Viviana Fátima Rahhal

Calcined Illitic Clays as Portland Cement Replacements

Different illitic clays (Buenos Aires Province, Argentine) were selected to study their potential pozzolanic activity. Clays were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermal analysis (TG). Clays are calcined at 300, 600 and 950 °C and ground until 85 % mass passed through a 45 µm sieve. The pozzolanic activity was evaluated by the Frattini test and the strength activity index (SAI) at 2, 7 and 28 days on blended cements containing 25 % by weight of calcined clay. Results indicates that calcined illitic clays are suitable as raw material to prepare calcined clay pozzolan when they are fired at 950 °C as revels the Frattini test and they have a SAI from 0.75 to 0.94 at 28 days depending the amount of clayed minerals in the raw shale-stone. Secondary clay minerals don’t change significantly the pozzolanic behavior of illitic calcined clays.

Red Ceramic Wastes: A Calcined Clay Pozzolan

The properties and hydration of blended cements containing from 8 to 40 % by mass of ceramic waste (CW) from different countries (Argentine and Czech Republic) are investigated. The mini slump, the heat released rate up to 48 h, the pozzolanic activity and the compressive strength at 2, 7 and 28 are determined. Hydration process is characterized by XRD analysis and the pore size refinement is accessed by MIP. Results show that both CWs increase the water demand with increasing the cement replacement level, and they possess pozzolanic activity after 7 days. At early age, the heat released and the compressive strength are lower than that of the Portland cement (PC) for all replacement levels. At 28 days, the pozzolanic reaction significantly improves the compressive strength. From XRD analysis, it is evident that CW reacts to form AFm phases (hemicarboaluminate at 7-28 and later transformed to monocarboaluminate) depending on the replacement level and CW used. CH peak reduction due to the pozzolanic reaction appears at 28 days. The reduction of porosity up to 16-24 % of CW replacement is in accordance with the compressive strength results.

Blended Cements with Calcined Illitic Clay: Workability and Hydration

In this paper, the paste workability and hydration progress of blended cements containing different calcined illitic clays were studied. For blended cements with different replacement percentages, the particle packing, the water film thickness (WFT) and the flow spread was modelled and measured. Results indicate that blended cement with ground illitic calcined clays maintain or reduce the packing, so the flow spread of blended cement pastes decrease when the replacement percentage increases. For blended cements with 25% of calcined illitic clay, the early hydration was described by the calorimetric curve, and later the hydration products were analysed by XRD and TG analysis and the pore size distribution (MIP) at 2, 7, 28 and 91 days. Finally, the performance of blended cements was evaluated by the compressive strength. For blended cements, the hydration products are similar to that corresponding to ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and it also produce a pore size refinement that improve the compressive strength at later age.

Thermal Transformation of Illitic-Chlorite Clay and Its Pozzolanic Activity

Illite-chlorite clay from quarry located at Buenos Aires Province (Argentine) was characterized by XRD, FTIR and TG-DTA. Mineralogical transformations during clay firing under oxidizing conditions were studied from 100 to 1100 °C by XRD and FTIR. From select temperatures, calcined clay was ground (85% passing to 45 µm sieve) and the pozzolanic activity of blended cements (25% w/w) was evaluated by the Frattini test and the strength activity index (SAI). Finally, the hydration phase assemblage of blended cements was studied using XRD analysis.

Hydration of blended cement pastes containing waste ceramic powder as a function of age

The production of a cement binder generates a high amount of CO2 and has high energy consumption, resulting in a very adverse impact on the environment. Therefore, use of pozzolana active materials in the concrete production leads to a decrease of the consumption of cement binder and costs, especially when some type of industrial waste is used. In this paper, the hydration of blended cement pastes containing waste ceramic powder from the Czech Republic and Portland cement produced in Argentina is studied. A cement binder is partially replaced by 8 and 40 mass% of a ceramic powder. These materials are compared with an ordinary cement paste. All mixtures are prepared with a water/cement ratio of 0.5. Thermal characterization of the hydrated blended pastes is carried out in the time period from 2 to 360 days. Simultaneous DSC/TG analysis is performed in the temperature range from 25 °C to 1000 °C in an argon atmosphere. Using this thermal analysis, we identify the temperature, enthalpy and mass changes relat...