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Silica fume, also known as microsilica, (CAS number 69012-64-2, EINECS number 273-761-1) is an
amorphous In condensed matter physics and materials science, an amorphous solid (or non-crystalline solid, glassy solid) is a solid that lacks the long-range order that is characteristic of a crystal. Etymology The term comes from the Greek ''a'' ("wi ...
(non-crystalline) polymorph of
silicon dioxide Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...
,
silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...
. It is an ultrafine powder collected as a by-product of the silicon and ferrosilicon alloy production and consists of spherical particles with an average particle diameter of 150 nm. The main field of application is as
pozzolan Pozzolans are a broad class of Silicon_dioxide, siliceous and aluminium oxide, aluminous materials which, in themselves, possess little or no cementitious value but which will, in finely divided form and in the presence of water, react chemically ...
ic material for high performance concrete. It is sometimes confused with
fumed silica Fumed silica (CAS number 112945-52-5), also known as pyrogenic silica because it is produced in a flame, consists of microscopic droplets of amorphous silica fused into branched, chainlike, three-dimensional secondary particles which then agglom ...
(also known as pyrogenic silica, CAS number 112945-52-5). However, the production process, particle characteristics and fields of application of fumed silica are all different from those of silica fume.


History

The first testing of silica fume in Portland-
cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...
-based
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
s was carried out in 1952. The biggest drawback to exploring the properties of silica fume was a lack of material with which to experiment. Early research used an expensive additive called fumed silica, an
amorphous In condensed matter physics and materials science, an amorphous solid (or non-crystalline solid, glassy solid) is a solid that lacks the long-range order that is characteristic of a crystal. Etymology The term comes from the Greek ''a'' ("wi ...
form of silica made by combustion of
silicon tetrachloride Silicon tetrachloride or tetrachlorosilane is the inorganic compound with the formula SiCl4. It is a colourless volatile liquid that fumes in air. It is used to produce high purity silicon and silica for commercial applications. Preparation Silic ...
in a hydrogen-oxygen flame. Silica fume on the other hand, is a very fine pozzolanic, amorphous material, a by-product of the production of elemental
silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...
or
ferrosilicon Ferrosilicon is an alloy of iron and silicon with a typical silicon content by weight of 15–90%. It contains a high proportion of iron silicides. Production and reactions Ferrosilicon is produced by reduction of silica or sand with coke in th ...
alloys in electric arc furnaces. Before the late 1960s in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and the mid-1970s in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, silica fumes were simply vented into the atmosphere. With the implementation of tougher environmental laws during the mid-1970s, silicon smelters began to collect the silica fume and search for its applications. The early work done in Norway received most of the attention, since it had shown that Portland cement-based-concretes containing silica fumes had very high strengths and low porosities. Since then the research and development of silica fume made it one of the world's most valuable and versatile admixtures for concrete and cementitious products.


Properties

Silica fume is an ultrafine material with spherical particles less than 1 μm in diameter, the average being about 0.15 μm. This makes it approximately 100 times smaller than the average cement particle. The bulk density of silica fume depends on the degree of densification in the silo and varies from 130 (undensified) to 600 kg/m3. The specific gravity of silica fume is generally in the range of 2.2 to 2.3. The specific surface area of silica fume can be measured with the BET method or nitrogen adsorption method. It typically ranges from 15,000 to 30,000 m2/kg.


Production

Silica fume is a byproduct in the carbothermic reduction of high-purity
quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
with carbonaceous materials like coal, coke, wood-chips, in
electric arc furnace An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to ab ...
s in the production of silicon and ferrosilicon alloys.


Applications


Concrete

Because of its extreme fineness and high silica content, silica fume is a very effective pozzolanic material. Standard specifications for silica fume used in cementitious mixtures are ASTM C1240, EN 13263. Silica fume is added to Portland cement concrete to improve its properties, in particular its
compressive strength In mechanics, compressive strength or compression strength is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads tending to reduce size (as opposed to tensile strength which withstands loads tending to elongate). In other words, compre ...
,
bond strength In chemistry, bond energy (''BE''), also called the mean bond enthalpy or average bond enthalpy is the measure of bond strength in a chemical bond. IUPAC defines bond energy as the average value of the gas-phase bond-dissociation energy (usually a ...
, and abrasion resistance. These improvements stem from both the mechanical improvements resulting from addition of a very fine powder to the cement paste mix as well as from the
pozzolanic reaction The pozzolanic activity is a measure for the degree of reaction over time or the reaction rate between a pozzolan and Ca2+ or calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) in the presence of water. The rate of the pozzolanic reaction is dependent on the intrinsic ...
s between the silica fume and free
calcium hydroxide Calcium hydroxide (traditionally called slaked lime) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca( OH)2. It is a colorless crystal or white powder and is produced when quicklime (calcium oxide) is mixed or slaked with water. It has m ...
in the paste. Addition of silica fume also reduces the permeability of concrete to
chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...
ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...
s, which protects the
reinforcing steel Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concrete under tension. ...
of concrete from
corrosion Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...
, especially in chloride-rich environments such as coastal regions and those of
humid continental A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
roadways and runways (because of the use of
deicing Deicing is the process of removing snow, ice or frost from a surface. Anti-icing is the application of chemicals that not only deice but also remain on a surface and continue to delay the reformation of ice for a certain period of time, or preve ...
salts) and
saltwater Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...
bridges. Prior to the mid-1970s, nearly all silica fume was discharged into the atmosphere. After environmental concerns necessitated the collection and
landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
ing of silica fume, it became economically viable to use silica fume in various applications, in particular high-performance concrete.''ACI 234R-06. Guide to Silica Fume in Concrete''
American Concrete Institute
/ref> Effects of silica fume on different properties of fresh and hardened concrete include: * Workability: With the addition of silica fume, the slump loss with time is directly proportional to increase in the silica fume content due to the introduction of large surface area in the concrete mix by its addition. Although the slump decreases, the mix remains highly cohesive. * Segregation and bleeding: Silica fume reduces bleeding significantly because the free water is consumed in wetting of the large surface area of the silica fume and hence the free water left in the mix for bleeding also decreases. Silica fume also blocks the pores in the fresh concrete so water within the concrete is not allowed to come to the surface.


Silicon carbide

The silica fumes, as byproduct, may be used to produce
silicon carbide Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum (), is a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon. A semiconductor, it occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, but has been mass-produced as a powder and crystal sin ...
.


See also


References


Further reading

* * *


External links


Silica Fume Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silica Fume Ceramic materials Glass types Silicon dioxide