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Graphene Oxide Modified Pervious Concrete with Fly Ash as Sole Binder

Article  in  DEStech Transactions on Engineering and Technology Research · February 2017

DOI: 10.12783/dtetr/ictim2016/5478

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1st International Conference on Transportation Infrastructure and Materials (ICTIM 2016)
ISBN: 978-1-60595-367-0

Graphene Oxide Modified Pervious Concrete

with Fly Ash as Sole Binder
Gang Xu1 and Xianming Shi2
1
Laboratory for Advanced & Sustainable Cementitious Materials, Department of Civil & Environmental
Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2910; [email protected]
2
Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Washington State University,
Pullman, WA 99164-2910; [email protected]; Corresponding author

ABSTRACT: In this study, a graphene oxide modified pervious concrete was developed
by using a low-reactivity, high-calcium fly ash as sole binder, chemical activators and
other admixtures. The density, void ratio, mechanical strength, infiltration rate, Young’s
modulus, and degradation resistance of pervious concrete were measured against other
three controlled groups. The test results indicated that the graphene oxide modified fly
ash pervious concrete is comparable to the Portland cement pervious concrete. While the
addition of 0.03% graphene oxide (by weight of fly ash) increased the compressive
strength, split tensile strength, Young’s modulus and degradation resistance of fly ash
pervious concrete noticeably, the void ratio and infiltration rate were reduced.

INTRODUCTION

Pervious concrete is a special type of concrete with a high porosity that allows water
from precipitation and other sources to pass through directly. The infiltration effect
provided by pervious concrete pavements can recharge the groundwater and reduce the
amounts of total suspended solids, total phosphors, total nitrogen and metals in the
ground water (Schaefer et al. 2006). A typical pervious concrete mix design contains
Portland cement. It is well known that Portland cement has some environmental concerns:
the high-energy consumption and the release of air pollutants and greenhouse gases
related to mining and manufacture. In order to make the pervious concrete
environmentally friendly and sustainable, fly ash, a by-product of coal fired power plant,
has been chosen in this study to fully replace Portland cement in the pervious concrete
since it has been used as a partial cement replacement in the concrete for years (Palomo,
Grutzeck, and Blanco 1999).

In this work, we used a low-reactivity, high-calcium fly ash (defined in Table 1) as

sole binder for pervious concrete with alkali activation at room temperature. Graphene
oxide (GO) was also used to facilitate the polymerization of reaction products from alkali
activation. Previous studies (Lv et al. 2014; Gong et al. 2015 and Ranjbar et al. 2015)
indicated that GO can improve the overall performance of cement mix significantly by
regulating cement hydration, providing crack branching and bridging mechanism and
acting as nanofillers. Therefore, GO shows significant potential for the application in fly
ash-based pervious concrete of high strength and durability. The following sections detail
the process of developing pervious concrete with a low-reactivity, high-calcium fly ash as
the sole binder. A fly ash based pervious concrete could not only reduce the demand for

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Portland cement, but also divert the fly ash from industrial wastes, which could otherwise
cause serious environmental problems.

Table 1. Fly Ash Spheres Reactivity (Enders 1995).

CaO (% wt.) Al2O3/(Al2O3+SiO2) Reactivity
High-Ca-spheres >25 ± 0.45 High
Low-Ca-spheres <25 ± 0.45 Low
Ca-free-spheres ±0 <0.45 Inert

EXPERIMENTAL PREPARATION

Materials

The high-calcium fly ash (CaO > 20% by wt.) used in this study was obtained from a
western U.S. power plant. Fly ash composition was examined by X-ray fluorescence
(XRF) analysis and is presented in Table 2. As defined in Table 1, it can also be
considered as a low-reactivity, high-calcium fly ash.

Table 2. Chemical Composition of Fly Ash (% wt.).

SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 Na2O K 2O TiO2 MgO CaO MnO L.O.I* Origin
CFA 1 23.5 13.8 4.8 6.3 0.4 1.3 4.2 23.2 0.1 0.15 OR

The amount of chemical activators designed to facilitate the dissolution of fly ash is
listed as following：
• Water glass, i.e., sodium silicate (Na2SiO3.9H2O): 7% by weight of fly ash
• Sodium Sulfate (Na2SO4.10H2O): 1% by weight of fly ash
• Quicklime (CaO): 5% by weight of fly ash
• Calcium Chloride (CaCl2.2H2O): 1% by weight of fly ash

Graphene oxide (GO) used in this study was produced by using a modified
Hummer’s method. The as-produced GO was pasty, which was diluted with deionized
water first and then sonicated for 45 min by using a Branson digital sonifier to produce
stable GO suspension. One type of single-sized coarse aggregate, crushed limestone in
3/8-inch size with 100% passing the 1/2-inch sieve and 100% retained on the 3/8-inch
sieve, was used as coarse aggregate (specific gravity = 2.6, water absorption = 2.5%).
One commercially available glass powder recycled from industrial feedstocks was used
as a micro-filler in the pervious concrete mix design. A type I/II cement (ASTM C150)
was used in the mix design of control groups.

