Strength Characteristics and Durability Characteristics of Silicafume and Metakaolin

Silica fume (SF) and Metakaolin are cementitious materials used as admixtures to produce high strength concrete and to reduce the permeability. Also, Silica fume is used to make durable concrete structures in combination with ordinary Portland cement. In places where insufficient or poor curing concrete structures like sea shores, underground structures which undergo severe loss of compressive strength and permeability interconnected durability, use of Metakaolin and Silica fume in an optimum proportion proves to be very useful to modify the properties of concrete. This project deals with the properties of concrete, with varying percentage replacement of Silica fume and Metakaolin as a partial replacement for cement. The mix was obtained by replacing (35%, 15%); (40%, 10%) and (45%, 5%) mass of cement by Silica fume and Metakaolin respectively. Finally required specimens were casted to study the behaviors such as compressive strength, tensile strength and durability. Compressive strength and split tensile test were carried out for testing the strength properties and sorptivity test was conducted to check the durability properties of concrete. The test results indicated that the two admixtures Silica fume and Metakaolin when used at an optimum combination tend to increase the strength and durability of concrete when compared with conventional concrete.