scholarly journals Alkali-Activated Mortars with Recycled Fines and Hemp as a Sand

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 4580
Author(s):  
Edyta Pawluczuk ◽  
Katarzyna Kalinowska-Wichrowska ◽  
Mahfooz Soomro

Nowadays, effective and eco-friendly ways of using waste materials that could replace natural resources (for example, sand) in the production of concrete composites are highly sought. The article presents the results of research on geopolymer composites produced from two types of waste materials—hemp and fine fractions recovered from recycled cement concrete, which were both used as a replacement for standard sand. A total of two research experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, geopolymer mortars were made using the standard sand, which was substituted with recycled fines, from 0% to 30% by weight. In the second study, geopolymers containing organic filler were designed, where the variables were (i) the amount of hemp and the percent of sand by volume (0%, 2.5%, and 5%) and(ii) the amount of hydrated lime and the percent of fly ash (by weight) (0%, 2%, and 4%) that were prepared. In both cases, the basic properties of the prepared composites were determined, including their flexural strength, compressive strength, volume density in a dry and saturated state, and water absorption by weight. Observations of the microstructure of the geopolymers using an electron and optical microscope were also conducted. The test results show that both materials (hemp and recycled fines) and the appropriate selection of the proportions of mortar components and can produce composites with better physical and mechanical properties compared to mortars made of only natural sand. The detailed results show that recycled fines (RF) can be a valuable substitute for natural sand. The presence of 30% recycled fines (by weight) as a replacement for natural sand in the alkali-activated mortar increased its compressive strength by 26% and its flexural strength by 9% compared to control composites (compared to composites made entirely of sand without its alternatives). The good dispersion of both materials in the geopolymer matrix probably contributed to filling of the pores and reducing the water absorption of the composites. The use of hemp as a sand substitute generally caused a decrease in the strength properties of geopolymer mortar, but satisfactory results were achieved with the substitution of 2.5% hemp (by volume) as a replacement for standard sand (40 MPa for compressive strength, and 6.3MPa for flexural strength). Both of these waste materials could be used as a substitute for natural sand and are examples of an eco-friendly and sustainable substitution to save natural, non-renewable resources.

Author(s):  
Vu-An Tran

This research investigates the physical and mechanical properties of mortar incorporating fly ash (FA), which is by-product of Duyen Hai thermal power plant. Six mixtures of mortar are produced with FA at level of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% (by volume) as cement replacement and at water-to-binder (W/B) of 0.5. The flow, density, compressive strength, flexural strength, and water absorption tests are made under relevant standard in this study. The results have shown that the higher FA content increases the flow of mortar but significantly decreases the density of mixtures. The water absorption and setting time increases as the samples incorporating FA. Compressive strength of specimen with 10% FA is approximately equal to control specimen at the 91-day age. The flexural strength of specimen ranges from 7.97 MPa to 8.94 MPa at the 91-day age with the best result for samples containing 10% and 20% FA.


2013 ◽  
Vol 459 ◽  
pp. 664-668
Author(s):  
Atthakorn Thongtha ◽  
Somchai Maneewan ◽  
Chantana Punlek ◽  
Yothin Ungkoon

The effect of fine sand replacement by the sugar sediment (0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 weight %) on the physical and mechanical properties was studied in this work. The physical and mechanical properties of AAC with various contents of sugar sediment were focused on the density, the humidity, the water absorption, the open porosity volume, the compressive strength and the flexural strength. The average density, humidity, water absorption, volume of open porosity, compressive strength and flexural strength of all compositions had the value in the range of 0.57-0.61 g/cm3, 23.0-26.7 %, 0.38-0.40 g/cm3, 259-287 cm3, 4.4-5.9 N/mm2and 1.03-1.82 N/mm2, respectively. The maximum compressive strength and flexural strength were found from the AAC sample with the sugar sediment content of 30%, which were 5.9 N/mm2and 18.14 N/mm2. Moreover, these samples also exhibited the density (0.60 g/cm3), the humidity (23.6%), the water absorption (0.39 g/cm3) and the volume of open porosity (272 cm3) were claimed in quality class of 4. The specimens of AAC with the sugar sediment content of 0-40% were claimed in quality class of 4, which based on the Thai Industrial Standard 1505-1998.