Mix Proportions

Four groups of pervious concrete were designed to investigate the performance of fly
ash based pervious concrete and how the addition of GO content influences the void ratio,
mechanical strength, water permeability, Young’s modulus and durability of pervious
concrete. The proportions of four mixes are shown in Table 3. Triethanolamine (TEA)
was used to improve early-age strength of pervious concrete. Air-entraining (AE) agent,
BASF MB-AE 90, and high-range water reducer (HRWR), BASF MasterGlenium 7920,

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were employed to improve the workability and freeze-thaw resistance of pervious
concrete.

Table 3. Pervious Concrete Material Proportions.

Agg. Fly ash Water GO TEA HRWR AE
Mix Agg. Size Cement
(kg/m3) CFA1 (kg/m3) (g/100kg (ml/100k (ml/100k (ml/100kg
Design (inch) (kg/m3)
[a/b] (kg/m3) [w/b] binder) g binder) g binder) binder)
1425 80
Cement 3/8 320 -- -- 40 300 30
[4.45] [0.25]
Cement 1425 80
3/8 320 -- 96 40 300 30
+ GO [4.45] [0.25]
1435 97
Fly ash 3/8 -- 358 -- 40 1000 30
[4.0] [0.27]
Fly ash 1435 97
3/8 -- 358 108 40 1000 30
+ GO [4.0] [0.27]

* 2% (by weight of cement or fly ash) glass powder used for all mix designs
* a/b = aggregate-binder-ratio
* w/b = water-binder-ratio
* 1 lb/yd3 = 0.5933 kg/m3
* 1 fl oz/cwt = 65.2 mL/100 kg
* designed amount of chemical activators is not listed in this table

Specimen Fabrication

The pervious concrete mixes in Table 3 were used as four separate batches. All 4 in.
x 8 in. cylinder specimens were prepared in two layers, with each layer compacted by ten
blows of a standard 2.5 kg Protocol hammer. The specimens were struck-off at the top
surface before covered with caps. The specimens were then demolded after 24 hours,
cured according to ASTM C192. To ensure that a pervious concrete cylinder has smooth,
parallel, uniform bearing surfaces to the applied axial load during compression testing,
the cylinders were capped with a sulfur capping compound according to ASTM C617
(Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Pervious concrete cylinders with capping: (left to right) cement,

cement + GO, fly ash, fly ash + GO.

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EXPERIMENTAL TESTS AND RESULTS

Density and Void Ratio

ASTM C1754 was used to determine the density and void ratio of hardened pervious
concrete at 28-day and the results are shown in Fig. 2. The incorporation of GO into the
binder shows that the average void ratio of fly ash pervious concrete decreased from 24.9%
to 21.2%, whereas the average void ratio of Portland cement pervious concrete increased
from 27.4% to 28.9%.

(a) (b)

Figure 2. (a) Density; (b) Void ratio of hardened pervious concrete at 28-day.

Compressive and split tensile strength test

The compression test was performed on Day 7 and Day 28 following ASTM C39.
The compressive strengths (fc’) of hardened pervious concrete from different mix design
are shown in Fig. 3a.

(a) (b)

Figure 3. Test results: (a) Compressive strength; (b) Split tensile strength.

As shown in Fig.3a, the addition of 0.03% (by weight of binder) GO improved the
average 7-day fc’ of fly ash pervious concrete significantly by 61% (from 890 psi to 1460
psi), while the GO only increased the average 7-day fc’ of cement pervious concrete from
1370 psi to 1380 psi (by 1%). The average 28-day fc’ varied from 1450 psi to 2220 psi

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for four groups. The incorporation of 0.03% GO into the binder showed that the average
28-day fc’ of fly ash pervious concrete was improved from 1450 psi to 2220 psi (by 53%),
while the average 28-day fc’ of cement pervious concrete was improved from 1820 psi to
2260 psi (by 24%). Since there are no standard test methods for measuring the split
tensile strength of pervious concrete, ASTM C496 was used in this study for the split
tensile strength (ft’) test. The test results of hardened pervious concrete are shown in
Fig.3b. The incorporation of 0.03% GO into the binder showed that the average 28-day ft’
of fly ash pervious concrete was improved from 205 psi to 275 psi (by 34%), while the
average 28-day ft’ of cement pervious concrete was improved from 245 psi to 285 psi (by
16%). The strength gains indicated that GO can improve the overall performance of fly
ash pervious concrete significantly by regulating fly ash hydration, providing crack
branching and bridging mechanism and acting as nanofillers.

Young’s Modulus

Young’s modulus (E) is an important property used for the pervious concrete design.
At the date of compressive strength tests, two samples of each mix design were used to
determine the Young’s modulus of pervious concrete according to ASTM C 469.
Compressometer was used to measure the longitudinal strain of sample during the
loading (Fig.4a). The Young’s modulus of the hardened pervious concrete is shown in
Fig.4b.

(a) (b)
Figure 4. (a) Compressometer setup; (b) Young’s modulus of pervious concrete.

