Influence of Ca/Si ratio on the microstructure and properties of blended cements elaborated with kaolinite based waste

Abstract

To reduce the environmental impact of cement industries, cementitious materials are added to the manufacture of eco-efficient cements, focusing in industrial wastes. In this paper metakaolinite (MK) based industrial wastes have been mixed with cement in order to study the effect of the chemical composition of the raw material in both microstructural and mechanical properties of the pastes. Frattini test was also determined. The selected metakaolin based industrial wastes were previously activated for two hours at temperatures around 600ºC to transform the inert waste into a cementing material. The industrial wastes materials used were coal mining and paper sludge. The second one was mixed with fly ash (50/50 w/w) in order to evaluate the performance of ternary blended cements. The mixtures were prepared with OPC and both 6 and 20% of activated industrial waste (coal mining and paper sludge + fly ash). Prismatic samples (1x1x6 cm) were prepared with water/cement ratio of 0.5 and cured 28 days. After this time, mineralogical composition of the samples was determined by XRD as well as mechanical properties (compressive and flexural strength, total porosity, etc). Besides, portlandite and ettringite, both monocarboaluminate and C4AH13 have been formed in the samples after 28 days of hydration. It can be observed that C4AH13 decreases as Ca/Si ratio decreases; with the opposite behaviour for the monocarboaluminate. From the mechanical properties, porosity decreases from 1 to 28 days of curing as compressive strength increases.