Silica Fume – An Admixture for High Quality Concrete

By addition of some pozzolanic materials, the various properties of concrerte viz, workability, durability, strength, resistance to cracks and permeability can be improved. Silica fume is one such pozzolanic material. Silica fume is a by product obtained from the reduction of high – purity quartz with coal or coke and wood chips in an electric arc furnace during the production of silicon metal or silicon alloys. The use of Silica fume as admixture in concrete has opened up one more chapter on the advancement in concrete technology. More sticky mix can be obtained by addition of Silica fume in concrete. Using Silica fume in concrete increases its compressive, tensile, flexural and impact strengths and decreases permeability and bleeding. In this paper, an attempt is made to describe the suitability of silica fume in concrete.