Performance of self compacting concrete containing micro-silica and steel fibre

Abstract

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) originated in the late 1980’s by Japense in order to compensate the shortage of labour. The SCC is a special type of labour-friendly concrete that possess the ability to flow and compact by its self-weight. When properly designed, it could save time, eliminates the need for vibration, better compaction is produced compared to the conventional control mix. SCC contains more of binder content consisting of higher cement content. This cement was replaced by micro-silica at varying percentage and also steel fibres were used to improve the ductile nature. In addition to this, micro-silica have been used to improve the strength and durability of concrete. Addition of silica to a concrete mix alters the cement paste structure. Then the resulting paste contains more of the calcium-silicate hydrates and less of the weak and easily soluble calcium hydroxides. Due to its smaller particle size distribution, they disperse among and separate the cement particles. In the present study, the different mix ratio using steel fibres, micro-silica has been prepared and the fresh and hardened properties of SCC has been studied.