Contact person
Emilie L'Hopital
Forskare
Contact Emilie
Cement and different types of binders
Our services for binder chemistry are consulting meetings, identification of new materials, reactivity tests, validation of SCM, regulation & standardization, the potential of new SCM, and characterization of alternative binders.
Purpose
Presently, Portland cement is the most important material used in concrete, and in enormous quantities, more than 4 billion tons globally. It is also a significant contributor to the total anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide, standing at 8% nowadays. There is a large interest in finding new sources for potential materials that can be used in two different ways: binders and alternative binders.
For the cement industry, a binder is an ordinary Portland cement (OPC) based material where a part of cement is substituted by supplementary cementitious materials (SCM). An SCM can be a natural material such as clay or a by-product from other industries such as fly ash or ground granulated blast furnace slag. The substitution of cement by SCM can be between 5 and 65%. The replacement by SCM leads to a reduction of the CO2 emission link to cement production as less OPC is used.
An alternative binder is a material that has similar properties that ordinary Portland cement (OPC) but does not contain any OPC. They are becoming increasingly important for the transition to climate climate-neutral construction industry. There is a need to develop new alternative binders with low CO2 -footprint.
RISE has expertise in the entire binder value chain starting from chemical analyses to large-scale structural implementation.
Our services
If you are interested in the development, testing, and evaluation of any potential material that can be used as an SCM or alternative binder, RISE can offer a consulting discussion before any testing starts. The services we offer are listed below:
• Consulting meeting
- Talk to our experts at RISE if you think you have a resource that can be potentially used as supplementary cementitious materials SCM or alternative binder
- Our experienced experts will propose a plan of action by validating your ideas, understanding your perspective, and theoretically evaluating the actual potential
• Our general services include:
- Identification of new material sources for the production of SCM or alternative binders
- Testing the reactivity in cement
- Validation testing of SCMs in concrete applications
- Possibilities according to the regulation and standardization for the introduction of new materials in concrete in Sweden (link to a description)
• Testing properties of conventional SCMs (fly ash (FA), granulated ground furnace slag (GGBS)): While GGBFS and FA have been used for decades, their properties need to be tested for new sources, applications, markets, and conditions. Approach us for testing and analysis if you have:
- New sources of conventional SCMs
- New applications of conventional SCMs
- Introduce your SCMs in new markets
• Assessment of potential new SCMs (high-volume materials rich in Al2O3, SiO2, Ca, Mg, Fe, etc.): Availability of conventional SCMs is decreasing as we move to greener sources of energy production (thereby reducing coal FA) and ferrous metal production (thereby reducing conventional GGBFS). There is a push to develop new SCMs, even if at additional cost of production and development.
- Approach us for testing and analysis if you have high-volume materials rich in Al2O3, SiO2, CaO, MgO, Fe2O3, etc. Examples of such products are:
- Calcined clay
- Metallurgical industry wastes
- Mining wastes
- Incineration ashes
- Paper/Pulp production wastes
- Dredging sediments
- In addition to test reactivity, we develop activation methods for different selected materials to be used as SCM. Some materials cannot be used as it is. A pre-treatment such as calcination, grinding, washing, … is necessary to enhance the properties of the materials
• Characteriztion of alternative binders: RISE can provide materials characterization and property testing of alternative binders ie. calcium sulfoaluminate cement (CSA), Belite-Ye'elimite-Ferrite Cement, prehydrated calcium silicate cement, magnesium silicate cement, etc.
- Composition and particle size analysis by micro-XRF, XRD, and particle analyzer
- Heat of hydration by isothermal calorimetry
- Setting time and strength testing
- Durability testing such as testing for shrinkage/expansion, resistance to freeze-thaw cycles, chloride ion penetration, and sulfate attack
- Compatibility testing with other binders, SCMs, and additives
Welcome to contact us if you want to know more about what RISE does in cement, SCM, and alternative binders.
Deliveries
Consulting services and reports from testing
More information
Potential new materials
- Testing/validation of new materials such as calcined clays, metallurgical wastes, mining wastes, incineration ashes, pulp/paper industry wastes, dredging sediments, etc.
- Extraction of valuable resources (critical, high value metals, etc.)
Characterization of SCMs to determine if it can be a good potential
- Mineral phase identification
- Micro-XRF for elemental quantification and mapping
- Specific surface area, and particle size distribution
- Thermal behavior using TGA/DSC
Activation of new SCMs
(CO2, chemical, thermal, mechanical, etc.)
- CO2-mineralization as activation method
- Controlled thermal activation
- Mechanical activation to increase reactivity
- Acid/chemical activation
Evaluation of the SCM reactivity in a cement matrix
- Bulk reactivity tests (R3, isothermal calorimetry, portlandite consumption, etc.)
- SCM reaction and mechanisms: development of application methods accordingly
- Particle-level hydration behavior
- Activity index on mortar
- Mechanical properties on mortar (compressive strength)
Validation testing of SCMs in concrete
- Validation of SCMs for different regulatory cement types (CEM II, CEM III, etc.)
- Concrete mix design development with SCM-cement.
- Testing them according to desired exposure class
- Concrete mechanical, durability, and environmental properties
Characterization and testing of Alternative binders
- Materials characterizations (XRD, micro XRF, TGA, Particle size analyzer)
- Reactions of alternative binders (hydration)
- Properties of alternative binders (compressive strength, setting time, shrinkage-expansion, etc.
- Durability (carbonation, resistance to freeze-thaw, chloride peneration, sulfate attack)
- Compatibility testing with other binders, SCM and additives
Regulatory/Market assistance
- Assistance in identifying regulatory and compliance requirements for new SCM
- Regulatory assistance for introduction of new SCMs in Swedish market, including testing and validation
- Developing new industry collaborations
Our analysis are:
- Micro-XRF
- X-Ray Diffraction
- Reactivity test
- Cement hydration
- Rheology
- Compressive strength on mortar
