International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 4 Issue 11, November-2015

A Study on Properties of Reactive Powder

Concrete
Sarika S Dr. Elson John
M.Tech Student, Asst. Professor,
Dept. of Civil Engineering Dept. of Civil Engineering
MACE, Kothamangalam MACE,Kothamangalam
Ernakulam, Kerala,India Ernakulam, Kerala, India

Abstract - The term reactive powder concrete (RPC) has extremely low porosity, dense matrix, high
been used to describe a fibre reinforced , superplasticized, tensile/compressive strength, and ductile tensile behavior. In
silica fume-cement mixture with very low water-cement ratio, comparison with normal steel reinforced concrete, the
characterized by the presence of very fine aggregates instead application of RPC is expected to improve the resistance of
of ordinary aggregate. It is having compressive strength about buildings and infrastructures under extreme mechanical and
150MPa. Fibres are incorporated in RPC in order to enhance environmental loads.
the fracture properties of the composite material. Reactive
powder concrete, is recognised as a revolutionary material Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC), which is UHPC, lies
that provides a combination of ultra-high strength and at the front in terms of innovation, aesthetics and structural
excellent durability. However, production of reactive powder efficiency. This new concrete type has compressive
concrete is not yet available with the limited research in this strengths of 150-230 MPa depending on the type and
area. This paper investigates mechanical and fresh concrete amount of fibres used. RPC has an ultra-dense
properties of reactive powder concrete. microstructure as ultra high strength concrete. RPC based
on the densest packing theory with heat curing is
Keywords – Reactive Powder Concrete, Compressive investigated and it is observed that it exhibits compressive
strength, Workability. strength of more than 200 MPa with great ductility.
Reactive Powder Concretes are characterized by a high
I. INTRODUCTION silica fume content and very low water to cement ratio.
The demand for high strength construction materials is Very fine granulometry sand and heat treatment are
the force behind the development of Reactive Powder optimized to obtain excellent mechanical and durability
Concrete. The pre-stressed hybrid pedestrian bridge at properties. In order to increase concrete ductility and
Sherbrooke in Canada, shown in fig 1, completed in 1997 flexural strength, metallic fibers can be added.
was the first engineering structure application of RPC. In Currently, to achieve excellent mechanical behaviour,
1997 and 1998, RPCs were cast in beams of Cattenom and some special techniques and raw materials must be adopted
Civaux power plants as the first industrial application. The in the preparation of RPC, which include:
first UHPC road bridge was designed and constructed at
Bourg-les-Valence in France in 2001 [2]. The preparation (a) Coarse aggregate is removed to enhance the
and performance of UHPC have been investigated in other homogeneity of concrete.
literatures [3-5]. (b) Metal fibre or steel tube is introduced to improve
Ultra high performance concrete is characterized ductility of composites.
primarily with high strength(>150MPa), and when it is (c) High quality superplasticizer and large quantities of
reinforced with steel fibers, exhibits high ductility. superfine silica fume and quartz are added, to achieve a low
Original Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC), otherwise water/binder ratio to reduce porosity and improve strength.
known as ultra high performance concrete (UHPC), was (d) Pressure may be applied before and during the
developed through microstructural enhancement techniques setting to increase the compactness of the concrete.
for cementitious materials. RPC term has been used to
describe a fibre- reinforced, superplasticized, silica fume- (e) High activity micro-silica and/or precipitated silica
cement mixture with very low water-cement ratio, may be mixed into cementitious materials to accelerate the
characterized by the presence of very fine aggregates hydration of cement and catalyze a strong pozzolanic
instead of ordinary aggregate. In fact, it is not a concrete reaction effect.
because there is no coarse aggregate in the cement mixture.
(f) Steam curing may be supplied to gain higher
Fibres are incorporated in RPC in order to enhance the
strength.
fracture properties of the composite material. The
advantages of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) include In short, to gain the desired strength of a UHPC, well-
higher durability, ductility and strength in comparison with chosen raw materials and sophisticated technical procedures
normal concrete and fibre reinforced concrete due to its are conventionally required.[2]

