Estimation of the Mechanical Response of Nano Materials in Cement Concrete – A Study

Nanomaterials are a product of one of the truly revolutionary enabling technologies invented by mankind. Nanotechnology as it is appropriately called, can add up to the value of all products including cement concrete through these nanomaterials. In this paper optimized quantity of nanomaterials viz.Nano Silica (nS) and Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) are used to study the mechanical response of a standard M-40 Grade concrete. optimization of Nano-Silica (nS) and Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) for various proportions ranging from 0%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1.0%, 1.25%, 1.5% of cement weight for nS and 0%, 0.02%, 0.05% and 0.1% of cement weight for CNT is carried out using ordinary Portland cement mortar mix in mortar cubes of 70.7 mm dimensions, taking cement: sand=1:3 and adding water as per the standard consistency formula P'=(P/4 +3) (1 part Cement+3parts Sand). Here P'=Quantity of water and P=Consistency of Cement used, as per Indian codal stipulations and mechanical testing of the cubes are done in laboratory scale under ordinary curing conditions at 28 days to obtain the specific optimized quantity. This optimized quantity of nS and CNTs as obtained, is then repeated for standard Grade M-40 concrete as per IS:10262 (2009) to study the mechanical response of it.