Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. (2016) 74: 24610
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2015150426

Regular Article

Microscopical and mechanical evaluation of the durability of SiO₂ aggregates^*

¹ Laboratoire de Chimie Appliquée et d’Environnement, FST de Settat, Route de Casablanca, BP 577, Settat, Morocco
² Univ-Lille Nord de France, 59000 Lille, France
³ EMD, 941, rue Charles Bourseul, CS10838, 59508 Douai, France
⁴ Laboratoire Eco-Matériaux, Direction Territoriale Île de France, Centre d’études et d’Expertise sur les Risques, l’Environnement, la Mobilité et l’Aménagement (CEREMA), 120 Route des Paris – BP 216, Sourdun, 77487 Provins Cedex, France

^a e-mail: lahcen.khouchaf@mines-douai.fr

Received: 15 August 2015
Revised: 27 November 2015
Accepted: 11 December 2015
Published online: 3 May 2016

Abstract

The durability of SiO₂ compounds is closely related to its structural properties. In this work three natural siliceous aggregates (called G1, G2 and G3) are studied. Improvement of the durability of the starting material leads to a significant energy savings by extending the lifetime of structures. The chemical composition of the three natural aggregates shows that G1 and G2 have almost the same chemical composition (SiO₂) and G3 is different and contains SiO₂ quartz type and calcite as major components (SiO₂, calcite and dolomite). X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows that natural aggregates G1 is more crystallized than G2 and G3. After alkali silica reaction (ASR) process, the reactivity of G3 aggregate seems to be higher than the G1 and G2 aggregates. The mechanical results show the slight difference between mortar containing G1 (M_G1) and that containing G2 (M_G2). Their compressive strength is 10% less than that of reference (M_SS). As it is more reactive, G3 seems improving the compressive strength of M_G3, compared to M_G1 and M_G2.