2014 ◽  
Vol 604 ◽  
pp. 169-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girts Bumanis ◽  
Diana Bajare ◽  
Janis Locs

Properties of the low-calcium alkali-activated materials (AAMs) made from the metakaolin, waste glass and sand were tested in this research. Specimens with dimensions 40x40x160mm were prepared. The correlation between development of microstructure and concentration of NaOH solution used for preparing of the AAMs was observed. Structure investigation with SEM and FTIR was performed to describe the formation of microstructure in low-calcium AAMs. The research results aimed that the improvement of physical and mechanical properties of the AAMs with increasing the activator’s concentration from 2 to 10 mol/kg H2O were in concordance with the structure development of AAM. The 28 days old AAMs with a compressive strength up to 31MPa and water absorption lower than 2% were obtained by using activator with concentration 10 mol/kg H2O.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haiming Chen ◽  
Yangchen Xu ◽  
Donglei Zhang ◽  
Lingxia Huang ◽  
Yuntao Zhu ◽  
...  

This work is aimed to study the possibility of recycling plastic waste (polypropylene (PP)) as aggregate instead of sand in the manufacturing of mortar or concrete. For this, an experimental study was carried out to evaluate the influence of nano-SiO2 and recycled PP plastic particles' content on physical, mechanical, and shrinkage properties and microstructure of the mortars with recycled PP plastic particles. The sand is substituted with the recycled PP plastic particles at dosages (0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% by volume of the sand). The nano-SiO2 content is 5% by weight of cement. The physical (porosity, water absorption, and density), mechanical (compressive and flexural strength) and shrinkage properties of the mortars were evaluated, and a complementary study on microstructure of the interface between cementitious matrix and PP plastic particles was made. The measurements of physical and mechanical properties showed that PP-filled mortar had lower density and better toughness (higher ratio of flexural strength to compressive strength). However, the compressive strength and flexural strength of PP-filled mortar is reduced, and the porosity, water absorption, autogenous shrinkage, and dry shrinkage increased as compared to normal cement mortar. The addition of nano-SiO2 reduced the porosity, water absorption, and drying shrinkage of PP-filled mortar and effectively improved the mechanical properties, but increased its autogenous shrinkage. A microscopic study of the interfacial zone (plastic-binder) has shown that there is poor adhesion between PP plastic particles and cement paste. From this work, it is found that recycled PP plastic waste has a great potential to be a construction material. It can be used as partial replacement of natural aggregates instead.


CivilEng ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-540
Author(s):  
Imed Beghoura ◽  
Joao Castro-Gomes

This study focuses on the development of an alkali-activated lightweight foamed material (AA-LFM) with enhanced density. Several mixes of tungsten waste mud (TWM), grounded waste glass (WG), and metakaolin (MK) were produced. Al powder as a foaming agent was added, varying from 0.009 w.% to 0.05 w.% of precursor weight. Expanded granulated cork (EGC) particles were incorporated (10% to 40% of the total volume of precursors). The physical and mechanical properties of the foamed materials obtained, the effects of the amount of the foaming agent and the percentage of cork particles added varying from 10 vol.% to 40% are presented and discussed. Highly porous structures were obtained, Pore size and cork particles distribution are critical parameters in determining the density and strength of the foams. The compressive strength results with different densities of AA-LFM obtained by modifying the foaming agent and cork particles are also presented and discussed. Mechanical properties of the cured structure are adequate for lightweight prefabricated building elements and components.


Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 360
Author(s):  
Pauls P. Argalis ◽  
Laura Vitola ◽  
Diana Bajare ◽  
Kristine Vegere

A major problem in the field of adsorbents is that binders (kaolin clay, bentonite) introduced to bind zeolites and ensure the needed mechanical strength, are not able to sorb gases like CO2 and N2, and decrease the overall adsorption capacity. To solve this problem, one of the pathways is to introduce a binder able to sorb such gases. Thus, in this study, the physical and mechanical properties of a novel binder based on metakaolin and its composite with zeolite 4A in the granular form were studied. Metakaolin was used as a precursor for alkali-activated binder, which was synthesized using an 8M NaOH activation solution. Raw materials were characterized using granulometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and differential thermal analysis (DTA); and final products were characterized using density measurements, a compressive strength test, XRD, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Alkali-activated metakaolin was found to be efficient as a binding material when data for morphological properties were analyzed. A relationship was observed—by increasing the liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S), compressive strength decreased. Zeolite granule attrition was higher than expected: 2.42% and 4.55% for ZG-0.8, 3.64% and 5.76% for ZG-1.0, and 2.73% and 4.85% for ZG-1.2, measured at 4 and 5 atmospheres, respectively.


