Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

The modification effects of a nano-silica slurry on microstructure,

strength, and strain development of recycled aggregate concrete applied
in an enlarged structural test
Hongru Zhang a, Yuxi Zhao a,⇑, Tao Meng b, Surendra P. Shah c
a
Institute of Structural Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, PR China
b
Institute of Building Materials, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, PR China
c
Center for Advanced Cement-Based Materials, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA

h i g h l i g h t s

 Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) modified by nano-silica was applied in a project.

 Mechanical properties of RAC were improved after modification.
 The cracking resistance of the modified RAC beam was enhanced.
 Nano-silica enhanced the new interface between the old and new mortars in RAC.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The modification effects of a nano-silica slurry on properties of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) were
Received 11 October 2014 experimentally studied. Together with natural aggregate concrete (NAC), non-modified and modified RAC
Received in revised form 15 April 2015 were applied in three beams in a real project. The beneficial effects of the nano-silica slurry on RAC’s
Accepted 14 July 2015
mechanical properties were certificated. In situ strain monitoring in the target beams showed the
Available online 29 July 2015
improved resistance to cracking of RAC after modification. Nanoindentation tests proved that the
nano-silica slurry enhanced the new interface transition zone (ITZ) between the old and new mortars
Keywords:
in RAC, and surface-strengthened the old mortar, while the old ITZ between old aggregate was not
Nano-silica
Recycled aggregate concrete (RAC)
strengthened.
Nanoindentation Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
In situ concrete strain

1. Introduction
To dispose of the huge amount of construction and demolition
(C&D) wastes and to reduce the consumption of natural aggregate
resources, an environmentally friendly construction material, recy-
cled aggregate concrete (RAC), was developed. It has been widely
accepted that RAC is generally inferior to natural aggregate
concrete (NAC) in terms of its mechanical properties [1–4], e.g.,
compressive strength, tensile strength, and elastic modulus, and
some durability properties, e.g., air permeability, resistance to Cl
penetration, shrinkage, and freeze–thaw resistance [5–9], etc. The
inferiority of RAC in material properties has adversely affected
some structural performance of reinforced RAC members or struc-
tures. Sato et al. [10] have pointed out that though the ultimate flex-
ural capacity of reinforced RAC beams is comparable to, that of the
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yxzhao@zju.edu.cn (Y. Zhao).
NAC beams, however, the deflection and the overall crack width of
RAC beams under the same moment are significantly larger.
Etxeberria et al. [11] have reported that the shear capacity of RAC
beams without stirrups is smaller than that of NAC beams. The
study carried out by Andrzej et al. [12] has confirmed that though
loading capacity of the reinforced RAC beams or columns is compa-
rable to that of the NAC members, however, the effects of RAC’s
inferiority in material properties on the deformability of reinforced
members should be carefully considered, at beam deflection assess-
ment, as well as at the column shortening analysis.
Considering the inferiority of RAC in material properties, and
thereby the affected structural performance, especially in the
deformability of reinforced RAC members, as referred above, it is
necessary to raise effective techniques for modifying RAC. Till
now, many types of modification techniques on RAC have been
tried. Enhancing effects of slag, fly ash, and silica fume on either
mechanical properties or RAC durability have already been
reported [13–15]. Recently, another material, nano-silica, which

