Investigations on the performance of silica fume-incorporated cement pastes and mortars

Studies on the performance of cementitious products with silica fume (SF) are very important, as it is one of the inevitable additives to produce high-performance concrete (HPC). In this study, some experimental investigations on the influence of SF on various preliminary properties of cement pastes and mortars are reported. The properties included specific gravity and normal consistency (NC) of cement and air content and workability of mortar with different SF contents. Pozzolanic and chemical reactions of SF have been studied on setting times, soundness and shrinkage of cement pastes. Further, strength developments in compression and tension in cement mortars have also been studied at various SF contents. SF was varied from 0% to 30% at a constant increment 2.5/5% by weight of cement. Test results show that the SF changes the behavior of cement pastes and mortars significantly. It has been observed that the water-binder (w/b) (cement+SF) ratio seemed to play an important role for the performance of the products with higher SF contents. NC, soundness and drying shrinkage of cement pastes and the strength of mortar increase as the SF content increases, while the initial setting times of cement pastes and the air content and workability of mortar decrease as the SF content increases. However, hardly any influence has been observed on the final setting times of cement pastes. The early age hydration reactions of C₃A and C₃S increase with the addition of SF. The optimum SF content ranges between 15% and 22%.