CONCRETE MIX PROPORTIONING USING MICRO SILICA

1
PARTHA PRATIM DAS, 2FARHANA NAZNIN, 3NAYANMONI CHETIA

P.G student Jorhat Engg. College, Assam, P.G student Jorhat Engg College, Assam
Assistant Professor, Jorhat Engg. College, Assam
Email: parthapratim.das347@gmail.com, farhana.naznin@yahoo.co.in, nayanmoni.chetia@gmail.com

Abstract Infrastructure development for a country is a principle development and concrete plays a vital role. Concrete is the
worlds largest consuming material in the field of construction. From time immemorial research over concrete has been going
on to enhance its performance and strength. Now-a-days the replacement of cement through some admixtures or other
additives to increase the strength is in trend. Micro silica, a very fine non-crystalline material is very good as filler material to
provide good strength. Here in the experiment an attempt has been made to increase the strength of concrete by replacing
cement with 0%,5%,10%,15% and 20% of Micro silica in a design mix of M35 and M40.The materials are taken from the
locally available sources in the North Eastern region. The compressive strengths are checked for the mentioned design mixes.
It is found that an optimum replacement of 15% of Micro silica to that of cement (by weight) increases the strength of concrete
to 30%.Further addition of micro silica shows a decreasing trend.

Index Terms Compressive Strength, Design Mix, Micro Silica, North East India.

I. INTRODUCTION The use of micro-silica as a pozzolan in concrete was

The history of concrete dates back to the rein of the
Greeks and Romans, since then till today in the field of
concrete technology developments strive towards the
achievement of higher and higher strength concrete.
Structural concrete is used extensively in various
kinds of civil engineering structures. It is the most
commonly used construction material consumed at a
rate of approximately one ton for every living human
being.
Concrete is a composite material which essentially
consists of cement, coarse aggregate (CA), fine
aggregate (FA) and water. Coarse aggregate gives the
volume to the concrete and fine aggregate makes the
concrete denser by filling the voids of coarse
aggregate. Water hydrates and sets the cement which
thus acts as a binder for all the ingredient particles of
concrete. Concrete is the most important engineering
material and the addition of some other materials may
change the properties of concrete. With increase in
trend towards the wider use of concrete for pre stressed
concrete and high rise buildings there is a growing
demand of concrete with higher compressive strength.
The ultimate properties of concrete in terms of its
strength, durability and economy depend not only on
the various properties of its ingredients but also on the
mix design standards, method of preparation,
handling and curing conditions. Characteristic
strength of concrete depends on its quality control and
the extent of quality control is often an economical
compromise and depends on the size and type of job.
Economization is nowadays done by replacing cement
with cheap, waste and recycled products. Mineral
additions which are also known as mineral admixtures
have been used with cements for many years. There
are two types of materials crystalline and
non-crystalline.
originated in Scandinavia during the early 1950s and
was introduced to the United States in 1984.
Micro-silica is a by-product from the silicon carbide
and metallic industries where it is recovered from
exhausts of electric furnaces. Silica fume is an
ultrafine airborne material with spherical particles
less than 1 m in diameter, the average being about
0.1 m. It is approximately a hundred times finer than
Portland cement. When it is used in concrete, it acts as
a filler and as a cementitious material. The small silica
fume particles fill spaces between cement particles
and between the cement paste matrix and aggregate
particles. The silica fume also combines with calcium
hydroxide to form additional calcium hydrate through
the pozzolanic reaction. Both of these actions result in
a denser, stronger and less permeable material.
Verma7 found that Silica fume increases the strength
of concrete more 25%. Silica fume is much cheaper
than cement therefore it is very important form
economical point of view. Silica fume also decrease
the voids in concrete. Pandit3 concluded that addition
of micro silica to concrete increases the strength more
than 17% due to their pozzolanic properties and
reduces the permeability of concrete. Ghutke2 found
that Silica fume has been recognized as a pozzolanic
admixture that is effective in enhancing the
mechanical properties to a great extent. Addition of
silica fume to concrete improves the durability of
concrete and also in protecting the embedded steel
from corrosion. When fine pozzolana particles are
dispersed in the paste, they generate a large number of
nucleation sites for the precipitation of the hydration
products. Therefore, this mechanism makes the paste
more homogeneous and dense as for the distribution of
the fine pores. This is due to the reaction between the
amorphous silica of the pozzolanic and the calcium
hydroxide produced by the cement hydration

