Page 1 of 6

European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 05

May 2019

Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 923

Study Of The Influence Of Nano-Tioonthe Properties Of Portland Cement Concrete

For Application On Road Surfaces

S. BASKARAN

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

PRIST (Deemed to be University), THANJAVUR

Abstract

The results obtained in a study on the effect of the addition of TiO2 nanoparticles on the

mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics of photocatalyticconcretes.

Concretes were produced with three types of TiO2: anatase I (10–30 nm),anatase II (50–80

nm) and rutile (10

×

40 nm), with contents of 3%, 6% and 10% inrelation to the mass of

Portland cement. Besides these mixtures, a reference concretewas prepared without the

addition of TiO2. In the hardened state, tests to determinethe compressive strength and

modulus of elasticity were carried out. Also,microstructural aspects of the samples were

investigated by scanning electronmicroscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry. In the fresh

state, the influence of theaddition of TiO2 on the concrete compaction and conduction

calorimetry curves wasevaluated. The results obtained indicated that, with the addition of

TiO2, there was anincrease in the compressive strength at 28 days and a reduction in the

modulus ofelasticity of the concretes.

INTRODUCTION

Concrete is considered as material of the

21stcentury due to its functional use in the

structures, buildings, factories, bridges and

airports. The improvement in the concrete

strength and durability is needed because

of rapid population explosion and

technology. To improve concrete

properties, different supplementary

cementatious material or SCMs are added.

Fly ash, blast furnace slag, rice husk, silica

fume and even bacteria are some of the

supplementarycementatious materials.

Nanotechnology is a rising field of science

identified with the comprehension and

control of matter at the nano-scale, i.e. at

measurements between roughly 1-100 nm.

Nanotechnology includes nano-scale

science, designing and innovation that

included imaging, measuring, displaying

and controlling at this length scale. In the

serviceability record arrangement of units,

the prefix "nano" implies 1-billionth or 10-

9. Along these lines 1 nm is 1-billionth of

Page 2 of 6

European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 05

May 2019

Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 924

a meter.Nano-powders (grain size, 1-

100nm) have high surface area hence it

enhance the chemical, optical and

mechanical properties. It is anticipated that

addition of nano powdersinto

compositeswill increase strength, reduce

voids, and improve self control and

cleaning.

Incorporating of nano-particles in order to

improve the durability of concrete is rarely

reported. Therefore introducing some

nano-particles which probably could

improve the mechanical and durability

properties of cementatious composites is

inherent. Due to the new potential uses of

nano-particles, there is a global interest in

the investigation of the influence of nano

particles in construction materials

especially cements mortar and concrete.

The nanoscale size of particles can result

in dramatically improved properties from

conventional grainsize materials of the

same chemicalcomposition. Thereare

several reports on merging Nanoparticles

in concrete which most of them have

focused on using SiO2nanoparticles.

Nano-TiO2 particles containing concrete

acts by triggering photo catalytic

degradation of thepollutants, such as NOx,

carbon monoxide, VOCs, chlorophenols

and aldehydes from vehicle

and industrial emissions. Self-cleaning and

de-pollutingconcrete products are already

being produced for use in the facades of

buildings and in paving materials for roads

and have beenused in Europe and Japan. In

addition to imparting self-cleaning

properties, a few studieshave shown that

nano-TiO2 can accelerate the early-age

hydration of Portland cement,improve

compressive and flexural strengths, and

enhances the abrasion resistance

ofconcrete.

EXPERIMENTAL MATERIALS AND

SETUP

The water content was defined based on

the maximum densification (compaction)

of themixture, determined in the

compaction test. This was obtained,

adopting as the moistureparameter the

water/dry materials ratio (H), from the

mass relation between the water and dry

materials used to produce each concrete.

The study was carried out with the

reference concrete, without the addition of

TiO2, and concrete with the addition of

10% anatase I. Based on the results

obtained it was possible to obtain the

compaction curves.

On analysing the curves it can be observed

that the optimum point of the water/dry

Page 3 of 6

European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 05

May 2019

Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 925

materialsratio (H) lies between 8.5% and

9.0%, both for the reference concrete and

for the concretewith the addition of 10%

anatase I. Thus, the incorporation of TiO

OT did not alter significantly the

compaction curves for the concretes, for

the compaction energy employed.

Therefore, theoptimum water/dry materials

ratio for the production of the concretes in

this study was 8.7%.

Influence of the addition ofTiOon the

simple compressive strength of the

concretes The compressive strength tests

were carried out for three ages (3, 7 and 28

days), considering the three types of

TiOadded to the concretes in three

different doses (3%, 6% and 10%).

Respectively, the results obtained for the

concretes with the addition ofanatase I,

anatase II or rutile, compared with the

reference concrete.

At 3 days of age the concretes with the

addition of anatase I showed the poorest

performance,with a drop of up to 10% in

the value for the strength, and the content

of the additive did notinfluence the results.

For the concretes with the incorporation of

rutile, the results wereapproximately the

same as those for the reference mixture,

except for a content of 3%additive, which

gave a lower value. On the other hand, for

the concretes containing anataseII, the

performance of the concrete improved by

up to 16% for an additive content of 6%.

At 7 days of age the concretes with the

addition of TiO2, in general, showed

improvedperformance, with the exception

of the specimens with the addition of 10%

anatase I, forwhich the value was almost

the same as that obtained for the reference

sample and theconcrete with the addition

of 3% rutile, which both showed a

decrease in strength.

At 28 days of age the concretes with the

addition of anatase II and rutile showed

significantlyhigher compressive strength

than the reference mixture, reaching an

increase of up to 17.3%in the case of

anatase II (10%) and 10.5% for rutile

(10%). However, the values are included

in the tolerances (±20%) of a characteristic

resistance (fck) of 40 MPa, in other words,

in therange of 40

±

8 MPa. For the

concretes with the addition of anatase I the

results were slightlybelow those observed

for the reference material. In general, a

better performance in terms ofthe

mechanical strength could be observed for

the samples with the incorporation of