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 4 Issue 11, November-2015

The RPC offers superior technical characteristics the improved packing model. The cement hydration degree
including ductility, strength, and durability while providing of UHPFRC is calculated. And the results show that, after
highly moldable products with a high quality surface aspect. 28 day of curing, there is still a large amount of unhydrated
This innovative, unique combination of properties enables cement in the UHPFRC matrix, which could be further
designers to create thinner sections and longer spans that are replaced by fillers to improve the workability and cost
lighter, more graceful and innovative in geometry and form efficiency of UHPFRC. This study supports the use of
while providing improved durability and impermeability admixtures in UHPFRC.
against corrosion, abrasion and impact. The material
technology permits it to be used without passive reinforcing H.M.Al -Hassani et al. (2014) [1] investigated some
(rebar) and reductions in formwork, labor and maintenance mechanical properties of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC).
further add to economy. The elimination of rebar improves These properties include compressive strength, static
safety, the reduction of weight speeds construction, and the modulus of elasticity, tensile strength (direct, splitting and
improved durability reduces maintenance and extends the flexural), load-deflection capacity and flexural toughness.
usage-life. Many researches were conducted on Reactive The variable parameters in the study where the silica fume
Powder concrete, and in most of them, material content (SF) as a partial replacement by weight of cement,
steel fiber volume fraction and superplasticizer type. The
characterization only is done. The main purpose of the
present study is to find how effectively RPC can be used effect of these variables on the properties of RPC were
for structural applications. carefully studied. The experimental results showed the
increase in silica fume content (SF) from 0% to 30% lead to
a significant increase in compressive strength, while the
increase in tensile strength is relatively lower. The inclusion
of steel fibers leads to a considerable increase in tensile
strength, and only a slight increase in compressive strength
of RPC, as fiber volume fraction increases from 0% to 3%.
The increase in the steel fiber volume fraction and silica
fume content improved the load-deflection behavior and
resulted in larger ductility and fracture toughness of RPC.
C.M.Tam et al. (2010) [2] investigated mechanical and
fresh concrete properties of reactive powder concrete,
aiming to achieve the optimal conditions for producing
reactive powder concrete using local materials by
investigating the material composition, curing and heating
regimes and the microstructure of reactive powder concrete.
Fig. 1. Sherbrooke Bridge Based on the experimental results, it is found that reactive
powder concrete with a water-to-binder ratio of 0.2,
II. LITERATURE REVIEW superplasticizer dosage of 2.5%, 150–600 micron quartz
Mohammed Mansour et al. (2014) [3] conducted studies sand cured at 27ᵒC in water condition provides the best
on the performance of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) results in terms of mechanical and composite properties as
under two different curing conditions, water curing at 25ᵒC well as for practical and economical reasons, although heat
and heat treatment at 90ᵒC and 95% relative humidity. They treatment of the reactive powder concrete can result in a
studied the influence of using steel fiber and heat treatment significant increase in compressive strength.
on RPC slab specimen. Slabs, simply supported along four
edges were loaded concentrically by a square plate of K.M.Ng et al. (2010) [4] attempt to produce reactive
dimension (70x70x25mm). It was found that the use of steel powder concrete using local materials under laboratory
fibers and heat treatment showed adequate improvement on conditions. Concrete designed from reactive powder
the compressive strength, indirect tensile strength, modulus concrete and high-performance concrete is experimentally
of elasticity and flexural strength. The experimental results conducted and compared. The results show that the
showed that the presence of ultra fine steel fibers gives compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and static
improved stiffness, reduced crack width and propagation of modulus of elasticity are found to be significantly higher
cracks. The steel fibers provide sufficient tensile strength than that of high-performance concrete using the same
and ductility. This allows the reduction of reinforcement water-to-binder ratio. It is noted that the rate of strength
needed for resisting tension for many structural applications development of the reactive powder concrete samples is
and thus there can be a reduction in self weight and cost. greater than that of high-performance concrete. The
This enables the designer to create thinner sections, longer difference in strength at a later age is even bigger.
spans and taller structures. Compressive strength of about 200 MPa could even be
achieved in 3 days for the reactive powder concrete samples
R.Yu et al. (2014) [5] presents the mix design and when the samples were heat-treated at a temperature of
properties assessment of Ultra-High Performance Fiber about 250ᵒC for 16 h, which can be explained by the
Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC). The design of the concrete formation of xonotlite under scanning electron microscopy
mixtures is done to get a densely compacted cementitious investigation.
matrix. The workability, porosity, air content, compressive
and flexural strengths of the designed UHPFRC are
measured and analyzed. The results supports the design
UHPFRC with a relatively low binder amount, by utilizing

