EFFECT OF SILICA FUME ON STRENGTH AND DURABILITY PARAMETERS OF CONCRETE

Portland cement is the most important ingredient of concrete and is a versatile and relatively high cost material. Large scale production of cement is causing environmental problems on one hand and depletion of natural resources on other hand. This threat to ecology has led to researchers to use industrial by products as supplementary cementations material in making concrete. The main parameter investigated in this study is M35 grade concrete with partial replacement of cement by silica fume by 0, 5, 10,15and by 20%. This paper presents a detailed experimental study on Compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength at age of 7 and 28 day. Durability study on acid attack was also studied and percentage of weight loss is compared with normal concrete. Test results indicate that use of Silica fume in concrete has improved the performance of concrete in strength as well as in durability aspect.