Evaluation the pozzolanic reactivity of sonochemically fabricated nano natural pozzolan

Natural pozzolans are appropriate supplementary cementitious materials in cement and concrete industry. A simple sonochemical method was developed to synthesize nanostructures of natural pozzolan. Chemical composition, crystallinity, morphology and reactivity of the natural pozzolan samples were compared before and after the sonochemical process, by using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Thermal Gravimetry and Differential Thermal Analysis (TG/DTA). Compressive strength tests were performed to evaluate the properties of blended cements incorporating nano natural pozzolan. Under optimized conditions, the nano natural pozzolans showed a superior reactivity as compared with the bulk natural pozzolan. Also higher compressive strength was obtained for the cement specimen incorporating nano natural pozzolan.

► Nanostructures of natural pozzolans were fabricated from bulk natural pozzolans through a top down sonochemical route.
► The reactivity of pozzolans was calculated before and after the sonochemical process by using TG/DTA method.
► TG/DTA results showed superior reactivity of natural pozzolan nanostructures to initial natural pozzolans.
► Compressive strength test results also showed superior strength of cement containing nano natural pozzolan.