Abstract
•Steam and autoclave curing enhance the engineering properties of RPC.•Metakaoline is an available alternative to Silica fume in RPC in the Middle East.•Satisfying mechanical strength is achieved in Metakaoline-RPC.•Nanomaterials significantly retrieve the properties of Metakaoline-RPC.
Production of Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) is still limited due to the lack of existence for many of its constituent materials. This paper studies the impact of using metakaoline (MK) as an available alternative pozzolans to replace silica fume (SF) in the development of RPC in Egypt. The influence of incorporating nano materials in RPC is also investigated. Different curing techniques were applied on nineteen different mixes to evaluate the compressive strength, sorptivity, elastic modulus. The microstructure study was also performed with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDS) Spectroscopy analysis in addition to Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry test (MIP). The results showed that the blended SF and MK enhanced the strength and the durability of the RPC. Autoclave curing promotes RPC mixes to early reach their maximum strength. Also it was observed that adding nano materials wouldn’t achieve a remarkable enhancement in the compressive strength nor durability of RPC comparing with the enhancement recorded in traditional concrete.