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.07.089
0950-0618/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
722 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735
has been reported to have beneficial effects on natural aggregate
concrete (NAC) [16–18], has caught RAC researchers’ attention.
Generally, it is believed that nano-silica particles primarily work
at two levels in cement-based materials, known as the ‘‘filling
effects’’ [19,20] and ‘‘accelerating effects’’ [21–24]. ‘‘Filling effects’’
mean that nano-silica particles can penetrate into the cementitious
matrix and fill the pores inside, thanks to their small size (approx-
imately 100 times smaller than cement particles [19]); the density
degree of concrete can thus be improved [20]. ‘‘Accelerating
effects’’ mean that the nano-silica particles can promote the hydra-
tion of cement in concrete, primarily because of their pozzolanic
activity or perhaps because of their considerable surface activity
[21–24].
Although the modification effects and the corresponding modi-
fication mechanism of nano-silica on NAC have been explored in
depth, trials that apply nano-silica on RAC’s modification have sel-
dom been reported. It is now widely known that as a result of the
introduction of recycled aggregate (RA), there are at least two
types of ITZs in RAC, i.e., the old ITZ, which is between the old, vir-
gin aggregate and the adhering old mortar, and the new ITZ, which
is between the old mortar and the new mortar. In some cases, there
exists the third type of ITZ in RAC, i.e., those located between the
old aggregate in RA and the new cement mortar. By contrast, there
is only one type of ITZ in NAC, which lies between the virgin aggre-
gate and the cement mortar. Compared with NAC, more potential
weak points exist in RACs, including more types of ITZs and the
weak, porous old mortars adhering to virgin aggregate. Therefore,
it can be seen that due to the introduction of RA, RAC’s
micro-structure is more sophisticated than that of NAC. Hence,
whether nano-silica will modify the properties of RAC, and how
it works, deserves exhaustive exploration.
Despite the various types of modification treatments that have
been applied to RAC, as mentioned above, it should be noted that
most studies on RAC modification are primarily limited to labora-
tory experimental practice. Until now, none of the modified tech-
niques mentioned above have ever been applied in real reinforced
concrete structures. As a result, reports have seldom been seen on
the structural performance of modified RAC in real projects. The
structural performance of reinforced concrete structures can be
assessed in a number of ways, among which concrete’s cracking
resistance is of vital importance. Concrete cracking in reinforced
concrete structures can accelerate the penetration of hazardous
materials into concrete and thereby accelerate steel erosion. It is
common knowledge that concrete cracks when its tensile strain
exceeds the ultimate value. Therefore, it is worthwhile to monitor
the in situ concrete strain in real structures in which the modified
RAC is employed to evaluate the structural performance of the
modified RAC, to predict cracking, and to reduce induced damages.
This paper aims at providing an efficient modification technique
for RAC, with the incorporation of nano-silica and other compos-
ites, and exploring the modification effects of this technique on
RAC’s mechanical properties on the micro scale and material prop-
erties and structural performance on the macro scale, thereby
revealing the employed technique’s modification mechanism.
2. Materials
Three concrete groups were prepared in this study, i.e., the commercial natural
aggregate concrete (CNAC), the original recycled aggregate concrete (ORAC), and
the modified recycled aggregate concrete (MRAC). The percentage replacement of
RA was 50% for both ORAC and MRAC.
2.1. Coarse aggregates
A concrete plant in Hangzhou produced the commercial natural aggregate con-
crete (CNAC). The coarse aggregate used for preparing CNAC was natural coarse
aggregate (NA). The RA employed in the ORAC was original recycled aggregate
(ORA) without strengthening, which was purchased from a recycled aggregate plant
located in Shanghai, China. The size ranged from 5 mm to 31.5 mm for both NA and
ORA particles. The mud contents of NA and ORA were 1.6% and 4.0%, respectively.
The larger mud content of the ORA was mainly attributed to the crushing operation
on the waste concrete, through ORA’s producing procedure.
The RA used in the MRAC was strengthened recycled aggregate (SRA), which
used the designed nano-silica slurry. The prepared strengthening slurry’s propor-
tions are shown in Table 1. The cement used for preparing the strengthening slurry
was ordinary potland cement. The nano-silica dispersant was a water-based solution
that was supplied by a company in Hangzhou. The content of this nano-silica disper-
sant was 30% (by weight), and the size of the nano-silica particles contained in this
dispersant was 15 ± 5 nm. The PH value of this dispersant ranged from 9 to 11.
The materials listed in Table 1 were first mixed in a mixing machine for 120 s to
get a slurry with nice dispersion. The ORA was then added into the strengthening
slurry, and all of the materials were mixed three times. Each mixing lasted for
3 min, and the interval between two adjacent mixings was 1 min. Afterwards, the
redundant slurry was removed, using a screen with a 5-mm sieve diameter.
Finally, the freshly prepared SRA was spread on a dry, neat plastic cloth and dried
naturally in the open air. All the three groups of coarse aggregates, i.e., NA, ORA,
and SRA, were employed in air-dried condition.
The bulk density, the water absorption (by weight), and the crushing value of
the three groups of coarse aggregates were tested according to the National
Specification Pebble and Crushed Stone for Construction (GB/T 14685-2011). The test-
ing results are listed in Table 2. According to Table 2, the bulk density of the two
groups of RAs, i.e., the ORA and the SRA, was significantly lower than that of the
NA, meanwhile the water absorption and the crushing value were much larger,
compared with the NA. The presence of the porous old mortar adhering to RA is
the predominant reason for the much lower bulk density, the higher water capacity,
and the inferior anti-crushing strength of RA. The bulk density of the SRA and the
ORA was almost the same, according to Table 2, demonstrating that the employed
strengthening slurries had not induced great changes in density of coarse aggre-
gates. The enhancement of SRA’s resistance to water absorbing and crushing, after
strengthening by the employed nano-slurry, indicates that the old mortar adhering
to the SRA may have been densified and strengthened, to some extent, compared
with the ORA. However, based on the information in Table 2, the changes in RA’s
physical and mechanical properties after strengthening are not significant, demon-
strating that the direct strengthening effects on the old mortar might be limited.
Such results will be further discussed, according to the nanoindentation test results
on the old mortar, in Section 5.3.2.
2.2. Other materials
The fine aggregate used in this study was natural river sand. The water content
(by weight) of the fine aggregate was 7.6% and the fineness modulus was 2.7. The
cement used in the three concrete groups was ordinary potland cement with a
grade of 42.5 MPa. Slag of Class S95 and fly ash of Class II were added as mineral
admixtures. A MTWF-8 superplastizer was added to guarantee the workability of
the fresh concrete mixture.
2.3. Mixture proportions of concrete
To make reasonable comparisons among the three concrete groups that were
