Solidification/Fixation of Nickel Ions in Ordinary Portland Cement

In this research article we represented the results of the studies of addition of varying concentrations of Nickel ions on the physical, chemical and engineering properties of 43 grade ordinary Portland cement. The studies regarding different physical & chemical parameters of OPC like initial and final setting time of cement, bulk density, and compressive strength, microscopic and spectroscopic properties have been carried out and the result of these studies are presented and discussed in the manuscript. Different building products containing varying concentrations of added nickel ions were prepared and subjected to hydrologic environment to investigate the leaching behavior of nickel ions. The efforts have also been made to establish a quantitative co-relation between the concentration of added Nickel ions and the intensity of any effect in above properties of the cement also the possible fixation mechanism of Nickel ions in cement was suggested. Scanning electron microscopy and X- Ray diffraction study of nickel containing cement samples show that nickel have no greater effect on the cement properties. Ni does not show any effect on the hydration of cement & its main compounds but it slightly retards the setting process. Some amount of Nickel is found to distributed throughout to the C-S-H gel phase Nickel get adsorbed the interstitial phases of the cement and formed the insoluble nickel compound. The C-S-H phase of Nickel containing samples found denser than that of control samples.