The purpose of the presented experiment was to develop an effective
water glass modifier. In the conducted research, an attempt was made to
determine the effect of modifier addition on the wettability of quartz
grains, viscosity and cohesion of binder and strength Rm
U of the sand mixture. Water glass modification was carried out with, obtained
in electrochemical process [1], colloidal suspension of ZnO
nanoparticles in methanol (modifier I) or propanol (modifier II),
characterised by a constant molar concentration of c = 0.3 M. It was
demonstrated that the addition of a colloidal suspension of ZnO
nanoparticles in propanol (modifier II) had a significant effect on
wettability of quartz grains improvement without the accompanying
increase in binder viscosity. Testing the mechanical properties Rm
U of sand mixtures containing modified binder (modifier II) hardened at
ambient conditions showed an approximately 28% increase in strength
compared with the Rm U of the sand bonded with an unmodified binder.