The influence of nano-silica on the hydration of ordinary Portland cement

Nucleation seeding is a new approach to control the kinetics of cement hydration. It is known that nano-silica has an accelerating effect on cement hydration. It is assumed that the surface of these particles act as a nucleation site for C–S–H-seeds which then accelerate the cement hydration. In this case the acceleration should depend on the particles surface area. To verify this, nano-silica particles of different sizes and specific surface areas were synthesised. The acceleration of cement hydration clearly correlates with the total surface size of the added particles, which was varied by either using smaller particles or higher concentration of particles in the cement lime. Additional in situ-XRD experiments show that the consumption of C3S and the formation of portlandite are accelerated by the addition of nano-silica. In both cases the surface size is the major factor for the hydration kinetics.