Nucleation effect of graphene in mechanical and microstructure properties of mortar with copper slag and quarry dust

Abstract

In recent days, research on graphene-based cement has gained prominence owing to its distinct characteristics, such as ultimate ductile behavior, enhanced specific surface area, and activation effect. Previous research suggests that Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNP) have the potential to enhance the micro- and macro-properties of cement-based composites. This study analyzes the performance of graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) with industrial by-products, such as copper slag (CS) and quarry dust (QD) admixed as partial replacement fine aggregates in mortar mixes. The mix proportions were optimized by improving the packing intensity through particle packing theory (Andersen and Modified Andreasen model) to reduce the number of trial mixes. According to the particle packing theory, the experimental analysis revealed that copper slag and quarry dust exhibited maximum strength at 40% replacement. A maximum compressive strength of 63.23 MPa was achieved in the mortar mixed with 0.25% GNP and 40% copper slag (25G2CS). In addition to the experimental analysis, the functional groups and changes in the elemental characteristics of the different cement composites were studied using microstructure analysis. The significance of this research is to optimize the materials used in the construction industry as well as to enhance the strength and durability of cement composites.

Keywords:

• Graphene nanoplatelets
• copper slag
• quarry dust
• mechanical properties
• microstructure analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. K Prakasan, Principal, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore for the facilities and support provided in carrying out this research work at Advanced Concrete Research Laboratory. The author wish to acknowledge “Terracarb private limited” for the constant support in supplying the graphene for the research work.

Authors’ contributions

S Divya: conceptualization, investigation, writing – original draft. S Praveenkumar: methodology, writing – review & editing, supervision.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.