prepared in this study, i.e., CNAC, ORAC, and MRAC, the mixture proportions were
kept the same by referring to those of the CNAC mixture. The mixture proportions
are shown in Table 3. The target compressive strength of the three concrete groups
was 30 MPa, as required by the project in which they would be applied. For the
three concrete groups in this study, the dosages of each single component of these
mixtures were kept the same, thereby to ensure that the comparisons among the
three concrete groups in either the macro properties or the ITZ properties would
not be disturbed by the mixture proportions.
3. Information for the applied project
To compare the performance of ORAC and MRAC when serving
in real projects, they were applied in two secondary beams in a
reinforced concrete building in Hangzhou, China. The CNAC
applied in a third beam worked as the control. The three beams
were designed to bear similar loads. The applied project was an
8-story frame structure, and the three target beams were located
Table 1
The proportions of the strengthening slurry prepared for this study (unit: kg).
Cement Water Superplastizer Nano-silica dispersant
100 50 1 1
 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735
Table 2
Properties of the three groups of coarse aggregates employed in this study.
Concrete group Bulk density Water absorption (%) Crushing value (%)
(kg/m3)
NA 2740 1.5 8.0
ORA 2560 6.7 11.3
SRA 2550 5.1 9.8
on the roof floor. Apart from the three target beams, other compo-
nents on this floor, i.e., beams and slabs, were made of CNAC. The
component arrangement on this building’s roof floor is shown in
Fig. 1a. The three target beams on this floor are marked in red
and enlarged in detail in Fig. 1b.
The cross-section dimensions of the three target beams were
the same: 250 mm  450 mm. The three beams’ reinforcements
in the middle of the beam span were also the same, as shown in
Fig. 2.
On the construction site, CNAC was transported from the local
commercial concrete plant to the construction site, and was
pumped to the target floor. By contrast, ORAC and MRAC was pro-
duced on site by using a concrete mixer (maximum capacity:
100 L), and was transferred to the target floor by a crane. The
slump of the fresh CNAC was provided by the CNAC manufacturer,
which was 165 mm, while the slumps of ORAC and MRAC were
tested on the construction site, by using a slump cone, which were
132 mm and 146 mm, respectively. The larger water absorptions of
ORA and SRA than that of NA, as introduced in Section 2.1, led
directly to the loss in workability of fresh ORAC and MRAC. The
slump of MRAC was larger than that of the ORAC, which was
related to the drop in RA’s water absorption after strengthening
by the nano-slurry. However, the difference in slump among the
three concrete groups was not as significant as that in their water
absorptions. Such results was probably attributed by the abundant
superplastizer added to recycled concrete mixtures, which had
partly made up the adverse effects induced by the larger water
absorption of RA on workability of RAC.
It should be noted that the three target beams, as well as a series
150 mm concrete cubes, using CNAC, ORAC, and MRAC, respec-
tively, were cast on the construction site on 14 December 2012,
which was the cold winter in Hangzhou. After casting, a 28-day
on-site moist curing was applied to these concrete cubes and the
three target beams; water was poured onto them twice a day and
a hessian sheet was used to cover these beams and specimens to
slow down water evaporation. Almost immediately after concrete
casting, Hangzhou had experienced a sharp drop in temperature
(see the weather history shown Fig. 3, by Weather Underground
[www.wunderground.com]). The effects of the low temperature
on the mechanical properties and structural performance of con-
crete will be discussed in Sections 5.1 and 5.2, respectively.
It should also be noted that an initial arch camber was set for
the three target beams’ frameworks, prior to casting. The value of
the arch camber was set at 1/400 of the horizontal span of the
beams, which was 12.25 mm, according to the Code for acceptance
of constructional quality of concrete structures (GB 50204-2002). The
initial arch camber of large-span beams was set to help slow down
the deflection development of beams. The schematic diagram of
the arch camber is shown in Fig. 4; l0 is the initial length of the
beam along its axis, while L0 is the span of the beam, which is
Table 3
Mixture proportions prepared for the three concrete groups (unit: kg/m3).
Concrete group Cement Slag Fly ash Water
CNAC 315 20 59 197
ORAC 315 20 59 197
MRAC 315 20 59 197
723
the length of the horizontal projection of the beam axis.
Frameworks were removed 14 days after casting, and thereafter
the initial arch camber would gradually fall due to loads applied
on them; the loads mainly included the self-weight of beams and
the slabs supported by the beams, as well as the external loads
applied onto the slabs and then transferred to the beams, e.g.,
the construction loads, and snow loads. As the arch chamber fell
down, since the two ends of the arched beams were restrained
by columns, therefore, the arched beams would be compressed,
which means the length of the arched axes of these beams would
decrease from l0, to approach L0. After the arch finally lowered
down to the horizon, the arch camber would no longer work on
controlling the beam deflection. As the arch camber fell, the con-
crete strain of the target beams would be affected, which will be
discussed in Section 5.2.
4. Test methods
4.1. The mechanical property tests of concrete materials
4.1.1. Compressive strength
Cube compressive strength of the three concrete groups were
tested at a series of ages, i.e., 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, 28 days,
180 days, and 360 days. At each testing age, three 150-mm cubes
for each concrete group were crushed. Using a WE-100 universal
machine, the tests were carried out based on the Standard for
Test Method of Mechanical Properties on Ordinary Concrete (GB/T
50081-2002).
4.1.2. Splitting tensile strength
The splitting tensile strength of the three concrete groups was
tested at 14 days and 28 days, according to the Standard for Test
Method of Mechanical Properties on Ordinary Concrete (GB/T
50081-2002). Three 150-mm cubes for each concrete group at each
of the two testing ages were employed to get the average splitting
tensile strength. As required by the standard, the loading rate was
set at 0.06 MPa/s.
4.2. Concrete strain monitoring in situ
It is common knowledge that concrete cracks when its tensile
strain exceeds its ultimate value. The ultimate tensile strain of con-
ventional concrete is considered to be approximately (1.0–
1.5)  104.
In this study, the cracking control level for the applied rein-
forced concrete project was Level III, which means that crack
widths below 0.3 mm were acceptable, according to the Code for
Design of Concrete Structures (GB 50010-2002). The vertical loads
on the three target beams could be treated as uniform loads,
including primarily the self-weight of the concrete beams and
slabs and other loads that were transferred onto them via their
supported slabs. Given such uniform vertical loads, the largest con-
crete tensile strain was assumed to appear in the middle of the
whole spans at the bottom of the beams, which means that this
typical position should be set as the control point for concrete ten-
sile strains along the beam span. The largest concrete compressive
strain was assumed to appear at the top of those beams, exactly
opposite of where the largest tensile strain was assumed to occur.
Fine aggregates NA ORA SRA Superplastizer
703 1010 0 0 7.49
703 505 505 0 7.49
703 505 0 505 7.49
724 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735

