Materials 2.1.1. Cement The Ultra-Tech 53 Grade Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) which complies with IS: 12269-1987 is used in the present study. The physical and chemical properties are given in Table 1.

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME Table 1 Properties of 53 Grade OPC
Sl.No. Particulars Test Results IS 12269 Requirement Chemical Properties: CaO - 0.7SO3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2.8 SiO2 + 1.2Al2O3 + 0.65 Fe2O3 Lime Saturation Factor (%) TriCalcium silicate (C3S) DiCalcium silicate (C2S) TriCalcium aluminate (C3A) Tetra Calcium Aluminoferrate (C4AF) Al2O3 / Fe2O3 Insoluble Residue (% by mass) Magnesia (% by mass) Sulphuric Anhydride (% by mass) Total Loss on Ignition (% by mass) 0.87 45.38% 27.06% 7.04% 13.44% 1.20 2.25 1.0 2.01 1.8 0.016 2.5 2.4

0.80 min 1.20 max 1.02 Max 0.66 min 5.00 max 6.00 max 3.00 max 4.00 max 0.10 max 5 max

Total Chlorides (% by mass) Performance Improver: 12 Limestone (%) Fly ash (%) Physical Properties: 13 14 Fineness (Specific surface) (m2/kg) Setting time (min) a. Initial b. Final 15 Soundness test a. By Le Chatelier (mm) b. By Autoclave (%) 16 Compressive strength (MPa) a. 3 days b. 7 days c. 28 days

294 160 255 1.0 0.090 37.0 48.8 68.8

225 min 30 600 10.0 max 0.8 % max 27.0 min 37.0 min 53.0 min

2.1.2. Ultrafine Powders The Silica fume 945 D from Elkem India Ltd. which complies with ASTM C 1240 95a and IS:15388-2003 is used in the study. It is in grey powder form which contains latently reactive silicon dioxide and no chlorides or other potentially corrosive substances. The physical and chemical properties are mentioned in Table 2. Quartz Powder - The crushed quartz with particle size ranging from 10 m to 45 m is used. The specific gravity of quartz powder is 2.6

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME
Sl. No.

Table 2 Physical and chemical properties of silica fume Properties Form Colour Specific gravity Bulk Density Specific surface Particle size Sio2 H2 O Ultra fine amorphous powder Grey 2.2 700 kg/m3 Densified 25 m2/g 15 m 90% 1%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

2.1.3. Aggregate The fine silica sand is the large sized aggregate in RPC. It is yellowish-white high purity silica sand. The particle size of sand is 150 m 600 m. The particle distribution graph of all fine materials is shown in Fig.1
Particle size distribution graph 100.0 90.0 80.0 Percentage passing 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 0.001 0.010 0.100 Particle size (mm) 1.000
Sand Cement Quartz Powder

10.000

Fig. 1 Partical distribution graph of fine materials 2.1.4. Superplasticizer The very low w/b ratio required for RPC can be achieved with use of superplasticizer (SP) to obtain good workability. In this study, the 2nd generation of super plasticizer called Glenium B-276 Surtec from BASF India Ltd. was used. It is an extremely high range waterreducing agent which meets the requirements of IS: 9103-1999. The properties of superplasticizer are given in Table 3.

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME
Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Table 3 Properties of Superplasticizer Properties Glenium B-276 Type of S.P. Appearance pH Value Sp.Gravity Solid content Recommended dosage Polycarboxylate polymer Dark brown 6 1.2 40% 0.3 to 1.2%

2.2. Experimental Procedures 2.2.1 Mix Proportioning To study the influence of the constituent materials, 14 different proportions were considered by varying water-binder ratio, silica fume and quartz powder content. Cement of quantity 900 kg/m3 was kept constant for all the mixes. The water-binder ratio of the mixes varied from 0.16 to 0.24. Silica fume was added by 15 to 25 percent by weight of cement. 20 percent of quartz powder by weight of cement was also added for few mixes. Superplasticizer dosage varied from 1 to 4 percent for all the mixes. Detailed mix proportioning is mentioned in Table 4.

Table 4 Proportioning of RPC mixes

M i x Material TM1 TM2 TM3 TM4 TM5 TM6 TM7 TM8 TM9 TM10 TM11 TM12 TM13 TM14

15% silica fume

20 % silica fume

25% Silica fume

15% Silica fume + 20% Quartz Powder

Cement Silica fume Quartz powder Sand W/B ratio SP in % Curing regime

1 0.15

1 0.15

1 0.15

1 0.15

1 0.15

1 0.20

1 0.20

1 0.20

1 0.25

1 0.25

1 0.25

1 0.15

1 0.15

1 0.15

0.2

0.2

0.2

1.33 0.16 3

1.28 0.18 2.5

1.24 0.20 2

1.19 0.22 1.5

1.15 0.24 1

1.16 0.20 3

1.11 0.22 2.5

0.91 0.24 2

0.98 0.20 4

0.98 0.22 3

0.92 0.24 2

0.82 0.18 3

0.82 0.2 2.5

0.82 0.22 2

Water curing at room temperature and steam curing at 900c for 48 hours.

