Quantification of hydration products in cementitious materials incorporating silica nanoparticles

In the present work, silica nanoparticles (30-70nm) were supplemented into cement paste to study their influence on degree of hydration, porosity and formation of different type of calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) gel. As the hydration time proceeds, the degree of hydration reach to 76% in nano-modified cement paste whereas plain cement achieve up to 63% at 28 days. An influence of degree of hydration on the porosity was also determined. In plain cement paste, the capillary porosity at 1hr is ~48%, whereas in silica nanoparticles added cement is ~35 % only, it revealed that silica nanoparticles refines the pore structure due to accelerated hydration mechanism leading to denser microstructure. Similarly, increasing gel porosity reveals the formation of more C-S-H gel. Furthermore, C-S-H gel of different Ca/Si ratio in hydrated cement paste was quantified using X-ray diffractometer and thermogravimetry. The results show that in presence of silica nanoparticles, ~24% C-S-H (Ca/Si<1.0) forms, leading to the formation of polymerised and compact C-S-H. In case of plain cement this type of C-S-H was completely absent at 28 days. These studies reveal that the hydration mechanism of the cement can be tuned with the incorporation of silica nanoparticles and thus, producing more durable cementitious materials.