The opportunity of application of natural aluminosilicate – perlite – as reactive mineral admixture and as individual binding component when production of construction materials.
The mineral and chemical composition of aluminosilicates used in geopolymer systems is critical for optimal structure formation and the overall performance of the geopolymer products. The composition of alumosilicates can be altered during the technological processing, especially, at the stage of fine milling. This study investigated the effect of aluminosilicate contamination with Fe from milling yield, the characteristics of the aluminosilicates with a metal lining, structure formation, and hardened properties of geopolymers based on different natural and technogenic persilicic aluminosilicates. The formation of Fe-phases due to milling yield was detected by the XRF analysis and the XRD investigation revealed the formation of nanosized ferrous hydroxide or bernalite Fe(OH)3(H2O)0.25. The volume of an elemental cell of the nanosized bernalite per Fe atom is 4.5 times larger than that of the metallic iron. This results in the disintegration of the matrix, which was observed by SEM and then confirmed by reduced strength performance of geopolymer composites. Based on this study, the negative effect of Fe-phases from milling and nanosized ferrous hydroxide on structural characteristics and service performance of geopolymer composites based on natural and technogenic raw materials was concluded.
This article reports on a new composite gypsum binder (CGB) with nanostructured silica-based admixture (NSS). NSS is obtained by a wet ultrafine milling of quartz sand resulting in the formation of an inorganic polydisperse binding system, which has a high concentration of active nanoscale phase (about 10%). Developed CGB contains hemihydrate gypsum and nano-component based on quartz sand. It is observed that the addition of 15–20 % of NSS improves the rheological properties of gypsum systems through the formation of solvate shells hindering the access of water to gypsum particles; this process also retards the setting of binder.The experimental program used infrared IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to reveal the contribution of NSS. The porosity of CGB is analyzed by the kinetics of water adsorption and BET. The XRD and IR investigations determined the formation of a new sulfosilicate phase, hydroxyellestadite during the hydration of CGB. With the addition of NSS an overall reduction in pore volume, as well as the shifts in macro-, meso- and nano- porosity values are observed.Analysis of CGB microstructure reveals that in the presence of the NSS the size and morphology of crystals are changed contributing to the formation of dense fine-grained structure. Experimental studies have demonstrated that the composite gypsum binders with NSS are characterized by reduced water absorption and increased density, as well as improved mechanical performance especially, higher compressive strength.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.