Fig. 1. Locations of the three target beams in the applied project: (a) layout of all columns and beams on the roof floor and (b) detailed locations of the applied CNAC, ORAC,
and MRAC beams.

Fig. 2. Sketch of the three target beams (dimensions in mm).

In this study, concrete strains on both the top and bottom surfaces
in the middle of the spans of the three beams were monitored and
compared with one another.
Concrete strain was monitored by JTM-V5000 vibrating-string
strain gauges. For each of the three applied beams, four concrete
strain gauges were installed prior to casting, with two of them
mounted to the beam framework’s bottom longitudinal reinforce-
ment and the other two mounted to the top longitudinal reinforce-
ment. Fig. 5 shows the locations of the four concrete strain gauges
inside the three target beams.
A JTM-V10B reading device was employed to read the trans-
concrete strain gauges. Immediately after the initial setting of con-
crete in the three beams, the vibrating frequencies of these strain
gauges were captured and set as the initial values. The frequencies
of these gauges were then monitored in situ and recorded at a ser-
ies of ages: 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, 28 days, 90 days,
180 days, 360 days, and 450 days.
Concrete strain was then calculated according to the following
equation:
e ¼ K  ðf 2i  f 20 Þ ð1Þ
6
where e (10 ) is the calculated concrete strain; K (10 /Hz ) is the6 2