2.2.2 Mixing Procedure The high speed mortar mixer is used to mix the ingredients of RPC. The mixing sequence is as follows: 1. Dry mixing the powders (including cement, silica fume, quartz powder and silica sand) for about 3 minutes with a low speed of about 140 rpm. 2. Addition of sixty percentage volume of water and mix for about 3 minutes with a higher speed of about 285 rpm. 3. Addition of the remaining water and superplasticizer, and mixed for about 10 minutes with a higher speed of about 285 rpm.
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME
2.2.3 Sample Preparation and Curing For each batch of concrete, 100 x 100 x 100 mm cubes were cast to evaluate compressive strength (IS:10086-1999). The specimens were cured at both normal temperature for 28 days and at 90 C for 48 hours, remaining 26 days at normal temperature. 2.2.4 Testing Three cube specimens were cast and tested with each RPC mix proportion to evaluate compressive strength at 7 and 28 days. All tests were carried out using compression testing machine. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Arriving at optimal composition with locally available materials is important to achieve the best overall performance of RPC. Hence, the effects of several parameters on compressive strength were investigated which include water-to-binder ratio, superplasticizer dosage, different percentage of silica fume, with and without quartz powder and curing regime. During the study it was observed that the mixes appeared to be very sensitive to any variation of the chemical composition of the binders or particle size distribution of the fillers. As there are no standard guidelines for the mix design of RPC, literature was referred to design the mixes. The silica fume content was varied from 15 to 25 percent by weight of cement to find the optimum percentage of silica fume in the production of RPC. To study the influence of addition of quartz powder to RPC, the RPC mixes were also designed with addition of quartz powder by 20 percent by weight of cement. 3.1. Density of RPC Specimens The density of all the specimens recorded varied between 23.3 24.7 kN/m3. 3.2. Effect of Water-to-Binder Ratio on Compressive Strength of RPC The strength of concrete is very much dependent upon the hydration reaction in which water plays a critical role, particularly the amount of water used. The effect of w/b ratio on compressive strength under various curing ages is shown in Fig. 2. The result demonstrates that an optimal w/b ratio that gives the highest compressive strength of RPC in the present study is 0.2. The reduction in strength at lower w/b ratio may be due to the lack of adequate amount of mixing water in RPC to ensure adequate compaction and proper hydration to occur.

Effect of water-to-binder ratio on compressive strength of RPC

Fig. 2 of
Compressive Strength N/mm2

Effect water110 112 Avg. Compressive strength at 7 days 69 66

140 128 120 100 80 72 60 40 20 0

WB.-0.22 WB.-0.24 WB-0.16 WB-0.18 WB-0.20

toratio

116

120

binder on

94 70

Avg. Compressive strength at 28 days

compressive strength of RPC

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME Beyond this optimal w/b ratio of 0.2, it was found that compressive strength decreases with increasing w/b ratios. This may be because of more water which is susceptible to entraining air bubbles due to the folding action of the mixing process. As a result, more voids are left in the matrix which increase the porosity and thus considerably reduce the compressive strength. The compressive strengths of all mix proportions at 7 and 28 days are tabulated in Table 5. Table 5 Compressive strength of RPC with Glenium B- 276 Normal Curing at 27oc Sample no Compressive strength at 7 days N/mm2 72 70 94 69 66 62 58 56 61 55 57 88 91 85 Compressive strength at 28 days N/mm2 116 120 128 110 112 93 95 87 96 90 85 112 117 109 94 105 89 138 146 122 Accelerated Curing at 90 oc for 48 hours Compressive strength at 7 days N/mm2 81 83 99 78 76 Compressive strength at 28 days N/mm2 124 132 138 121 119 -

TM-1 TM-2 TM-3 TM-4 TM-5 TM-6 TM-7 TM-8 TM-9 TM-10 TM-11 TM-12 TM-13 TM-14

3.3 Effect of Silica Fume Percentage on Compressive Strength of RPC The effect of varying percentage of silica fume on the compressive strength of RPC mix is demonstrated in Fig. 3. It is observed that the compressive strength tends to decrease as the silica fume dosage increases. The highest compressive strength was observed for addition of 15% silica fume. The compressive strength is seen to fluctuate in the range of 15 % to 25% of silica fume regardless of water/binder ratio. As silica fume content increases, mix requires more superplasticizer to disperse in fresh concrete.
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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME
Effect of Silica fume on Compressive strength 140 130

