Improving the Performance of Mortars Made from Recycled Aggregates by the Addition of Zeolitised Cineritic Tuff

Metropolitan construction and demolition waste (CDW) is currently an important source of recycled materials that, despite having completed their useful life cycle, can be reincorporated into the circular economy process (CEP); however, the recycling process is very selective, and waste material is not always fully satisfactory due to the intrinsic nature of the waste. This work aims to demonstrate and establish how to increase the effectiveness of the construction and demolition waste in more resistant mortars, by mixing it with zeolitised cinerite tuff (ZCT) at varying normalised proportions. To attain the objectives of this research, a series of tests were done: First, a chemical, physical and mineralogical characterisation of the CDW and the ZCT through XRF, XRD, SEM and granulometric methods. Second, a technological test was made to determine the mechanical strength at 7, 28 and 90 days of specimens made with Portland cement (PC) and mixtures of PC/CDW, PC/ZCT, and PC/CDW-ZCT. The results obtained through the characterisation methods showed that the sample of construction and demolition waste consisted of the main phase made of portlandite and tobermorite, and by a secondary phase consisting of quartz, ettringite and calcite; whereas the ZCT has a main phase of mordenite and a secondary phase of smectite (montmorillonite), amorphous materials consisting of devitrified volcanic glass, quartz and plagioclase. Mechanical strength tests established that specimens made with PC/CDW mixtures have very discreet compressive strength values up to 44 MPa at 90 days, whereas specimens made with PC/ZCT mixtures achieved a remarkably high mechanical strength consisting of 68.5 MPa. However, the most interesting conclusion in this research is the good result obtained in mechanical strength of the specimens made up of mixtures of PC/CDW-ZCT, which increased from 52.5 to 62 MPa at 90 days of curing; this fact establishes the positive influence of ZCT on waste in the mortar mixtures, which permits the authors to establish that the objective of the work has been fulfilled. Finally, it can be argued that the results obtained in this research could contribute to more effective use of construction and demolition waste in metropolitan areas.

Temperature Dependent Carrier Transport in Hydrogenated Amorphous Semiconductors for Thin Film Memristive Applications

This paper demonstrates the transport of electron and hole carriers in two distinct hydrogenated amorphous semiconductor materials at different temperatures. Compared to crystalline materials, the amorphous semiconductors differ structurally, optically and electrically, hence the nature of carrier transport through such amorphous materials differ. Materials like hydrogenated amorphous silicon and amorphous IGZO have been used for the study of temperature dependent carrier transport in this paper. Simulation results have been presented to show the variation of free electron and hole concentration, trapped electron and hole concentration with energy at 300K for both the materials. The change in mobility with a change in the Fermi level has been plotted for different temperatures. The effect of temperature on Brownian motion mobility of electrons and holes in hydrogenated amorphous silicon and amorphous IGZO has been demonstrated towards the end of this paper.

Social wasps repair emergent topological defects

Social insects have evolved a variety of architectural formations. Bees and wasps are well known for their ability to achieve compact structures by building hexagonal cells. Polistes wattii, an open nesting paper wasp species, builds planar hexagonal structures. Here, using the pair correlation function approach, we show that their nests exhibit short-range hexagonal order but no long-range order akin to amorphous materials. Hexagonal orientational order was well preserved globally. We also show the presence of emergent topological defects such as disclination pairs (pentagon-heptagon dipoles), Stone-Wales quadrupoles, and other higher-order defects and discuss how these defects were fixed in the nest, thereby restoring order. Furthermore, we suggest the possible role of such defects in shaping nesting architectures of other social insect species.