ferred vibrating frequency of the strings inside these JTM-V5000 calibration coefficient of the JTM-V5000 vibrating string concrete
 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735
Fig. 3. Historical temperature records for December, 2012, in Hangzhou, China.
strain gauges offered by the manufacturer; f0 (Hz) is the initial
vibrating frequency value; and fi (Hz) is the vibrating frequency of
the strain gauges obtained in situ at different ages. A positive e value
represents a concrete tensile strain, while a negative one represents
a compressive strain.
4.3. Nanoindentation tests
4.3.1. Sample preparation
Generally, the adequately smooth surfaces of samples can guar-
antee reliable nanoindentation test results [25]. In this study, the
sample grinding and polishing procedure mainly referred to Li
W’s research [26]. At the age of 1.5 years, small concrete slices,
with dimensions of approximately 10 mm  10 mm  5 mm, were
cut from the cores of the 150 mm concrete cubes, away from the
surface of these cubes, so that the nanoindentation results on the
obtained concrete slices would be more reliable. It should be noted
that after the 28-day in situ moist curing, all these concrete cubes
were kept on the construction site together with the target beams,
exposed directly to the atmosphere, until they were taken to the
laboratory for strength tests or nanoindentation tests, at the corre-
sponding ages. In this way, the properties of these samples would
be able to reflect those of the concrete cast into the target beams.
Since water had been used as the cooling agent throughout the cut-
ting procedure, to prevent further cement hydration in the con-
crete, these slices were immersed in ethanol immediately after
cutting. After 24-h soaking in pure ethanol, they were dried in an
oven at a temperature of 45 °C for 12 h.
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the beams’ initial arch cambers.
725
The samples were then embedded in epoxy resin and ground on
a series of Buehler-Met paper discs, with gradations of 280
(51.8 lm), 800 (22.1 lm), 1200 (14.5 lm), and 1500 (12.2 lm), suc-
cessively. These samples were then polished on a series of
Buehler TexMet pads, using diamond suspensions with gradations
of 9 lm, 6 lm, and 3 lm, successively. An ultrasonic bath cleaning in
ethanol was then applied on the polished samples for 5 min to help
remove all dust and diamond particles that had adhered to the
samples. Finally, the samples were dried in an oven at a tempera-
ture of 45 °C for 12 h.
4.3.2. Nanoindentation tests
A Hysitron 950 Triboindenter fitted with a Berkovitch tip (a
0.6-lm tip radius and an angle of 142.3°) was employed for the
nanoindentation tests by applying single-cycle loads. A quartz
standard was indented prior to each test to ensure accuracy. In
each loading cycle, the indenter first came into contact with the
sample surface, with the load increasing at a constant rate of
120 lN (to the maximum value of 1200 lN) and then lasting for
2 s at the peak level, and the indenter thereafter withdrew gradu-
ally until the loads declined to zero.
The indent areas were 100 lm  100 lm squares across ITZs in
the CNAC and across old ITZs in the ORAC and MRAC. In the two
groups of RAC employed in this study, a ‘‘denser zone’’ was found
in the new ITZ vicinity, on the side of the old mortar, under the
optical microscope that was installed in the Triboindenter, as
shown in Fig. 6. As reported by Li et al. [26], the denser zone mainly
contained CaCO3 crystals, which were probably generated in the
reaction between the Ca(OH)2 that existed in the old mortar and
the CO2 in the atmosphere, when RA was stacked in the open air
in the RA plant. Hence, though the ‘‘denser zone’’ was found to
be located between the old and the new mortar in RACs, however,
it should not be treated as part of the new ITZ, because the ‘‘denser
zone’’ had already existed on RA’s surface prior to RAC’s produc-
tion, probably. Therefore, to ensure that the indent areas on the
new ITZs could extend across the ‘‘denser zone’’ and cover the
new ITZ, these indent areas across new ITZs between the old and
the new mortar, were enlarged to 150 lm  100 lm. Apart from
the indent areas across ITZs, a series of 30 lm  30 lm indent
areas were also randomly selected on old mortars, in order to
explore the strengthening effects of the prepared nano-slurry on
the old mortars in RAs. It should be noted that not many exposed
old aggregates were observed in the employed RA, thereby the
potential ITZs between the exposed old aggregate and the new
cement mortar were not considered in this study.
Different indent matrices were accordingly designed on indent
areas that were set for different phases. On the one hand, more
indents in the indent areas could help gain more detailed elastic
modulus information in this area. On the other hand, the number
of indents should be carefully controlled, as too little spacing
between adjacent indents could induce possible interactions,
726 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735

Fig. 5. Locations of the four concrete strain gauges in the three target beams: (a) locations of the four concrete strain gauges along the beam span and (b) locations of the
strain gauges in the target beams’ cross sections.

Fig. 6. ‘‘Denser zones’’ found in the new ITZs in ORAC and MRAC samples at the age of 1.5 years: (a) ‘‘denser zone’’ in ORAC and (b) ‘‘denser zone’’ in MRAC.

which may affect the reliability of the test results. As demonstrated In this study, the indenter’s elastic modulus, Ei, and the
in Fig. 7a and b, a 21  11 matrix and a 31  11 matrix were Poisson’s ratio, vi, were 1140 GPa and 0.07, respectively. The
designed for the 100 lm  100 lm and 150 lm  100 lm indent Poisson’s ratio of RAC, v, was suggested as 0.2 [27]. The reduced
areas, respectively. The spacing between every two adjacent elastic modulus, Er, was achieved by nanoindentation tests.
indents in the two matrices was set at 5 lm and 10 lm in the lat-
eral and vertical directions, respectively. The spacing was designed
5. Results and discussion
to be over 3 times the diameter of the Berkovitch tip (1.2 lm);
therefore, interaction between two adjacent indents could be
5.1. Mechanical property tests of concrete materials
ignored. A 4  4 matrix was applied for the 30 lm  30 lm area,
and the spacing between two adjacent indents was 10 lm in both
5.1.1. Compressive strength
directions.
Fig. 8 shows the cube compressive strength of the three groups
To get the Young’s modulus of the sample, the following equa-
of concrete specimens, as obtained at different ages.
tion was applied:
The target compressive strength in this study was 30 MPa, as
 1 required by the applied reinforced concrete building, which is
1 ð1  m2i Þ
E ¼ ð1  m2 Þ   ð2Þ marked with a green dashed line in Fig. 8. This figure shows that
Er Ei
the 28-day compressive strength of all three concrete groups failed
 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735 727

Fig. 7. Indent areas in different phases and corresponding indent matrices: (a) the indent matrix across ITZs in the CNAC and across the old ITZs in the ORAC and MRAC; (b)
the indent matrix across new ITZs in the ORAC and MRAC; and (c) the indent matrix on old mortars.