Compressive strength N/mm2

120 110 100 90 80 70 60 15% 20% % Silica fume 25% W/B 0.2 W/B 0.22 W/B 0.24

Fig. 3 Effect of silica fume on compressive strength of RPC

3.4 Effect of Addition of Quartz Powder From the literature it is learnt that, hydrated cement alone cannot help to elevate the strength of RPC, but other finer materials also contribute marginally. Quartz powder improves the filler effect in RPC mix. As shown in Fig. 4 the addition of quartz powder produce the better result under accelerated curing condition than that of normal curing condition. The results show that the addition of quartz powder increases the compressive strength by 20% under the accelerated curing condition. This is possible due to increased proportion of hard, fine fillers that enhance the packing density and pore filling action.
Effect of curing regime on addtion of quartz powder
160 146 138 140 122 120 112 117 109 105 100 88 80 94 91 85 89 Avg. Compressive strength a t 7 da ys for norma l curing Avg. Compressive strength a t 28 days for norma l curing Avg. Compressive strength a t 7 da ys for a ccelera ted curing Avg. Compressive strength a t 28 days for a ccelera ted curing

Compressive strengthN/mm2

60

40

20

0 TM-12 TM-13 TM-14

Fig. 4 The effect of Quartz powder on compressive strength of RPC

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME 3.5 Influence of Curing Regime An adequate supply of moisture is necessary to ensure that hydration is sufficient to reduce the porosity to a level such that the desired strength can be attained. The effect of curing regime on compressive strength under various curing ages is shown in Fig. 5. Two curing methods were exercised, one with normal water curing at 27C, and other at 90C hot water curing for 48 hours. The compressive strength increased by 10% when cured in hot water as compared to normal curing. This indicates that curing temperature has a significant effect on the early strength development of RPC. The increased strength is due to the rapid hydration of cement at higher curing temperatures of 90C compared to that of 27C. Moreover, the pozzolonic reactions are also accelerated by the higher curing temperatures.
Effect of curing regime

160 140 124

Compressive strength Mpa.

146 132 116 120 110 138 128 121 112 119 112 138 117 109 28 days compressive strength of nornal curing 122

120 100 80 60 40 20 0

28 days compressive strength of accelerataed curing

T-1

T-4

T-2

T-3

T-5

T-12

T-13

Specimen

Fig. 5 Effect of curing regime 4. CONCLUSIONS From the present study the following conclusions may be drawn; 1. During the production process, it was found that an extended mixing time up to 20-30 min. is required to obtain a consistent and homogeneous mix. 2. The maximum compressive strength of RPC obtained in the present study is 146 MPa at w/b ratio of 0.2 with accelerated curing. 3. In the production of RPC the optimum percentage addition of silica fume is found to be 15% (by weight of cement) with available superplasticizer. 4. The addition of quartz powder increases the compressive strength of RPC up to 20% 5. The high temperature curing is essential for RPC to achieve higher strength. It increases the compressive strength up to 10% when compared with normal curing.

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), ISSN 0976 6308 (Print), ISSN 0976 6316(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, July- December (2012), IAEME ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to sincerely thank Mr. Nagesh Chitari for preparing the specimens and helping to conduct the relevant tests. This research was funded by the Visveswaraya Technological University, Belauam, Karnataka, India through VTU Research Grant Scheme. REFERENCES 1. Richard P., Cheyrezy M., Composition of Reactive Powder Concretes, Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 1501-1511, 1995. 2. Gilliland Scott K., Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC), A New Material for Pre-stressed Concrete Bridge Girders, Building an International Community of structural Engineers, pp. 125-132, 2007. 3. Cheyrezy M. et al., Microstructural Analysis of RPC, Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 1491-1500, 1995. 4. Reda M.M. et al., Microstructural Investigation of innovative UHPC, Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 29, pp. 323-329, 1999. 5. Gowripalan N. et al., Reactive powder concrete for precast structural concrete, 21st Biennial conference concrete institute of Australia, Brisbane, pp. 99- 108, 2003. 6. Bonneau O. et al., Reactive Powder Concretes: from Theory to Practice, Concrete International, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 47-49, 1996. 7. Hassan A. and Makoto Kawakami, Steel-Free composite slabs made of reactive powder materials and fiber reinforced concrete, ACI structural Journal, Vol. 102, No. 5, pp. 709718, 2005. 8. Harish K V et al., Role of ingredients and of curing regime in ultra high strength powder concretes, Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 421-428, 2008. 9. Dili A S., Manu Santhanam, Investigation on reactive Powder Concrete: A developing ultra high- strength technology, The Indian Concrete Journal, Vol. 78, No. 4, pp. 33-38, 2004. 10. M.N.Bajad, C.D.Modhera and A.K.Desai, Influence Of A Fine Glass Powder On Strength Of Concrete Subjected To Chloride Attack International Journal of Civil Engineering & Technology (IJCIET), Volume2, Issue2, 2011, pp. 1 - 12, Published by IAEME 11. Vidula S. Sohoni and Dr.M.R.Shiyekar, ConcreteSteel Composite Beams Of A Framed Structure For Enhancement In Earthquake Resistance International Journal of Civil Engineering & Technology (IJCIET), Volume3, Issue1, 2012, pp. 99 - 110, Published by IAEME 12. K. Sasiekalaa And R. Malathy, Flexural Performance Of Ferrocement Laminates Containing Silicafume And Fly Ash Reinforced With Chicken Mesh International Journal of Civil Engineering & Technology (IJCIET), Volume3, Issue2, 2012, pp. 130 - 143, Published by IAEME

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