Effectiveness of the Top-Down Nanotechnology in the Production of Ultrafine Cement (~220 nm)

Table 1

Comparative study for the preparation of nanocement or ultrafine cement and their performance reported in the existing literature.

Primary material	Additives/procedure	Particle size	Effect/performance	Reference
Portland cement	Nanosize ingredients such as alumina, silica particles, and carbon nanotubes were added	<500 nm	Nanocement can create new materials, devices, and systems at the molecular, nano- and microlevel	[1]
Portland cement	Nano-SiO2, nano-TiO2, nano-Al2O3, nano-Fe2O3, and nanotube/nanofibers were added	~20 nm and 100 nm	Can produce concrete with superior mechanical properties as well as improved durability	[2]
Portland cement	Single wall and multiwall carbon nanotubes were added	—	Cement materials showed superior mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties	[5]
Ordinary Portland cement	Spherical nanoparticle nano-SiO2, nano-Fe2O3, and multiwall carbon nanotube were added	1–100 nm	Significant improvement in compressive strength as well as Young’s modulus and hardness of the concrete	[6]
Portland cement	Spherical nano-Fe2O3 and nano-SiO2 were added	15 nm	Mortar showed higher compressive strength as well as flexural strength	[7]
Portland cement	Open closed circuit dry grinding of the cement by stirring mill	20–25 𝜇m	Grinding of cement increases the surface area and decreases the particle size to 20–25 𝜇m	[15]
Ultrafine cement	Ultrafine cement obtained by dry grinding, flyash, and admixture added	0.85–0.88 𝜇m	Replacement of ultrafine cement with flyash decreases the strength of the cement material	[16]
Ordinary Portland cement	Wet grinding of the cement (WMC) using stirred mill	40–10 𝜇m	After 2–4 min grinding, maximum 40 𝜇m and average 10 𝜇m cement can be produced	[17]
Ordinary Portland cement	Wet grinding of cement using bead mill and alcohol used as grinding agent	350–220 nm	Wet grinding produces ~220 nm cement particle (50%) without affecting chemical phases	Present work