2012 ◽  
Vol 476-478 ◽  
pp. 1585-1588
Author(s):  
Hong Pan ◽  
Guo Zhong Li

The comprehensively modified effect of cement, VAE emulsion and self-made acrylic varnish on mechanical and water-resistant properties of gypsum sample was investigated and microstructure of gypsum sample was analyzed. Experimental results exhibit that absolutely dry flexural strength, absolutely dry compressive strength, water absorption and softening coefficient of gypsum specimen with admixture of 10% ordinary Portland cement and 6% VAE emulsion and acrylic varnish coated on its surface can respectively reach to 5.11MPa , 10.49 MPa, 8.32% and 0.63, respectively.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eethar Thanon Dawood ◽  
Mahyuddin Ramli

This study was conducted to determine some physical and mechanical properties of high-strength flowable mortar reinforced with different percentages of palm fiber (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6% as volumetric fractions). The density, compressive strength, flexural strength, and toughness index were tested to determine the mechanical properties of this mortar. Test results illustrate that the inclusion of this fiber reduces the density of mortar. The use of 0.6% of palm fiber increases the compressive strength and flexural strength by about 15.1%, and 16%, respectively; besides, the toughness index (I5) of the high-strength flowable mortar has been significantly enhanced by the use of 1% and more of palm fiber.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. e69996773
Author(s):  
Maria Gabriela Araujo Ranieri ◽  
Maria Auxiliadora de Barros Martins ◽  
Patrícia Capellato ◽  
Mirian de Lourdes Noronha Motta Melo ◽  
Adilson da Silva Mello

The modern lifestyle has led to an increase in the amount of solid waste in the world, and waste tires are one of the most generated. Annually billions of tons of waste tires are produced, so in this study, we sought to reuse them to make materials for civil construction. For this, a laboratory research was carried out where samples were made in 50 x 100 mm cylinders with traces of 0, 10, 15 and 20% (by weight) of waste, in addition to cement, natural sand and water. The granulometric distribution of waste tires and sand was also carried out. And, with the samples in cylinders, the physical and mechanical properties were evaluated, such as water absorption and apparent density, in addition to the analysis of the mechanical resistance to compression and the modulus of elasticity. The results showed that the granulometric distribution of the tire residue fits as a fine aggregate, similar to the sand granulometry. The water absorption rate of the waste specimens was less than 10%. However, the mechanical resistance decreases proportionally as the amount of tire waste has increased. However, when analyzing the behavior of the stress x strain curves, the specimens containing residues, became more flexible, as they are capable of supporting loads beyond the maximum stress. In this way, the resistance and the ability to absorb energy were increased. We concluded that it is possible to incorporate certain quantities of waste tires in blocks for civil construction, but without a structural function.


Author(s):  
Nguyen Van Chinh

Drying shrinkage is the main cause of early age cracking of concrete and mortar. A wide range of research has been conducted to reduce the drying shrinkage, including using fibres or chemical admixtures. This paper investigated the effect of shrinkage reducing admixture on the flexural strength, compressive strength, drying shrinkage, water absorption and porosity of mortar. The mix compositions were ordinary Portland cement (OPC) : sand : liquid = 1: 1: 0.38 in which liquid consisted of water and shrinkage reducing admixture (SRA). SRA was used at the proportions of 2%, 4%, and 7% by weight of cement. The test results show that SRA reduces the flexural and compressive strengths of mortar. The reduction in flexural strength and compressive strength at 28 days is 14% and 25%, respectively at 7% SRA dosage. In addition, SRA significantly reduces the drying shrinkage and water absorption of mortar. At 7% SRA dosage, the drying shrinkage at 53 days is reduced by 60% while the water absorption rate at 24 hours is reduced by 54%. However, SRA has a minor effect on the pore size distribution, effective porosity, and cumulative intrusion volume of mortar.


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