Evaluating the mechanical properties of magnetized water concrete and quantification of the hydrated products by XRD and SEM in function of stoppage hydration techniques

Concrete has become the most accepted and widely used building material which exhibits desirable workability, strength, and durability. An enormous amount of fresh water is consumed in the production of concrete. Water is a precarious non-renewable natural resource consumption that can be reduced using suitable alternatives. In the present era, magnetized water (MW) is a viable alternative for normal water (NW) to reduce the consumption of fresh potable water in concrete. Novel exploratory research was conducted on the utilization of a new method to optimize the magnetic effect at different exposure times (up to 60 min) on the mechanical properties of concrete specimens for the M40 mix. Normal tap water is magnetized using a permanent magnet of N406 with a field intensity of 0.9 Tesla. Hydration stoppage is done in two ways of direct drying i.e. Oven drying and organic solvent. Hydration stoppage on the casted concrete samples was examined through Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis. According to the test results fresh concrete properties of MW improved significantly with increased exposure time. Results show that improvement of 13.9% in compressive strength and 14.7% in split tensile strength were observed in magnetic water exposure after 60 min (MW60E) mix. Hydration products of magnetized water concrete (MWC) after 3, 7and 28 days were studied through morphology and spectral analysis. X-ray diffractogram (XRD) reveals sharp peaks representing silicon dioxide and calcium silicate hydrate with MW60E mixes at 3 and 7 days of curing. The microstructure images show that the calcium hydrate crystals are highly dispersed and that fractional voids are present in fewer numbers. From the Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDAX) analysis mineralogical composition graph, it is learned that with respect of both NWC and MW60E, the silica content in concrete mix decreases with an increase in age.