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 4 Issue 11, November-2015

III. MATERIAL PROPERTIES TABLE IV. DETAILS OF STEEL FIBRE

1) Cement: Length Diameter Aspect Ratio Tensile stength

Ordinary Portland Cement of 53 grade was used for the 20mm 0.3mm 66 >1100MPa
study. The physical properties of cement used are given in
table I. IV. MIX PROPORTION
TABLE I. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF CEMENT
Specific Gravity 3.14 The mix proportion adopted for the RPC mix is given in
Standard Consistency 35% table V.
Initial setting time 76
Final setting time 380
TABLE V. MIX PROPORTION
Material Mix Proportion (kg/m3)
2) Silicafume: Cement 1000
A highly reactive silica pozzolan is an essential Silica fume 225
component of reactive powder concrete. Quartz powder 252
w/b 0.2
In the study Microsilica 920D have been used. It Water 245
conforms to the mandatory requirements of the relevant Steel fibre 30.6
standards from American Society of Testing and Materials Superplasticizer 49
(ASTM) and European Committee for Standardisation. The Aggregate (2.36mm-1.18mm) 700
chemical composition of the material is given in table II Aggregate (1.18mm-600µ) 150
Aggregate (600µ-0) 100
TABLE II. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF MICROSILICA 920D
V. MIXING PROCEDURE
All the materials are mixed in dry state for 2 minutes,
then 80% of the mixing water is added and mixed for 3
minutes, 15% water and 70% superplasticizer is added and
mixed again for 3 minutes then the mixer machine is
stopped for 1 minute. Now the remaining water and super
plasticizer is added and mixing is continued for 4 minutes.
Steel fibres are added and mixed for 1 minute for uniform
distribution. The total mixing time is 14 minutes.
VI. CURING
3) Water: 100mmx100mm sized cubes are casted and water cured
Potable water was used for mixing. for 28days.
4) Superplasticizers (SP):
Polycarboxylates ether condensate (PCE) based VII. PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE
superplasticizer was used in the study. Table III shows the
data sheet of superplasticizer. A. Fresh properties of concrete
TABLE III. PERFORMANCE DATA SHEET OF SUPERPLASTICIZER. 1) Workability of concrete
Aspect Light brown liquid Slump flow test is conducted to measure the workability of
Relative Density 1.08 ± 0.01 at 25ᵒC concrete. In this test, the mould is filled with RPC and the
pH ≥6
spread diameter of the RPC is measured in two directions
Chloride ion content < 0.2%
orthogonally, after lifting the mould vertically upwards. The
average value is expressed as the spread of the concrete.
5) Quartz Powder The bleeding and segregation of the mix can be examined
For RPC mixes designed to be temperature cured, visually. The spread of concrete is shown in fig 2.
including autoclaving at elevated pressures, additional silica
is necessary to modify the CaO/SiO ratio of the binder. In
these cases powdered quartz flour with a mean particle size
of 10 – 15 μm was employed.
6) Fine Aggregate
RPC is produced using manufactured sand having
particle size less than 2.36mm.Three different gradations are
used, having size between 2.36 mm and 1.18mm, between
1.18mm and 600 micron, and from 600- 0 micron, in
different proportions.
7) Steel Fibres
To enhance the RPC ductility, mixes were produced
with steel fibers of length 20 mm and diameter 0.3 mm,
with a minimum on-the-wire tensile strength is greater than Fig. 2. Slump flow test
1100 MPa. The details of steel fiber is shown in table IV.

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 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Vol. 4 Issue 11, November-2015

B. Mechanical properties of hardened concrete The 28 day strength of the mix is 130MPa. 70% of the
1) Compressive strength of hardened concrete 28th day strength is attained on the 7th day.
The compressive strength test was carried out on cubical
specimen of size 100mm in a compression testing machine IX. CONCLUSIONS
of capacity 2000kN, as per IS 516:1959 specification. The Test results indicate that production of RPC is possible
setup of compression test is shown in fig 3. under standard water curing.
From the literatures it is clear that with temperature
curing, mechanical properties can be improved.
Concrete having a strength of 130 MPa was achieved.
The 28 day strength of the mix is 130MPa. 70% of the
28th day strength is attained on the 7th day.
Spread of concrete obtained from slump flow test is
260mm.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to thank my guide Dr. Elson John, Asst.Professor,
Dept. of Civil Engineering, MACE, P. G. Coordinator
Dr.Laju Kottalil, PG Coordinator, Department of Civil
Engineering, MACE and to Dr. Jayasree Ramanujan, Head
of Department, Dept. of Civil Engineering, MACE for
Fig. 3. Compression test providing the support for conducting this study and ELKEM
South Asia PVT. LTD, Master Micron India and BASF
VIII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Chemicals for providing the materials.

A. Workability of concrete REFERENCES

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Fig. 4. Variation of compressive strength

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