Influence of catalytic nano-additive for stabilization of β-dicalcium silicate and its hydration rate with different electrolytes

The influence of nano-additives (nano-TiO<inf>2</inf> and nano-MgO) on stabilization of β-dicalcium silicate (β-C<inf>2</inf>S) was investigated and compared with corresponding micron size additives. The effectiveness of phase stabilization with different wt% of nano- and micron-additives along with the influence of sintering temperature on stabilization of β-C<inf>2</inf>S were studied using Rietveld refinement of XRD data. In addition, hydration study of β-C<inf>2</inf>S stabilized by nano-additive was also carried out in the presence of CaCl<inf>2</inf>, NaCl, NaOH and distilled water. The rate of hydration and influence of different electrolytes were analyzed by TG and DTG curve. The result shows that nano-TiO<inf>2</inf> provides a catalytic effect on phase stabilization even at very low wt%. The hydration result of β-C<inf>2</inf>S stabilized by nano-TiO<inf>2</inf> indicates that electrolyte solution and its ion play an important role towards hydration kinetics. The morphology of the C-S-H phase strongly depends on the electrolyte solution used for the hydration.