Influence of ultrafine TiO2 and silica fume on performance of unreinforced and fiber reinforced concrete

This paper investigates the performance of plain cement concrete (PCC) and fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) with silica fume (SF) and ultra-fine TiO2 (UFTiO2) as mineral admixtures. The size of UFTiO2 was analyzed using Zeta size analyzer. Concrete with a characteristic compressive strength of 50 MPa was chosen. Cement was partially replaced with SF in three different percentages namely 4.5, 9.5 and 14.5 and constant UFTiO2 percentage of 0.5 to have a total replacement level of 5%, 10%and 15%. Steel fibres were added in 0.5% by volume of concrete. Specimens were for various parameters like resistance against compression, water absorption and sorption. In addition, tests on Split tension, flexure and impact were done to study the characteristics of the concrete with fibre. The results were compared with conventional concrete. Concrete with 9.5% SF, 0.5% UFTiO2 was found to be an optimum mix among all the combinations tested in both plain cement and fibre reinforced concrete.