EVALUATION OF POZZOLANIC REACTIVITY OF CALCINED KAOLINITE

C. M. G. de Souza, S. Greiser, E. Garcia, V. A. Quarcioni, Ch. Jäger

Abstract: The need to improve the sustainability and the need for innovation in the cement industry has brought to light the practice of using additives to the cement in order to decrease CO2 emissions in industrial plants and increase the quality of cement in terms of durability and performance. Currently some additives have been employed as granulated blast furnace slag, limestone and pozzolan. The additives give mortar and concrete larger energy efficiency, gain in durability and resistance, contributing to buildings with slender structures and cheaper and durable maintenance. Besides natural pozzolan can be used artificial ones, as calcined clays, and over a range of amorphous aluminates and silicates waste, with highly reactive function as a binder material in the presence of water and calcium hydroxide. Calcined kaolinite clays were characterized using various techniques such as XRD, thermal analysis, and NMR observing 27Al and 29Si nuclei. The results showed that there is a structural modification of the samples, from crystalline to amorphous phases with the increasing of temperature in the calcination process. There is an improving in the reactivity of calcined clays by the range of 600ºC to 750ºC temperature in the reaction with calcium oxide, according to data from Chapelle test, indicating the possibility of using them as additives for cement and confirming their pozzolanic potential.

Keywords: kaolin, pozzolan, calcined clays, cement additive

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2014.0325033