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Special Functional and Environmental Cement-Based Materials

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction and Building Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 3355

Special Issue Editors

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Geography Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Interests: cement concrete; smart concrete; durability; thermoregulation cement-based materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Interests: special cement; nanomaterials; conductive concrete; functional concrete; durability of cement concrete

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Smart cement-based materials or functional cement-based materials have been proposed for several years. Due to the social demand for multifunctional cement-based materials, different types and functions of cement-based materials have been continuously developed, just like conductive cement-based materials, which can be used for the self-sensing and snow melting and deicing. Additionally, phase change cement-based materials can be used to regulate indoor temperature changes and reduce energy consumption.

In addition to functional properties, environmental protection and energy conservation in cement production and use are also very important. Solid wastes, such as recycled concrete, river silt ceramsite, incineration waste fly ash cement-based materials, slag concrete, and phosphogypsum brick have attracted many scholars' attention. Additionally, the use of CO2 in the curing of cement-based materials has been proposed. CO2 curing can not only improve the mechanical strength of some cement-based materials but also solidify the toxic and harmful substances in curing materials.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Hui Wang
Dr. Lin Chi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solid waste
  • special cement
  • CO2-cured concrete
  • durability of concrete
  • phase change material
  • smart concrete

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 9977 KiB  
Article
Newly Generated Ca-Feldspar during Sintering Processes Enhances the Mechanical Strength of Coal Gangue-Based Insulation Bricks
by Yangfan Zheng, Jiayan Cui, Pengxiao Gao, Junfan Lv, Lin Chi, Hongyan Nan, Yuandong Huang and Fan Yang
Materials 2023, 16(22), 7193; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16227193 - 16 Nov 2023
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Abstract
Coal gangue is a solid waste with low carbon content discharged during the course of the coal mining process. The resource utilization of coal gangue could solve environmental problems caused by its excessive production, such as soil contamination and land occupation. This study [...] Read more.
Coal gangue is a solid waste with low carbon content discharged during the course of the coal mining process. The resource utilization of coal gangue could solve environmental problems caused by its excessive production, such as soil contamination and land occupation. This study proposed to produce high-strength thermal insulation bricks using coal gangue as the primary material and three other mineral powders as auxiliary materials, including K-feldspar, CaCO3 and fly ash. A systematic analysis was conducted to explore the optimum raw material addition ratio and optimum sintering temperature; then, the intrinsic structure of thermal insulation bricks and their sintering formation mechanisms were revealed. The results showed that the optimal ratios of coal gangue, K-feldspar, CaCO3 and fly ash were 65 wt%, 15 wt%, 10 wt% and 10 wt%, respectively; the compressive strength of the thermal insulation brick produced under this ratio was 22.5 MPa; thermal conductivity was 0.39 W m−1 k−1. During sintering processes, mineral powders sufficiently fused to form a skeleton, and the CO2 derived from CaCO3 formed pores. The optimum sintering temperature was 1150 °C, because at this temperature, K-feldspar had the best effect in promoting the conversion of CaCO3 to Ca-feldspar. The high level of the relative crystallinity of Ca-feldspar (about 76.0%) helped raise the Si–O network’s polymerization degree (NBO/T = 1.24), finally raising the compressive strength of thermal insulation bricks. The innovative method of using coal gangue to make thermal insulation bricks not only solved the environmental pollution caused by coal gangue but also provided excellent construction materials with high practical application value. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Functional and Environmental Cement-Based Materials)
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20 pages, 6353 KiB  
Article
The Influence of the Thermal Treatment of Copper Slag on the Microstructure and Performance of Phosphate Cements
by Rania Derouiche, Patrick Ninla Lemougna, Guillermo Meza Hernandez, Jun Gu, Samir Baklouti and Hubert Rahier
Materials 2023, 16(18), 6249; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16186249 - 17 Sep 2023
Viewed by 890
Abstract
In general, phosphate cements have a very rapid setting reaction at room temperature. The same holds for copper slag-based phosphate cements. This means that using them as a binder, for instance as mortar, is always possible on a small scale, but very difficult [...] Read more.
In general, phosphate cements have a very rapid setting reaction at room temperature. The same holds for copper slag-based phosphate cements. This means that using them as a binder, for instance as mortar, is always possible on a small scale, but very difficult on a large scale. In this paper, the heat treatment of the copper slag was shown to be an effective way to increase the setting time and keep the mix workable for an adequate period. The main objective of this research was to examine the changes in the phase composition of quenched copper slag after exposure to 500 °C and to evaluate the impact of these changes on the reactivity of the material in an acidic environment, as well as on the mechanical properties, microstructure, and structure of the produced phosphate cement materials. Various experimental methods were utilized to characterize the raw materials and the obtained phosphate cementitious materials, including isothermal microcalorimetry (TAM Air), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as the determination of the chemical composition using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and the particle size distribution. Furthermore, compressive strength tests were conducted to gauge the mechanical resistance of the materials. The main findings of this work revealed that subjecting the copper slag to a thermal treatment of 500 °C induced a partial transformation in its structure. The high temperature caused the oxidation of some of the divalent iron oxide in the slag, leading to the formation of hematite. This treatment increased the setting time and reduced the reactivity of the copper slag with phosphoric acid, ultimately enabling the production of a dense phosphate-based cementitious material with outstanding mechanical properties. The compressive strength of the newly developed cement was recorded to be greater than 78.9 MPa after 7 days, and this strength continued to increase, reaching 82.5 MPa after 28 days. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Functional and Environmental Cement-Based Materials)
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14 pages, 4097 KiB  
Article
Influence of Citric Acid on the Fundamental Properties of CO2 Cured Magnesium Oxysulfate Paste
by Houchao Sun, Feiting Shi and Hui Wang
Materials 2023, 16(3), 1315; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16031315 - 03 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1319
Abstract
Magnesium oxysulfate (MOS), mainly composed of magnesium oxide and magnesium sulfate, is a kind of gas-hardening cementing material with low energy consumption and CO2 emissions. In order to develop environment-friendly cement-based materials, MOS needs to be studied systematically. The paper mainly investigates [...] Read more.
Magnesium oxysulfate (MOS), mainly composed of magnesium oxide and magnesium sulfate, is a kind of gas-hardening cementing material with low energy consumption and CO2 emissions. In order to develop environment-friendly cement-based materials, MOS needs to be studied systematically. The paper mainly investigates the influence of citric acid (a retarder) on the working and mechanical properties of MOS paste. In this study, the setting time of fresh MOS paste is determined. The flexural and compressive strengths of hardened specimens exposed to the environment of water dry-wet (D-W) alternations, freeze-thaw (F-T) cycles, and sulfate D-W alternations are investigated. Furthermore, the drying shrinkage (D-S) rate of MOS paste is tested for 3 days and 28 days. The specimens are cured in standard or CO2 curing environments. A scanning electron microscope energy spectrum (SEM-EDS) is obtained to analyze the morphology of hydration products. Results show that citric acid can increase the setting time of MOS paste. The citric acid and CO2 curing have a positive effect on the mechanical strengths and the resistance to erosion by water, F-T cycles, and sulfate D-W alternations. The D-S rate decreased in relation to the increasing dosages of citric acid and increased with CO2 curing. MOS with 0.3% of the total binder material mass shows the best erosion resistance. As observed in the results of SEM-EDS, the CO2 curing and the citric acid can make the hydration products denser. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Special Functional and Environmental Cement-Based Materials)
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