%0 Journal Article %A Razzaghian Ghadikolaee, Mehrdad %A Habibnejad Korayem, Asghar %A Ghoroqi, Mahyar %A Sharif, Alireza %T Effect of halloysite nanotubes on workability and permeability of cement mortar %J Modares Civil Engineering journal %V 18 %N 2 %U http://mcej.modares.ac.ir/article-16-19964-en.html %R %D 2018 %K Halloysite nanotubes, Workability, Permeability, Cement mortar, %X In the last decades, the development of nanotechnology has been rising and nanomaterials have been widely used in combination with many traditional materials. The prominent chemical and physical properties of nanomaterials enable them to play an important role in various applications such as modifying the structure of materials, improving the properties of composites, and manufacturing new multifunctional products. The building industry has not been exempted from this rule. Many studies have been carried out on the effect of nanoparticles on concrete performance and most of them demonstrated the improvement of concrete properties. There are a lot of studies on the effect of nanoclay on cement composites. However, there are little researches on the halloysite nanotube (HNT) effect, as subcategories of nanoclay, on the properties of cement composites. Halloysites are a kind of mineral clay which are often produced by air-induced erosion or by thermal transformation of ultramafic rocks, volcanic glasses, and pumice. They are chemically similar to kaolinite but, unit layers in halloysites are separated by a monolayer of water molecules. In general, halloysites have different shapes and exist in the plate, spherical, and tubular forms. The tubular structure is the dominant form of halloysite in nature. Chemically, the outer surface of the HNTs has properties similar to SiO2 while the inner cylinder core is related to Al2O3. Due to the tubular geometry, HNTs like carbon nanotubes could be classified as one-dimensional nanoparticles. Halloysite can grow into long multi-walled tubules, which morphologically resemble to multi-walled carbon nanotubes. In terms of dimensional characteristics, HNTs have an external diameter of about 30 to 190 nm, an inner diameter of about 10 to 100 nm and a length between 3 to 30 µm. Halloysite characteristics could be sum up as high length to diameter (L/D) ratio, high specific surface, large pore volume, low density in surface, and pozzolanic properties. Mechanical properties of HNTs could make them an ideal reinforcing additive to improve the mechanical properties of cement composites. In addition, due to the nano scale size of HNTs, they can play the role of filler and make a denser and stronger microstructure. Therefore, in this research, the effect of HNTs on the performance of cement mortar was evaluated and the workability and permeability of mortar samples containing 3% halloysite nanotubes were presented. The results indicated an increase of more than 28% of electrical resistance, a decrease of approximately 26% of water absorption rate, 23% reduction in water repellent, a decrease in the workability, and an increment in the rate of hydration of cement mortar due to the incorporation of 3% halloysite nanotube. These results indicate that halloysite nanotubes can be used as an appropriate nanoparticle to improve the properties of cementitious composites. The pozzolanic properties of HNTs enable them to decrease the permeability of cementitious matrices. Silicate of HNTs react with calcium ions of hydrated cement and increase the calcium silicate hydrate gel. This could lead to an enhancement in the durability of cementitious matrices. This paper can provide more insights on the application of nanoparticles with cementitious composites. %> http://mcej.modares.ac.ir/article-16-19964-en.pdf %P 89-100 %& 89 %! %9 %L A-16-39633-142 %+ Assistant professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology %G eng %@ %[ 2018