Properties of cement-based materials incorporating nano-clay and calcined nano-clay: A review

Abstract Nano-clay and calcined nano-clay are new types of nano-materials with high pozzolanic activity. In recent years, numerous studies have been done about the effects of nano-clay and calcined nano-clay. However, a comprehensive review is lacked to better understanding their mechanism. Therefore, properties including workability, mechanical properties, durability, shrinkage, hydration and microstructure of cement-based materials incorporating nano-clay and calcined nano-clay are reviewed in this paper. Based on the results of various literatures, the mechanism of nano-clay and calcined nano-clay are summarized. Furthermore, in view of problems existing in the current studies, some suggestions are put forward for the future research. The results show that appropriate content of nano-clay or calcined nano-clay has beneficial effects on improving the properties of cement-based materials, which is mainly attributed to their filling effect, pozzolanic effect, nucleation effect, bridging effect and barrier effect.