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 Concrete Mix Proportioning Using Micro Silica

reactions. Because of its chemical and physical Working phenomena of micro silica in Concrete:
properties, it is a very reactive pozzolana. Aginam1 Improvisation of concrete occurs through two
concluded that, there is a relationship between the mechanisms-
aggregate size and quantity to the final strength of Pozzolanic effect:
concrete. The study revealed a decrease in strength When water is added to OPC (ordinary Portland
with increase in aggregate quantity and a decrease in cement), hydration occur forming two products, as
strength with decrease in aggregate sizes. Pradhan 5 shown below:
states a higher compressive strength resembles the
concrete incorporating silica fume gives high strength OPC + H2O CSH (Calcium silicate hydrate) +
concrete as per IS code recommendations. Improved Ca(OH)2
pore structures at transition zone for silica fume In the presence of micro-silica, the silicon dioxide
concrete resembles that it may be led to as high from the micro-silica will react with the calcium
performance concrete. Zakaria8 found the effect of hydroxide to produce more aggregate binding CSH as
different influencing parameters on concrete follows:
characteristics (at the given workability) considering
four design methods (A.C.I, D.O.E, Murdock, the Ca(OH)2+ SiO2 H2O+CSH
Basics). The reaction reduces the amount of calcium hydroxide
in the concrete. The weaker calcium hydroxide does
II. EXPERIMENT not contribute to strength. When combines with
carbon dioxide, it forms a soluble salt which will leach
A. Materials through the concrete causing efflorescence, a familiar
All the materials used for the experiment is locally architectural problem. Concrete is also more
available in North Eastern India. vulnerable to sulphate attack, chemical attack and
(a) Micro silica adverse alkali-aggregate reactions when high amounts
Silica fume, also known as micro silica, is an of calcium hydroxide is present in concrete.
amorphous (non-crystalline) polymorph of silicon
dioxide as shown in Fig1. It is an ultrafine powder Micro filler effect:
collected as a by-product of the silicon and ferrosilicon Micro-silica is an extremely fine material, with an
alloy production and consists of spherical particles average diameter 100 times finer than cement. At a
with an average particle diameter of 150 nm. typical dosage of 8% by weight of cement,
approximately 100,000 particles for each grain of
Table I. Physical Properties cement will fill the water spaces in fresh concrete.
Sl no categories Description This eliminates bleed and the weak transition zone
1 Size Less than 1 m between aggregate and paste found in normal
2 Shape Spherical concrete. This micro-filler effect will greatly reduce
permeability and improve the paste to aggregate bond
Table II. Chemical Properties of silica fume concrete compared to conventional
Sl no Ingredients Percentage concrete. The silica react rapidly providing high early
1 Silica 99.886% age strength and durability. The efficiency of
2 Alumina 0.043% micro-silica is 3-5 times that of OPC and consequently
3 Ferric oxide 0.040% vastly improved concrete performance can be
4 Calcium oxide 0.001% obtained.
5 Titanium oxide 0.001%
6 Potassium oxide 0.001% (b) Cement
7 Sodium oxide 0.003% Ordinary Portland cement of 43 grade conforming to
IS 8112: 2013 is used.

(c) Fine Aggregate

Zone-II sand is used for the entire experiment as per IS
383:1970 specifications.

(d) Coarse Aggregate

As per IS 383:1970 specifications the coarse aggregate
is used.

(e) Water
Portable water for drinking purpose was used for the
Fig 1: Micro Silica Experiment.
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 Concrete Mix Proportioning Using Micro Silica

B. Methods III. MATH

Mix proportioning of grade M35 and M40 was
performed as per IS 10262. Then for each case the Mix design calculations for M35 grade has been
cement is replaced by 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of silica done as per IS 10262:2009 and IS 456:2000. Some
fume. values have been assumed here.
Table III. Mix design As per clause 3.2 of IS 10262:2009
Target mean strength fck= fck+ 1.65 S
= 35+ 1.65*5
= 43.25N/mm2
S= standard deviation from table-1 of IS
10262:2009 according to grade.
Water cement ratio has been considered as 0.43 (as per
table-5 IS 456:2000). For aggregate size as 20mm,
C. Figures and Tables Percentage of coarse aggregate in total all in
aggregate= 0.62. After adjustment this value becomes
Table IV. Composition of M35 per bag of cement 0.624.
Percentage of fine aggregate = 1-0.624
Ingredients Weights (kg) = 0.376
Water(W) 21.5 Considering 1 cumec of volume of concrete and
Cement (C) 50 specific gravity of cement as 3.15.
Fine aggregate (F.A) 76 Volume of cement = 0.137m3
Volume of water = 0.186m3
Coarse aggregate (C.A) 129.5 Volume of all in aggregate = 1- [ 0.137+ 0.186 ] =
0.677m3
Specific gravity of Coarse Aggregate= 2.69
Specific gravity of Fine Aggregate= 2.62
And then Mix proportion for M40 has also been
calculated considering water cement ratio as 0.41.