According to the test results, the fly ash pervious concrete has a higher E of 2950 ksi
than that of cement pervious concrete (E = 2450 ksi) at 28-day. At 28-day, the
incorporation of 0.03% GO increased the E of the fly ash pervious concrete by 6.8%
(from 2950 ksi to 3150 ksi), while it increased the E of the Portland cement pervious
concrete by 4.1% (from 2450 ksi to 2550 ksi).

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Infiltration Test

The test method proposed by Flores et al. (2007) was adopted to evaluate the
permeability of the pervious concrete. The perimeter surface of 4 x 8 in pervious concrete
cylinder was covered with a waterproof and non-absorbing material. A plastic cap was
attached to the top of specimen to get a constant 1cm water head at the top surface of
pervious concrete. This test recorded the time that the given volume of water needs to
flow through the entire specimen. Four samples of each mix design were tested and the
results are shown in Fig. 5a.

(a) (b)

Figure 5. (a) Infiltration rate of hardened pervious concrete at 28-day;

(b) Relationship between void ratio and infiltration rate.

For all samples, the infiltration rate ranges from 515 in/hr to 2082 in/hr. The Portland
cement pervious concrete has a higher infiltration rate comparing with fly ash groups. It
is likely that the fly ash pervious concrete needs more volume of binder, which yields a
less void and tortuous structure, to achieve the similar strength of the cement pervious
concrete. While the GO reduced the infiltration rate of the fly ash pervious concrete, it
significantly improved the infiltration rate of the Portland cement pervious concrete.
Previous study (Vernon R. Schaefer et al. 2006) found that the infiltration rate was highly
correlated to the void ratio. Fig. 5b confirms that the infiltration rate increased
exponentially as a function of void ratio for all the pervious concrete samples tested in
this study.

Degradation Resistance Test

At 90-day, degradation resistance of pervious concrete was determined according to

ASTM C 1747. The weight loss during the test was calculated to characterize the
degradation resistance of each mix design. The GO modified fly ash pervious concrete
before and after this test are shown in Fig. 6a & 6b. The test results for all samples are
shown in Fig. 6c.
The weight loss values for all samples were within the range of 38% to 72% at 90-
day. A similar test performed on the cement pervious concrete also had the weight loss
between 35% to 80% (Qiao Dong et al. 2013). After the test, the fly ash pervious
concrete had the highest weight loss of 66%. However, the incorporation of GO

79
decreased the weight loss of fly ash pervious concrete significantly (from 66% to 44%).
The cement pervious concrete showed the very closer weight losses (44% and 45%) after
the incorporation of GO. This indicates that the GO modified fly ash pervious concrete
has the comparable degradation resistance to the cement pervious concrete at later age. It
is recommended that the durability test for fly ash concrete should be performed at later
ages due to its later strength development.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 6. Degradation test: (a) sample before test;

(b) sample after test; (c) degradation test results.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

A GO modified pervious concrete with fly ash as a sole binder was developed in this
study with other control groups, all hardened pervious concrete samples have a density
ranging from 1803 Kg/m3 to 1990 Kg/m3. All the samples have values of void ratio
between 20% and 31%. By incorporating GO into the binder, the average void ratio of fly
ash pervious concrete was reduced, whereas the average void ratio of Portland cement
pervious concrete was increased.

The addition of 0.03% GO (by weight of binder) increased both 7-day and 28-day fc’
of fly ash pervious concrete by more than 50%, while, for Portland cement pervious
concrete, the 0.03% GO increased the 28-day fc’ by 24% and had little effect on the early
strength development. The average 28-day ft’ of fly ash pervious concrete was also
improved noticeably by 34%, while the average 28-day ft’ of cement pervious concrete
was improved by 16%.

The fly ash pervious concrete has a higher E of 2950 ksi than that of Portland cement
pervious concrete (E = 2450 ksi) at 28-day. At 28-day, the incorporation of 0.03% GO
increased the E of the fly ash pervious concrete by 6.8%, while it increased the E of the
Portland cement pervious concrete by 4.1%.

For all mixes, the infiltration rate ranges from 515 in/hr to 2082 in/hr. The Portland
cement pervious concrete has a higher infiltration rate than fly ash groups. While the GO
reduced the infiltration rate of the fly ash pervious concrete, it significantly improved the

80
 infiltration rate of the Portland cement pervious concrete. The infiltration rate was also
found to increase exponentially as a function of void ratio. The degradation test was
performed at 90-day, the incorporation of GO decreased the weight loss of fly ash
pervious concrete significantly (from 66% to 44%), whereas the cement pervious
concrete didn’t show obvious improvement from the incorporation of GO.

GO modified fly ash pervious concrete developed in this study is comparable to the
ordinary cement pervious concrete with the desirable density, void ratio, mechanical
strength, infiltration rate and degradation resistance.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The funding support was provided by the USDOT Center for Environmentally
Sustainable Transportation in Cold Climates (CESTiCC). The authors owe their thanks to
Jiang Yu, Du Sen and Jialuo He and the cold lab at Montana State University. Boral,
Lafarge, BASF and W.R. Grace kindly donated sample materials for this study.

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