IMPROVING SILICA FUME FOR CONCRETE BY SURFACE-TREATMENT

Surface treatment of silica fume with sulfuric acid prior to incorpora tion in a cement matrix resulted in composites exhibiting increases in tensile strength by 12%, tensile modulus by 72%, tensile ductility by 57%, abrasion resistance by 20%, loss tangent by 30-80%, flexural sto rage modulus by 80-120%, and flexural loss modulus by 160-300%, relati ve to the values obtained by using as-received silica fume. (C) 1998 E lsevier Science Ltd.