to reach the target strength value. As stated in Section 3, these con-
crete cubes were cast and cured on the construction site, along
with the three target beams and other components on the same
floor. Fig. 3 in Section 3 illustrated that after the casting of the
three target beams and the concrete cubes, Hangzhou had experi-
enced a sudden drop in temperature, which could adversely affect
cement hydration in concrete and thereby led to a slow strength
gain for all the three concrete groups [28,29].
Despite the adversely affected strength of the three concrete
groups by the low temperature, still the CNAC’s superiority over
the ORAC and MRAC can be argued. The CNAC always gained the
largest compressive strength among the three concrete groups,
according to Fig. 8. For example, at the age of 28 days, the
CNAC’s compressive strength was 71.87% and 28.06% higher than
that of the ORAC and MRAC, respectively. RAC’s mechanical inferi-
ority to CNAC is mainly induced by more weak points in RAC than
in the CNAC, including more types of ITZs and weaker old mortars,
which will be further discussed in Section 5.3, and summarized in
Section 5.4.
Fig. 8 shows the beneficial effects of the employed nano-silica
and cement slurry on RAC’s compressive strength. The MRAC’s
compressive strength at early ages (before the age of 28 days)
728 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735
Fig. 8. Compressive strength of the three concrete groups in this study.
developed faster than that of the ORAC, e.g., at 28 days, the MRAC’s
compressive strength was 34.22% higher than that of the ORAC.
5.1.2. Splitting tensile strength
Fig. 9 shows the splitting tensile strength of the three concrete
groups tested at the ages of 14 days and 28 days.
Compared with that of the CNAC, the splitting tensile strength
of the ORAC was much lower. At the ages of 14 days and 28 days,
the splitting tensile strengths of ORAC were 67.39% and 66.22%
of those of the CNAC, respectively. However, after modification,
RAC’s splitting tensile strength had been significantly improved.
At both testing ages, MRAC’s splitting strength was higher than
that of the ORAC and was even comparable to that of the CNAC.
Concrete’s enhanced tensile strength can promote the flexural
capacity of reinforced concrete beams and enhance the crack resis-
tance of concrete structures. Therefore, it can be predicted that the
structural performance of RAC structures under service may be
promoted by applying the nano-silica slurry to RAC’s modification,
which will be further discussed in Section 5.2.
Fig. 9. Splitting tensile strength of the three concrete groups at the age of 14 days
and 28 days.
5.2. Concrete strain monitoring in applied beams
Fig. 10a and b plot the concrete strains monitored at the bottom
and at the top of the three target beams, in the middle of the
beam-span, within the ages of 450 days, and 28 days, respectively.
The dashed lines represent the concrete strain captured at the bot-
tom, labeled as ebottom, while the solid lines represent the concrete
strain at the top, labeled as etop.
According to Fig. 10a, from the casting date through the age of
50 days, both ebottom and etop of the three beams’ middle spans
were positive, which represents the tensile strains captured at
these positions. As explained in Section 4.2, the strain gauges were
mounted at positions where potential maximum compressive and
tensile strains of concrete may appear under uniform loads.
Therefore, the tensile strains captured at both the top and bottom
indicated that there were tensile strains throughout the whole
beam, before the age of 50 days. A large amount of free water com-
monly existed in the freshly cast concrete beams. The free water
evaporated gradually as time passed, which resulted in concrete
shrinkage. However, concrete shrinkage in these beams were con-
strained by their adjacent components, i.e., the columns and slabs,
which led to tension inside the beams.
The development of tensile strains fluctuated, as the evapora-
tion speed of water varied over time; tensile strains increased at
an early age and then declined gradually. As shown more clearly
in Fig. 10b, at 7 days or 14 days, peak tensile strains were captured
at the bottom surfaces in the three target beams, which were
2.01  104, 1.63  104, and 1.39  104 for CNAC, ORAC, and
MRAC, respectively. The peak tensile strains of concrete in the
CNAC and ORAC beams exceeded the ultimate tensile strain of con-
ventional concrete, which is accepted as (1.0–1.5)  104.
Therefore, the concrete at the bottom surfaces of these two beams’
middle spans may have cracked. In contrast, the peak tensile strain
of concrete in the MRAC beam was still within the safe range. In
this study, at an early age (before 28 days), the CNAC beam gained
the largest tensile strain, indicating that the shrinkage of CNAC was
probably the largest, among the three concrete groups applied in
the target beams. Such results unexpectedly conflict with previous
studies carried out by other researchers, which have argued that
the shrinkage of RAC is generally larger than that of NAC [30–
33]. The possible reason can be explained by the adverse effects
of CNAC’s larger effective water/binder ratio on the early-age
mechanical properties of the new mortar. NA usually had a much
smaller water absorption than NA [34,35], therefore, a larger
amount of free water existed in the CNAC than in the ORAC and
in the MRAC, given the same water and cement amounts among
the three concrete groups. Hence, it could be inferred that the
effective water/binder ratio in the CNAC was larger than that in
the ORAC and the MRAC, which may have brought adverse effects
on the early-age strength and elastic modulus of the new mortar in
CNAC, compared with that in the two groups of RACs. Such adverse
effects on the new mortar of CNAC induced by the larger effective
water/binder ration, may have exceeded those on ORAC and MRAC
induced by the weak old mortar, at an early age. As a result, at an
early age before 28 days, the overall resistance to deformation of
the CNAC was not as good as that of the ORAC and the MRAC in
the target beams, which explained why the early-age tensile
strains captured in the CNAC beam were the largest. Moreover,
the sudden temperature drop after the casting date may also have
led to CNAC’s poor anti-cracking property, as low temperature slo-
wed down concrete’s strength gain.
The MRAC’s smaller peak tensile strain value captured at the
early age indicated that its resistance to shrinkage-induced crack-
ing was better than ORAC’s. It was introduced in Section 2.1 that
the crushing value of the SRA was smaller than that of the ORA,
which indicated that the mechanical property of the SRA was
 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735 729

Fig. 10. (a)–(b) Concrete strains at both the top and bottom surfaces of the three target beams in the middle of their spans obtained (a) within 450 days, and (b) within
28 days, respectively; (c) the values of |eloads| in the target beams within 450 days.