IV. TESTS

The following tests are done for fine aggregate and

coarse aggregate.
A. Sieve Analysis
B. Specific Gravity
Fig2: composition of M35 with 0% micro silica
C. Standard Consistency
D. Aggregate Impact
Table V. Composition of M40 per bag of cement E. Los-Angeles Abrasion
F. Flakiness and Elongation
Ingredients Weights (kg) G. Compression Test.
Water(w) 20.5 Table VI. Material test results
Cement (c) 50
Fine aggregate (f.a) 74
Coarse aggregate (c.a) 122.5

Fig3: composition of M40 with 0% micro silica Fig4: During Compression test of the cubes

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 Concrete Mix Proportioning Using Micro Silica

Table VII. Test results for M35 Table X. Compression of M35 for 7days

Micro silica (%) Compressive

2
strength(N/mm )
0 29.4
5 32.63
10 37.63
15 38.51
20 38.22

Table VIII. Test results for M40

Fig6: 7 Days Compressive strength of M35 with varying

percentage of micro silica.
Table XI. Compression of M40 for 7days
V. RESULTS
Micro silica (%) Compressive
strength(N/mm2)
Concrete cubes are cast on mould of 150x150x150
mm with mix proportion of M35 and M40 with 0 31.22
varying proportion of micro silica 0%,5%,10%,15% 5 34.67
and 20%. During the casting the cubes are 10 39.20
mechanically vibrated and after demoulding they are
15 42.74
cured and tested for compressive strength of 3days,
7days and 28days. 20 40.44

Table IX. Sieve analysis of fine aggregate

Particle Size (mm) Percentage Finer

4.75 97.79
2.36 96.59
1.18 76.71
0.6 44.18
0.3 10.65
0.15 3.82
Fig7: 7 Days Compressive strength of M40 with varying
percentage of micro silica

Table XII. Compression of M35 for 28 days

Micro silica (%) Compressive

strength(N/mm2)
0 42.2
5 45.5
10 51.4
15 54.02
Fig 5: Graphical representation of particle size distribution. 20 53.17

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 Concrete Mix Proportioning Using Micro Silica

Fig10: Comparison of strength of 3days, 7days and 28days with

varying percentage of micro silica for M35
Fig8: 28 Days Compressive strength of M35 with varying
percentage of micro silica.
Table XIV. Change in compressive strength with
Table XIII. Compression of M40 for 28 days varying percentage of micro silica for M40

Micro silica (%) Compressive Days Percentage of micro silica

strength(N/mm2) 0 5 10 15 20
Comressive strength in N/mm2
0 46.80
3 19.67 20.91 24.71 25.95 24.67
5 51.01 7 31.22 34.67 39.2 42.74 40.44
10 56.16 28 46.8 51.01 56.16 58.9 57.1
15 58.97
20 57.1

Fig11: Comparison of strength of 3days, 7days and 28days with

varying percentage of micro silica for M40

VI. DISCUSSIONS

Mix design was performed for M35 and M40

concrete with and without micro silica replacement.
Fig 9: 28 Days Compressive strength of M40 with varying Strength of the concrete cubes with replacement of
percentage of micro silica.
micro silica 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% was found.
Result shows an optimum value of 15% of micro silica
Table XIII. Change in compressive strength with
replacement. Maximum increase in the strength was
varying percentage of micro silica for M35
observed to be up to 30%. The plan is to find out the
compressive strength of cubes with different
Days Percentage of micro silica percentage of micro silica for 45 days also. If more no
0 5 10 15 20 of cubes can be cast with more no of results a
regression pattern can also be found out.
Comressive strength in N/mm2
3 18.2 19.8 21.62 24.8 23.0 CONCLUSIONS
6 5 2
7 29.4 32.6 37.63 38.5 38.2 After performing mix design for M35 and M40 as
3 1 2 per IS 10262 and replacing the total cement content by
different percentages as mentioned earlier for both of
28 42.2 45.5 51.48 54.0 53.1
the mix design the beneficial effect of micro silica is
2 7
observed. In all cases locally available materials in
north eastern region was used. Concrete acquired a

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 Concrete Mix Proportioning Using Micro Silica
better packing of its constituents due to extremely
small particles of micro silica and becomes more
impermeable with strong transition zone between
aggregate and cement paste. In all observation
addition of micro silica gives more compressive
strength. It is observed from the test results that
corresponding to 15% replacement of cement by micro
silica gives the best results. This trend was similar for
both M35 as well as M40 concretes. For varying water
cement ratios (43 % for M35 and 41% for M40 ) the
increase in the compressive strength was observed.
Minimum 6 cubes were cast for each proportion and
the average values of compressive strength have been
presented.
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