Flame trench concrete during rocket ignition at the Kennedy Space Center can experience physical, chemical, and thermal damage that results in repair cost of ten million dollars a year on average. Developing a way to repair this damage while simultaneously enhancing physical and chemical durability would greatly reduce repair cost and increase safety. One method is to treat the cement with nanoparticles to decrease the pore volume, thus enhancing the physical properties and corrosion resistance. The present research examined the effect of electrokinetically drawing alumina-coated silica nanoparticles into the cement pores. To test this method cement cylinder specimens batched with rebar were prepared and treated with the nanoparticles. The alumina exterior provided a positive surface charge, allowing the particles to be drawn into the cement specimens by applying a negative potential to the rebar. Due to pH changes in the nanoparticle solution during treatment, buffering agents were added to the treatment solution to prevent agglomeration of the nanoparticles in high pH regions. The specimens were also crushed axially to evaluate the comparative compression and tensile strengths to control specimens. Crushed specimens were also characterized by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to determine the depth of nanoparticle penetration and FTIR and Raman spectroscopies to determine chemical species and bonding.

Effect of buffering agents on NP agglomeration in cement specimens during electrokinetic treatment

255th National Meeting (2018)

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