Determination of the Pozzolanicity of Cocoa Pod Ash at Different Temperatures

Pozzolans are siliceous or aluminous materials which possess little or no cementing property but chemically react with calcium hydroxide at ordinary temperature to form compounds possessing cementitious properties. There is paucity of information on the pozzolanicity of Cocoa Pod Ash (CPA). Hence, this study investigated the pozzolanicity of CPA. Cocoa pods were obtained from selected farms in Egba Odeda, Ogun State Nigeria. The Cocoa pods were washed, sundried and calcinated to ashes in a furnace between 600° C to 1000° C at Science Laboratory Technology Department, Federal Polytechnic Ilaro, Ogun State. Chemical analyses and X-ray Crystallography were carried out on the CPA to determine the types of oxides present and their varying percentages. The oxides were Silica (SiO,), Ferric (Fe,O,), combined percentages of Ferric and Aluminum oxides (Fe,O, and Al,O,), Calcium (CaO), Magnesium (MgO) and Sulphur (SO,). The moisture content and the Loss of Ignition (LOD) of the CPA samples were also determined.The oxides of Silicon, Ferric, Aluminium, Calcium and Magnesium oxide ranged between 6.39-8.00; 0.78 – 0.89; 1.74- 2,29; 7.15-8.42 and 4.38-5.16% respectively. Sulphur trioxide and LOI ranged 3.51- 3.78 and 27.2- 32.0%, respectively. The Xray crystallography showed that the total percentage composition of SiO, Al,O, and Fe,O, in CPA varied from 14.87-24.21%. The study showed that CPA did not satisfy the minimum 70% requirements stipulated by ASTM C618 (2005) for a pozzolan after the analysis of the oxides but it satisfied all the requirements for LOI, hence CPA is a weak pozzolan

Crystallization Characteristic Study for Amorphous of Nd60Al10Cu20Ni10

Since the first synthesis of an amorphous phase in Au-Si system from liquid, a great number of amorphous alloys have been prepared by rapid solidification. Almost all amorphous alloys require high cooling rates and a lot of studies have been carried out for these metallic glasses. In this study, metallic glass of Nd60Al10Cu20Ni10 have been fabricated, and experimental research was carried out to reflect thermal features. It indicates that the Nd-based amorphous has shown a distinct glass transition and stable super-cooled liquid region. The research results show that the paramagnetic performance of Nd60Al10Cu20Ni10 metallic glass is different from other hard magnetic alloys at ordinary temperature. From the DSC experiment, it is found that the glass transition temperature is increasing with the heating temperature.