better after strengthening by the nano-slurry. Such enhancement
may have also improved the elastic modulus of the SRA, or to be
more exact, of the old mortar adhering to the SRA, thereby leading
to the better deformability of the MRAC, compared with that of the
ORAC. The mechanism for such enhancement on the micro scale
will be further discussed in Sections 5.3.1 and 5.3.2, and will be
summarized in Section 5.4.
Fig. 10a also illustrates that tensile strains captured at the bot-
tom were always larger than those captured at the top in all target
beams. The uniform loads including the three beams’ self-weight
and the loads transferred from the slabs would lead to tension
on the bottom surfaces and compression on the top surfaces of
the beams. Therefore, the effects of these loads enhanced the
tensile strains caused by constrained concrete shrinkage at the bot-
tom of beams, while those at the top of the beams were reduced.
As can be seen in Fig. 10a, after declining over time, the tensile
strains obtained at both the top and bottom of the three beams fell
to zero, at 100 days for the CNAC beam and at 125 days for ORAC
and MRAC beams, and thereafter transferred to compressive
strains. Such results indicate that concrete shrinkage was no longer
the predominant influencing factor on concrete strain develop-
ment for the three target beams. At this time, compression of the
three target beams, caused by the falling of the initially arched
beams under the applied loads, may be the main reason for the
compressive strains, which has been explained in Section 3. At
the age of approximately 300 days, the strains captured at the
730 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735

bottom of the middle spans of the ORAC and MRAC beams began to
transfer from compressive strains to tensile ones, which indicated
that the axes of the ORAC and MRAC beams may have fell to be
horizontal. By contrast, for the CNAC beam, even at the age of
450 days, strains captured at both the top and the bottom were still
compressive, implying that the arch camber was still working.
Such results implied that under similar loads, the deflection of
the CNAC beams developed more slowly.
Based on the analysis listed above, through the 450-days
monitoring period, there were three main factors which had
worked together to determine the concrete strain development
in the three target beams, i.e., the constrained concrete shrinkage,
the falling of the arch camber, and the uniform vertical loads
applied onto the beams. The concrete strains induced by the
constrained concrete shrinkage and the falling of the arch
camber, were positive and negative, respectively, at both the
top and the bottom of the target beams, while those strains
induced by the vertical loads onto beams were positive at the beam
bottom, but negative at the top. Ultimately, the in situ ebottom
and etop, can be expressed as ðjeshrinkage j  jearch camber j þ jeloads jÞ and
ðjeshrinkage j  jearch camber j  jeloads jÞ, respectively. eshrinkage, earch camber,
and eloads represent the concrete strains in the middle beam
span induced by the constrained concrete shrinkage, the
compression of the arched beams, and the loads applied onto
these beams, respectively. As a result, |eloads| can be calculated as
follows:
performance of MRAC compared with ORAC can be seen from both
the better resistance to shrinkage-induced tensile strain at an early
age, and to load-induced strains after 90 days. Such in situ experi-
mentation and monitoring of the MRAC will be conducted steadily
in the future, and the feasibility of the modified MRAC through the
employed modification technique will likely be revealed.
5.3. Nanoindentation tests
With the modulus data obtained from nanoindentation tests on
different indent areas, the modulus distribution maps within these
areas could be plotted with Origin software, using different colors
to represent different modulus ranges. The ITZ boundaries could be
then determined by noting sudden changes in colors.
5.3.1. Nanoindentation tests across ITZs
Fig. 11 shows the optical positioning of the indent area across
the ITZ in the CNAC, along with the modulus distribution map
within this area. According to Fig. 11b, the width of the ITZ in this
indent area in CNAC was approximately 40 lm. Similar data pro-
cessing was also applied to other indent areas. Fig. 12a and b show
the nanoindentation results across old ITZs in the ORAC and MRAC,
respectively. Fig. 13a and b show the modulus distribution within
the 150 lm  100 lm indent area across new ITZs in the ORAC and
MRAC, respectively.

jeloads j ¼ ðebottom  etop Þ=2 ð3Þ

|eloads| can represent the positive strain value induced by the
loads applied onto the target beams at the beam bottom in the
middle span. According to Eq. (3), the values of |eloads|, at different
ages, in the three target beams, are plotted in Fig. 10c.
Based on Fig. 10c, it can be seen that though fluctuations at the
early age, however, after the age of 90 days, the values of |eloads| for
CNAC were significantly lower than those for ORAC and MRAC,
indicating that under the similar loads, the deformation of CNAC
at the bottom of the beams was the smallest. Such results demon-
strated that the CNAC’s elastic modulus against loads was superior
to that of ORAC and MRAC, at a relative long age, despite that its
early-age resistance to shrinkage-induced deformation was not
good, as discussed above. After a relative long age, e.g., 90 days,
the new mortar in the three concrete groups may have fully devel-
oped, thereby, the new mortar was no longer the weakest point in
CNAC. By contrast, at this time, some other weak material phases
in RAC, i.e., the old ITZs, the new ITZs, as well as the porous old
mortar, may have become the main weak points. There are more
weak points in the two groups of RACs than in CNAC, which may
have contributed to RAC’s inferiority in long-term structural per-
formance; such point of view will be further discussed in
Section 5.3, based on nanoindentation results. Besides, according
to Fig. 10c, the employed nano-silica slurry had induced beneficial
effects on long-term deformability of MRAC, as the values of |eloads|
for the MRAC beam were smaller than those of the ORAC beam.
As an overall summary of the discussion stated above, given the
mixture proportions employed in this study, at an early age (before
28 days), the resistance to shrinkage-induced tensile strains of
CNAC in the target beam was inferior to that of the ORAC and
the MRAC; the larger effective water/binder ratio in CNAC than
in the two groups of RACs, as well as the adverse effects of low
temperature on deformability of concrete, is the possible reason.
However, at a relatively long age (after 90 days), perhaps as a result
of the faster gain in mechanical properties, CNAC’s resistance to the
load-induced deformation in the target beam was the best among
the three groups of concrete, leading to the smallest load-induced Fig. 11. Nanoindentation results from the CNAC sample at the age of 1.5 years: (a)
concrete strains, and the controlled deflection of the target beam. the optical image of indent area across the CNAC’s ITZ prior to indentation (1) and
Beneficial effects by using the nano-slurry on the structural (b) the elastic modulus distribution map within the indent area.
 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735
Fig. 12. Modulus distribution map of the indent areas across old ITZs in the (a) ORAC and (b) MRAC.
According to the modulus distribution shown in Fig. 12, no mat-
ter whether the employed RA was strengthened or not, the old
adhering mortar was much weaker than the virgin aggregate.
Hence, compared with virgin aggregate of the same volume,
weaker old mortar would lower the overall strength of RA, com-
pared with that of NA. From this perspective, the old adhering mor-
tar is indeed one weak point in RAC, as has been stated in Section 1.
Given the mixture proportions employed in this study, even
though that a larger volume of coarse aggregates was present in
the two groups of RACs than in CNAC, due to the smaller density
of the ORA and SRA than that of the NA, however, the presence
of the old mortar in RA must have reduced the total amount of vir-
gin aggregate in RAC, compared with that in CNAC. Therefore, in
RAC, the loss in the amount of the strong virgin aggregate and
the gain in the amount of the weak old mortar, would be likely
to weaken the overall mechanical properties of RAC, i.e., compres-
sive strength, splitting strength and resistance to deformation,
which have been discussed in Sections 5.1 and 5.2, respectively.
According to Figs. 11–13, the widths of the different types of
ITZs in the three concrete groups, i.e., CNAC, ORAC, and MRAC,
can be summarized, as shown in Table 4.
731
Table 4 also shows that at the age of 1.5 years, the widths of the
ITZs in the CNAC and of old ITZs in the ORAC and MRAC were com-
parable to each other, which was probably because the properties
of CNAC’s ITZ had stabilized over this time period due to
long-lasting cement hydration. No significant differences can be
seen between the ORAC and MRAC in terms of the widths of old
ITZs or new ITZs.
To further explore the effects of the employed nano-silica slurry
on the mechanical properties of old ITZs in RAC and to compare old
ITZs in RACs and the ITZ in CNAC, the probability distributions of
the elastic modulus for the three types of ITZs were plotted, as
shown in Fig. 14.
Fig. 14 illustrates that the probability distributions for the three
types of ITZs were similar, indicating again the elastic modulus
similarities among the three types of ITZs. Such results also con-
firm that the employed nano-silica slurry did not enhance the
properties of the old ITZ in RAC. Through the strengthening proce-
dure, the ORA soaking time in the nano-silica slurry was not long
(the total soaking time was only 11 min). As a result, the
nano-silica particles and cement particles were unable to deeply
penetrate into the recycled aggregates within a short period of
732 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735

