Effect of Alkaline Salts on Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement Hydration.

This work analyzes the effect of the presence of 5 wt.% of solid sodium salts (NaSO, NaCO, and NaSiO) on calcium sulfoaluminate cement (CSA) hydration, addresses hydration kinetics; 2-, 28-, and 90-d mechanical strength, and reaction product microstructure (with X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, (FTIR). The findings show that the anions affect primarily the reactions involved.

Mechanical Properties of Mortars Reinforced with Amazon Rainforest Natural Fibers.

The addition of natural fibers used as reinforcement has great appeal in the construction materials industry since natural fibers are cheaper, biodegradable, and easily available. In this work, we analyzed the feasibility of using the fibers of piassava, tucum palm, razor grass, and jute from the Amazon rainforest as reinforcement in mortars, exploiting the mechanical properties of compressive and flexural strength of samples with 1.5%, 3.

Development of Alkaline-Activated Self-Leveling Hybrid Mortar Ash-Based Composites.

This study investigated the reactivity properties of self-leveling hybrid alkali-activated cements, such as ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and its residual precursors, coal bottom ash (BA), and rice husk ash (RHA). Due to the relatively low reactivity of BA, binary mixes were produced with OPC using contents of 2.5⁻30% in the treated BA samples.

Production of Synthetic Phosphoanhydrite and Its Use as a Binder in Self-Leveling Underlayments (SLU).

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the potential use of phosphogypsum (PG) to produce self-leveling underlayments. The study was designed in two stages. Initially a phosphoanhydrite (PA) was produced by heating phosphogypsum at temperatures of 350 °C, 450 °C, 550 °C, and 650 °C.