Creep Assessment of the Cement Matrix of Self-Compacting Concrete Modified with the Addition of Nanoparticles Using the Indentation Method

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the modification of cement composites with finer materials, including nanoparticles. Multi-scale studies are needed to fully assess the effect of nanoparticles and provide a complete overview of their impact on both the structure of an obtained material and its important mechanical parameters, such as creep. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to fill the knowledge gap in the literature concerning the assessment of the creep of a cement matrix of self-compacting concrete modified with the addition of SiO2, TiO2, and Al2O3 nanoparticles using the indentation method. Depending on the type of used nanoparticles, we found an increase or decrease of the creep coefficient CIT in comparison to the reference series. The obtained results were scrupulously analyzed in terms of statistics, which enabled the conclusion that the addition of nanoparticles does not significantly affect the creep of the cement matrix of self-compacting concrete. The methodology used in this paper allowed us to shorten the time needed to assess the creep phenomenon compared to traditional methods and fill the corresponding knowledge gap in the literature.