Fig. 13. Modulus distribution map of the indent areas across new ITZs in the (a) ORAC and (b) MRAC.

Table 4 (10–15 GPa) for the MRAC’s new ITZ. Furthermore, a higher modu-
Widths of different types of ITZs in the CNAC, ORAC, and MRAC. lus range (10–20 GPa) accounted for a larger proportion of the
CNAC ORAC MRAC MRAC’s new ITZ compared with that of the ORAC. Therefore, it
ITZ type ITZ Old ITZ New ITZ Old ITZ New ITZ can be verified that the nano-silica slurry employed in this study
ITZ width (lm) 40 45 55 45 55 can improve the mechanical properties of the new ITZ in RAC.
Through the strengthening procedure, most nano-silica particles
and cement particles precipitated on the aggregate surfaces and
formed a thin coating around RA. After these strengthened aggre-
time. In other words, the strengthening materials contained in the gates, SRA, were cast into concrete specimens, the nano-silica par-
strengthening slurry could not arrive at the old ITZs in RAC, which ticles and the cement particles contained in the coating around the
was why the old ITZ was not strengthened. SRA would probably dissolve and penetrate into the new surround-
The probability distribution of the elastic modulus in new ITZs ing ITZ. As mentioned in Section 1, nano-silica particles could
of the ORAC and MRAC is shown in Fig. 15. According to Fig. 15, for induce filling and accelerating effects in the new ITZ, and the
the new ITZ in the ORAC samples, the probability distribution micro-structure of the MRAC’s new ITZ would thus get denser
below 7 GPa was 0.53, much higher than the value for the new and stronger. Meanwhile, cement particles penetrating from the
ITZ in the MRAC samples, which was 0.1. Such results indicate that coating to the MRAC’s new ITZ could also help enhance the proper-
more weak material phases (e.g., porosity) existed in the ORAC’s ties of the new ITZ, due to hydration itself. In this way, the mechan-
new ITZ than in the MRAC’s new ITZ. In addition, the peak proba- ical properties of the MRAC’s new ITZ were enhanced.
bility falls in the modulus range of 5–10 GPa for the ORAC’s new By comparing Figs. 14 and 15, it can also be seen that the elastic
ITZ, while the peak probability falls in a larger modulus range modulus of the new ITZ in ORAC, between the old and the new
 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735
Fig. 14. Probability distributions of the elastic modulus in the CNAC’s ITZ and old
ITZs in the ORAC and MRAC.
mortar, are inferior than that of the ITZ in CNAC, between the vir-
gin aggregate and the new mortar. The possible reason for such
inferiority lies on the differences in mud contents around coarse
aggregates. The mud content of the NA and the ORA has been com-
pared in Section 2.1. The presence of the larger amount of mud
adhering on the surface of RA than that on the surface of NA,
may have weakened the bonding between the old mortar and
the new mortar in ORAC [36], thereby the width of the new ITZ
in ORAC would be enlarged and the mechanical properties would
be weakened.
5.3.2. Nanoindentation tests on old mortars
As mentioned in Section 4.3.2, the nanoindentation tests were
also performed on a series of 30 lm  30 lm indent areas, which
were randomly selected on old mortars in the ORAC and MRAC.
The probability distribution of the elastic modulus of old mortars
in the ORAC and MRAC were plotted, as shown in Fig. 16.
As illustrated by Fig. 16, the peak probability of the elastic mod-
ulus falls in the range of 20–25 GPa and 25–30 GPa for old mortar
Fig. 15. Probability distributions of the elastic modulus in new ITZs in the ORAC
and MRAC.
733
in the ORAC and MRAC, respectively. Therefore, compared with
those of the old mortar in the ORAC, the mechanical properties
of old mortar in the MRAC were slightly enhanced. Through the
strengthening procedure for RAs, though most strengthening
materials may have only precipitated on the surface of RA, some
particles were likely to penetrate into the old mortars and fill the
pores in it, even though the penetration depth may be quite lim-
ited. In this way, the old mortar in the MRAC may be strengthened
around the surface. Since the 30 lm  30 lm indent areas on the
old mortars were randomly selected, as stated in Section 4.1.2,
the average elastic modulus of the old mortar in the MRAC was
thus raised, as some indent areas may have lain in the strength-
ened surface zone of the old mortar. It has been stated in
Section 2.1 that the water absorption and the crushing value of
RA has slightly decreased after strengthening by the nano-slurry,
which is right consistent with the nanoindentation results on the
old mortar. As a result of the probable surface densifying and
strengthening of the old mortar, the paths for water penetrating
into the old mortar was lessened, thereby water capacity of the
SRA was controlled. Meanwhile, since the surface strength of the
SRA was also slightly improved, hence, the crushing value of the
SRA decreased as well. However, because the strengthening proce-
dure did not last long, the nano-silica and cement particles were
unable to penetrate deeply into the old mortars, which could help
explain why the enhancing effects on old mortars were not very
significant. It has also been introduced in Section 2.1 that the bulk
density of the two groups of RAs were quite comparable in this
study. Apart from the non-significant filling effects on the old mor-
tar induced by the nano-materials, another possible reason is that
the nano-silica or cement particles precipitating on the surface or
penetrating into the old mortar around its surface, are light in
weight, which would thereby lead to little changes in density of
the SRA, compared with the ORA.
5.4. Discussion on the mechanism for differences among the three
concrete groups
According to the discussion on compressive strength and split-
ting strength in Sections 5.1.1 and 5.1.2, respectively, it can be con-
cluded that the mechanical properties of ORAC are inferior to those
of the CNAC. Nanoindentation test results figure out that although
the old ITZs in ORAC are comparable to the ITZs in CNAC in elastic
Fig. 16. Probability distributions of the elastic modulus in old mortars in the ORAC
and in MRAC.
734 H. Zhang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 95 (2015) 721–735
modulus, however, elastic modulus of ORAC’s new ITZs is inferior
to that of CNAC’s ITZs. Moreover, it is obvious that given the weight
of the coarse aggregates the same in the three concrete groups, the
total amount of the old and new ITZs contained in ORAC must have
surpassed that of the normal ITZs contained in CNAC. Besides, the
elastic modulus of the old mortar adhering on the surface of RA is
found to be significantly lower than that of the virgin aggregate,
which means that the overall mechanical properties of RA will be
inferior to those of the pure virgin aggregate, i.e., the NA. In sum-
mary, the amount of ITZs in ORAC is larger than that in CNAC;
the new ITZs in ORAC are inferior to the ITZs in CNAC in mechanical
properties; the old mortar contained in RA is also weaker than the
pure virgin aggregate contained in CNAC. As a result, the weak
points are more in ORAC than in CNAC. When ORAC specimens
were taken under external loads, the more weak points inside
are likely to provide more destructive paths, leading to the inferior
mechanical properties of ORAC to NAC on the macro scale.
It is found that the nano-slurry employed in this study has
improved the mechanical properties of the MRAC, compared with
the ORAC. Based on the analysis in Sections 5.3.1 and 5.3.2, it can
be seen that though the employed nano-silica slurry has not
enhanced the old ITZ in MRAC, however, it has improve the new
ITZs. Meanwhile, the old mortar is also likely to be
surface-enhanced, as indicated by both the nanoindentation
results on the MRAC’s old mortar, and the physical and mechanical
properties of the SRA. Therefore, MRAC’s strength superiority over
ORAC may be closely related to the enhancement of the new ITZs,
as well as the surface-strengthening of the old mortar. However,
though the new ITZs in MRAC are enhanced, the amount of weak
points in MRAC is still larger than that in CNAC, which explains
why the macro strength of MRAC is still inferior to that of CNAC.
As discussed in Section 5.2, though the inferior resistance to
shrinkage of CNAC in the target beam at an early age, however,
at a relatively long age (after 90 days), CNAC’s resistance to the
load-induced deformation in the target beam was the best among
the three groups of concrete. The more weak points present in the
two groups of RACs, i.e., the old mortar, the old and the new ITZs,
may have weakened the elastic modulus of RAC, thereby the defor-
mation of ORAC and MRAC in the target beams was larger than that
of the CNAC, given the similar loads applied onto the beams.
MRAC’s deformability is found to be better than ORAC’s, in the cor-
responding beams, at either the early age or the long age. The
enhanced new ITZs, as well as the surface-strengthened old mortar
in MRAC may have increased the overall elastic modulus of MRAC,
which can explain the better structural performance of MRAC than
that of the ORAC.
6. Conclusions
A strengthening slurry containing mainly nano-silica and
cement was prepared in this study to strengthen recycled coarse
aggregates (RA) and thereby modify the properties of recycled
aggregate concrete (RAC). Three secondary beams in the roof of a
reinforced concrete structure located in Hangzhou, China, were
cast in situ using the commercial natural aggregate concrete
(CNAC), the original recycled aggregate concrete (ORAC), and the
modified recycled aggregate concrete (MRAC). Micro- and
macro-scale mechanical properties of the three concrete groups
were experimentally studied, and the strain development of the
three concrete groups when served in a real project was also mon-
itored. The conclusions are stated as follows:
(1) Mechanical properties of ORAC and MRAC, i.e., the compres-
sive strength and the splitting strength, are inferior to those
of CNAC, given the mixture proportions employed in this
study, i.e., the dosages of water, cement, and aggregates
are kept the same among the three concrete groups. The
more potential weak points in the two groups of RACs, i.e.,
the old and the new ITZs, as well as the weak, porous old
mortar, are the predominant reason for RACs’ inferiority in
macro mechanical properties.
(2) Though CNAC’s resistance to shrinkage-induced deformation
in the target beam is found to be inferior at an early age
(before 28 days), however, after 90 days, CNAC has shown
long-term superiority to ORAC and MRAC, in its deformabil-
ity against loads, given the loads applied to the target beams
similar. The more weak points in RACs are also the main rea-
son for such inferior long-term resistance to loads-induced
deformation.
(3) Beneficial effects of the employed nano-slurry on both the
mechanical properties of MRAC material, and the deforma-
bility against shrinkage and loads of MRAC applied in rein-
forced beams in a real project, have been verified. The
MRAC’s better deformability forecast the better resistance
to cracking, which may enhance the durability of reinforced
MRAC components and expand the service life, compared
with ORAC.
(4) The nano-silica slurry employed in this study have improved
the properties of MRAC’s new ITZs between the old and new
cement mortars, while the old ITZs between the virgin
aggregate are not enhanced. The old mortar seems to be sur-
face strengthened. The enhancement of new ITZs and the old
mortar in micromechanical properties, can explain the
improvement of MRAC in both material strength and
deformability in a target beam, on the macro scale, com-
pared with ORAC.
Acknowledgments
Financial support from the National Specialized Research Fund
for Doctoral Program (20120101110025) and New Century
Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0493) are gratefully
acknowledged. The authors also would like to thank Dr. Gajendra
Shekhawat from Northwestern University and M. Eng. Yongnian
Zhu from the Zhejiang College of Construction for their kind guid-
ance and support. The nanoindentation tests in this work used the
NIFTI facility (NUANCE Center-Northwestern University).
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