Dependence between structure of cast Al-Ni-La alloys and their chemical composition

The peculiarities of cast Al-Ni-La alloys structure formation depending on the content and ratio of the main components are analyzed in the work. It is shown, that so far the studied system has been considered mainly for the creation of amorphous materials. At the same time, Al-Ni and Al-La systems have phase diagrams that allow us to consider double and triple alloys of these systems to create promising creep-resistant alloys for casting. At the same time, the peculiarities of their structure formation in this context were not determined. Samples with different contents of nickel and lanthanum were prepared for research and analyzed how each of the elements, their number and ratio affect the formation of their structural-phase state. It is shown, that low nickel content of about 2 wt. % and lanthanum up to 5 wt. % eutectic is formed like thin almost monolithic intermetallic plates. As the number of components increases and, accordingly, the number of eutectics increases, the dispersion of its components increases. The analysis of the alloy structure dependence due to studied system on their chemical composition showed that, most likely, during the formation of the eutectic, Al11La3 particles, which may have the form of nanosized fibers, are formed first of all. It should be noted that at the eutectic content of lanthanum in the alloys no primary-formed Al11La3 particles were found. This may indicate that nickel shifts the eutectic concentration of lanthanum toward higher values. At the same time, at the hypoeutectic concentration of lanthanum and the hypereutectic concentration of nickel, some Al11La3 formations were outside the regions of the main eutectic with nickel aluminide. Such questions necessitate further studies of the aluminum angle of the triple state diagram of the Al-Ni-La system. Keywords: Al-Ni-La system, creep-resistant cast aluminum alloys, structure, eutectic.

Effect of Intermittent Ultrasonic Vibration-Assisted Compression on the Mechanical Properties of Zr-Based Amorphous Alloys

Bulk amorphous alloys have some good mechanical properties due to their special atomic arrangement and are now popular in the field of materials. Zr-based amorphous alloys have good mechanical properties, but they are different from lattice slip materials with high ductility. When these materials are compressed and deformed, it generates a concentrated elastic force in the shear zone that causes instantaneous amorphous fracture. The extremely poor plasticity of Zr-based amorphous materials highlight their shortcomings and make them difficult to use in engineering applications. In this paper, it is found that the plasticity of Zr-based amorphous alloys is enhanced to a certain extent by intermittent ultrasonic vibration-assisted compression (IUVC). The ultrasonic vibration stress of IUVC can increase the extra free volume of Zr-based amorphous alloys and increase their degree of “rejuvenation”, which is manifested as an increase in plasticity. To explore how IUVC affects the plasticity of Zr-based amorphous alloys, we design experiments to analyse the effects of different intermittent times, pre-pressures and ultrasonic amplitudes on the plasticity of amorphous alloys.

Discontinuous yielding transition of amorphous materials with low bulk modulus

The yielding transition of amorphous materials is studied with a two-dimensional Hamiltonian model that allows both shear and volume deformations. The model is investigated as a function of the relative value of the bulk modulus B with respect to the shear modulus μ. When the ratio B/μ is small enough, the yielding transition becomes discontinuous, yet reversible. If the system is driven at constant strain rate in the coexistence region, a spatially localized shear band is observed while the rest of the system remains blocked. The crucial role of volume fluctuations in the origin of this behavior is clarified in a mean field version of the model.

About the Dominance of Mesopores in Physisorption in Amorphous Materials

Amorphous, porous materials represent by far the largest proportion of natural and men-made materials. Their pore networks consists of a wide range of pore sizes, including meso- and macropores. Within such a pore network, material moisture plays a crucial role in almost all transport processes. In the hygroscopic range, the pores are partially saturated and liquid water is only located at the pore fringe due to physisorption. Therefore, material parameters such as porosity or median pore diameter are inadequate to predict material moisture and moisture transport. To quantify the spatial distribution of material moisture, Hillerborg’s adsorption theory is used to predict the water layer thickness for different pore geometries. This is done for all pore sizes, including those in the lower nanometre range. Based on this approach, it is shown that the material moisture is almost completely located in mesopores, although the pore network is highly dominated by macropores. Thus, mesopores are mainly responsible for the moisture storage capacity, while macropores determine the moisture transport capacity, of an amorphous material. Finally, an electrical analogical circuit is used as a model to predict the diffusion coefficient based on the pore-size distribution, including physisorption.