Efficient Use of Graphene Oxide and Silica Fume in Cement-Based Composites

Abstract

Incorporation of graphene oxide (GO) and silica fume (SF) to cement composites enhances their mechanical properties if suitable proportional amounts of GO and SF are used. This study presents a simplified approach to determine experimentally the optimum GO and SF contents that should be added to the cementitious mixture to obtain a proper and stable dispersion of GO sheets within the cement matrix. Composite mortar specimens with different GO and SF contents were designed and tested under flexural and compression loading. The phase formation and the microstructure of selected samples were also investigated to give an in-depth interpretation of the test results. The main criterion to determine the GO and SF contents was the ultimate strength required of the GO–cement composite. It was found that there was a composite interaction between the SF and GO contents in the cementitious mixture, which an envelope surface could describe if all other mix design parameters are kept constant.

The Macro and Micro Effects of Graphene Oxide and Silica Fume on the Performance of Concrete under Standard Curing Conditions

“…[ 49 ] When composited with GO and SF, the incorporation of GO made the pozzolanic reaction of SF deeper and enhanced the compactness of the matrix, which led to better frost resistance of the specimens. [ 46 ]…”

“…[44,45] When composited with SF and GO, GO makes the reaction between SF and calcium hydroxide more sufficient, and both of them play a regulatory role in the hydration and crystallization of cement minerals, thus improving the compactness of the matrix. [46] 3.6. Frost Resistance…”

Pozzolanic Cement-Sand Mortar with Graphene Oxide nano-sheet: An Experimental Study on Strength, Durability and Microstructural Properties

“…Additionally, after 28 days of curing, the compressive strength and exural strength showed increases of 41% and 16%, respectively. It was reported by Abdullah and co-worker [34] reported that the compressive strength and exural strength increased by 31% and 18% with the addition of 0.03% of GO with silica fume. From another experimental study [35] it was indicated that the addition of 0.03% of GO into cement composite increased the compressive strength, exural strength, and tensile strength by 38.9%, 60.7%, and 78.6% respectively.…”

“…It was concluded by Zhao and coworker [54] deduced that adding 0.022% GO at different water-cement ratios increased the compressive strength of cement composites by 16.31-25.60%. According to Abdullah team [34], the addition of a modest amount of GO, such as 0.05% by weight of cement with 7% silica fume, resulted in a 29% increase in compressive strength after 28 days compared to the control. It was observed that as the concentration of GO increased at different ages, the compressive strength of concrete mixes gradually increased.…”