Mingkai Zhou

The Influences of Iron Ore Tailings as Fine Aggregate on the Strength of Ultra-High Performance Concrete

The present study looks for the feasibility of preparing UHPC with iron ore tailings (IOT for short) as fine aggregate. To enhance outstanding high performances, some influences on UHPC mortars were investigated such as different kinds of sands, different mix ratio of sands, and different largest particle size of fine aggregate. The results show that IOT have negligible poorer aggregate performance than silica sands but better than river sands. The strength of UHPC reaches the highest point when silica sands were instead 60% by IOT. As the largest particle size of fine aggregate is decreasing, the strength and frost resistance of UHPC were improved, but the liquidity was decreased. Micropowder of IOT affects the strength and the optimal content was 4%.

The Effect of Gum Arabic on the Dispersion of Cement Pastes

Gum arabic, an inexpensive dispersant widely used in the food industry, has great potential for application in building materials. In order to find out the dispersion effect of gum arabic and the factors influencing the holding capacity of gum arabic in cement during hydration, rheological properties of cement paste with added gum arabic were assessed in this paper. The results show that 0.10–0.60 wt% of gum arabic positively affects dispersion, whereas lower dosages have negligible effect. High speed mixing is required to maintain the dispersion stability of gum arabic in cement paste. The optimum dosage of gum arabic to achieve best disperse-holding capacity of cement paste was 0.3 wt%, and the minimum water–cement ratio needed to obtain a dispersion effect was 0.28.

Relationships between modified methylene blue value of microfines in manufactured sand and concrete properties

To better understand and assess the effect of microfines on concrete properties, the synergetic effect of methylene blue value and content of microfines on properties of low and high strength concrete was studied and then the relationships between the index of modified methylene blue value (MMBV) and concrete properties were investigated. The results show that relationships between MMBV and fresh and hardened properties of concrete can be fully established, and the correlation between MMBV and C60 concrete property is higher than the correlation between MMBV and C30 concrete. With the increase of MMBV, concrete workability and frost resistance decrease while drying shrinkage decreases; however, compressive strength and chloride-ion penetration resistance of C30 concrete have not been negatively affected whereas those of C60 concrete are significantly deteriorated when MMBV exceeds 100. To make use of microfines without remarkably damaging concrete quality, it is suggested that MMBV of microfines in MS used in C30 and C60 concrete be no more than 100.

Volcanic activity and thermal excitation of rich-silicon iron ore tailing in concrete

In order to distinguish the filling effect and volcanic activity and explore the ways motivating the activity of rich-silicon iron ore tailing(IOT), inert quartz was brought in as the correction standard, the influences of fineness, calcination, thermal curing system and some other factors were investigated by IR, XRD, MIP, and so on microscopic methods. The experimental results show grinding and calcination can only change the amorphous state of SiO2, and IOT do not have volcanic activity in concrete cured under room temperature condition. Thermal curing systems can stimulate the activity of IOT, especially mortar cured by autoclave curing system can consume a large amount of Ca(OH)2 and hard calcium silicate and has a closer structure. When the specific surface area of IOT powder is 800 m2/kg, and 30% cement is replaced by IOT powder, the mortar strength with IOT powder is even higher than that with cementonly.

Frost Durability and Strength of Concrete Prepared with Crushed Sand of Different Characteristics

The influences of fines content, methylene blue (MB) value, and lithology of crushed sand (CS) on frost durability and strength of concrete were investigated, and the frost durability and strength of crushed sand concrete (CSC) and river sand concrete (RSC) were compared. The results show that inclusion of fines improves CSC compressive strength and reduces frost durability of C30 CSC when fines content reaches 10%, whereas it has little negative influence on frost durability of C60 CSC. Increasing MB value does not negatively affect compressive strength of C30 CSC but decreases compressive strength of C60 CSC and frost durability of CSC, and the reduction is more pronounced when MB value exceeds 1.0. Lithology has no prominent influence on frost durability and compressive strength of CSC within the lithologies (dolomite, limestone, granite, basalt, and quartz) studied. Though compressive strength of CSC is a little higher than RSC under equal water to cement ratio, frost durability of CSC is no better than RSC especially for C30 CSC, and air-entraining agent is suggested for enhancing frost durability of C30 CSC exposed to freezing environment.

Leaching behavior and mechanism of cement solidified heavy metal Pb in acid medium

The relationship between Pb leaching concentration and the solution’s pH with time was analyzed when cement in its solidified form was leached in an acid medium. The effects of the particle size of the solidified form, the cement adding method, and the hydration degree on Pb solidification were also investigated. The experimental results indicate that cement is quickly dissolved and hydrated in the acid medium, forming a C-S-H gel or silicic acid sol with good adsorption. When cement-Pb solidified form is leached in an acetate solution, the hydrated product erodes with time, so the Pb concentration increases slightly in the beginning. Then, some of the Pb ions are absorbed by the newly generated silicic acid sol, C-S-H. Others produce Pb(OH)2 precipitation for secondary solidification, leading to a gradual decrease in the Pb concentration in a leaching time of more than two hours. Moreover, the particle size of the solidified form has important effects on the Pb dissolution. When the amount of added cement is low, with a pH of less than 9.5, the solidification affects the sequence of the original cement powder, the cement hydrated powder, and the cement-Pb solidified form. When the added amount of cement increases with a pH of more than 11, the effect of adding methods on solidification decreases, and the solidified form is a little better than others.