Properties of self-compacting mortar made with various mineralogical sources different types of sands and fillers

Purpose By its high fluidity, great deformability and rheological stability, the self-compacting mortar (SCM) is capable of ensuring the ability to be easily implemented without vibration. However, its formulation requires a large volume of fine materials with a high dosage of cement, which is necessary to ensure adequate workability and mechanical strengths, which is necessary to allow its flow. Current environmental considerations encourage reducing the production of cement, it is essential to use additions to replace the cement, because of their great availability and their moderate price. On another side, their use contributes to an economic sort to solve the problems related to the environment. Design/methodology/approach The formulations and characteristics of SCM made with two types of mineralogical sources (silica and limestone) were investigated. Different materials were used separately and in binary combinations; silica river sand (SRS), limestone quarry sand (LQS), silica fillers (SF) and limestone fillers (LF). The formulation starts with the self-compacting pastes (SCPs) then the SCMs at the SRS and the LQS whose the cement is partially replaced by volume contents of SF and LF with 15%, 30% and 45%. Findings The results obtained prove that the incorporation of LQS instead of SRS has a negative effect on the fluidity and deformability and a positive effect on the mechanical strengths of SCM. In addition, the incorporation of the SF and LF reduces the need for water and the saturation dose of superplasticizer in the pastes. Thus, the addition of the SF and LF in specific voluminal contents (15% SF and 30% LF) in the binder can have a beneficial effect on the parameters of the workability and the mechanical strengths of SCM. These results are very interesting to aspects such as technological, economic and environmental. Originality/value Influence of the different type of sands and fillers in improvements the properties of SCM made from various mineralogical sources.

Establishing a common standardised growth curve for single-aliquot OSL dating of quartz from sediments in the Jilantai area of North China

Establishing a common standardised growth curve (SGC) can substantially reduce the instrumental time for equivalent-dose (De) measurements in optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Several studies have indicated that different samples have different dose–response curves (DRCs) and therefore that it is difficult to construct a common SGC, although an SGC has been proposed in some cases. In this study, our aims were to construct a regional SGC based on small aliquots of sedimentary quartz from more than 100 samples from different sedimentary environments in the Jilantai Basin in North China and to investigate the applicability of different methods of establishing an SGC for the area. The precision of the De values of aliquots which were obtained using the SGC was compared with those obtained using the single-aliquot regenerative (SAR) protocol. Our results indicate the following: (1) for establishing an SGC using the regenerative normalisation (Re-SGC) method, selecting a suitable re-normalisation dose that is close to double the characteristic saturation dose, 2D0, can reduce the inter-aliquot/inter-sample variation in the form of DRCs within a larger dose range. (2) A common regional SGC can be established for the Jilantai area using the Re-SGC and least-squares normalisation (LS-SGC) methods, which provides reliable dating results within the 200 Gy De range.

Testing direct dating of Alpine faults by luminescence and ESR

<p>For a better understanding of the recent exhumation history of the Alps and the distribution of palaeo- and recent earthquakes within the orogen, it is important to elucidate the Quaternary activity of major faults. In this study, we test the applicability of luminescence and electron spin resonance (ESR) dating, which have ultralow closure temperatures, to directly date fault gouge of the Simplon Fault. A dark grey to black, fine-grained fault gouge was sampled near Visp, Switzerland, from an outcrop that exposes rocks that formed at ductile/brittle conditions. Quartz and feldspar grains were extracted from the sample; quartz grains were used for ESR dating, whereas feldspar grains were used for infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating.</p><p>The IRSL measurements reveal that the natural post-IR IRSL signal, stimulated at 225°C (pIRIR<sub>225</sub>) was in saturation. The pIRIR<sub>225</sub> signal had an extremely low saturation dose, with a characteristic saturation dose (D<sub>0</sub>) of ~90 Gy. The natural IRSL signal at 50°C (IR<sub>50</sub>) is about 80 % of the laboratory saturation, so that this signal is presumably in the field saturation. The IR<sub>50 </sub>also showed a small D<sub>0</sub> of ~250 Gy. Although these D<sub>0</sub> values are unexpectedly small, the IRSL signals can be used to calculate the minimum age of the last seismic movement of the fault.</p><p>Both natural and laboratory-irradiated ESR spectra did not contain detectable Ti centre. Therefore, only the Al centre was used for ESR dating. The natural Al centre from the fault was not in saturation, with a preliminary equivalent dose value of ~1500 Gy. Since the last seismogenic movement most likely only partially reset the Al centre, the ESR age can be regarded as the maximum age of the last event.  We show that by combining luminescence and ESR dating, it is possible to narrow down the age range of the last seismic activity on the fault.</p>

The effect of test dose and first IR stimulation temperature on post-IR IRSL measurements of rock slices

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) is increasingly applied to the dating of rock surfaces. There is at present no practical way of separating pure minerals (quartz and feldspar) from hard rocks for OSL measurement without losing the grain-size dependent dosimetric information and there is little information about the performance of the single-aliquot regeneration-dose (SAR) measurement protocol on the post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIRIR) signals from rock slices. The latter is investigated here. Our data indicate that there is a systematic increase in dose response curve saturation (or Do) with test dose size when the regeneration doses are first given in increasing order, and then decreasing order. This trend disappears if these orders are reversed. The reproducibility of dose response curves is dependent on the size of the test dose (poorer for small test dose). For rock slices given a saturation dose in the laboratory, it is observed that the sensitivity corrected pIRIR290 signal lies close to saturation level of the dose response curve, for first IR stimulation at temperatures between 50 and 250°C. However, the pIRIR290 signal from naturally saturated slices lies close to the laboratory saturation levels only for higher first IR stimulation temperatures e.g. 200°C or 250°C. Our data confirm earlier suggestions based on sand-grain measurements that, for older samples, accurate measurements close to saturation require that a higher first IR temperature is used.

A Single Cycle Inverter Welding Power Control System

Single cycle control technique is applied in the field of welding power which makes waveform control in the various stages of arc and circuit in the welding process respectively based on the characteristics of the welding process. A new welding power control has been put forward which is able to adjust the grid voltage disturbance in a very short time. We choose dual single-ended forward topology as the main circuit and make flux reset for the transformer in each cycle to ensure that the transformer magnetic saturation dose not occur, meanwhile, controlling the condition of arcing and short circuit respectively to achieve a better welding effect.