Effect of heat treatment on reactivity-strength of alkali-activated natural pozzolans

Dali Bondar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Natural pozzolans can be activated and condensed with sodium silicate in an alkaline environment to synthesize high performance cementitious construction materials with low environmental impact. The nature of the starting materials including mineral composition, chemical composition and crystal structure groups affects the formation of the geopolymer gel phase. In this paper, the pozzolanic activities of five natural pozzolans are studied. From XRD and XRF results, most of the raw materials contain zeolite clay minerals and have a high loss on ignition. Therefore, before use, samples were calcined at 700, 800 and 900 °C, respectively. The improvement in pozzolanic properties was studied following heat treatment including calcinations and/or elevated curing temperature by using alkali solubility and compressive strength tests. The results show that pozzolan containing sodium zeolite clinoptilolite can be used to prepare a moderate to high strength binder by heat treatment and calcinations can impart disorder hornblende as a constituent of pozzolan with no amorphous phase to prepare a moderate strength binder.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4065-4071
Number of pages7
JournalConstruction and Building Materials
Volume25
Issue number10
Early online date8 May 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 1 Oct 2011

Keywords

  • Alkali-activated cement
  • Natural pozzolan
  • Geopolymer
  • Heat treatment

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