Lecture

Assessing Clay Reactivity: The R3 Test

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Description

This lecture covers the R3 test, a method to assess clay reactivity in cement. It includes the benchmark test of calcined clay strength, the influence of clay grade on mechanical properties, and the monitoring of pozzolanic reactivity. The mix design, settings for isothermal calorimetry experiments, sample preparation, and the R3 protocol for heat of hydration and chemically bound water are discussed. The R3 test is a rapid way to quantify clay reactivity, with good correlation to compressive strength.

In MOOC

Cement Chemistry and Sustainable Cementitious Materials

We all know the concrete used to build our houses, offices, schools, or bridges, but do you know why concrete resists? The aim of this course is to offer solid knowledge on cement chemistry to practioners or to new student in the field. It is therefore not necessary to have a cement background, however basic concepts in chemistry, physics and crystallography can help. This course lasts 6 weeks during which you can take theoretical courses and tutorials to test the cement in the laboratory. You will learn h

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Related concepts (18)

Cement

A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete. Concrete is the most widely used material in existence and is behind only water as the planet's most-consumed resource.

Portland cement

Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th century by Joseph Aspdin, and is usually made from limestone. It is a fine powder, produced by heating limestone and clay minerals in a kiln to form clinker, grinding the clinker, and adding 2 to 3 percent of gypsum. Several types of portland cement are available.

Calorimetry

In chemistry and thermodynamics, calorimetry () is the science or act of measuring changes in state variables of a body for the purpose of deriving the heat transfer associated with changes of its state due, for example, to chemical reactions, physical changes, or phase transitions under specified constraints. Calorimetry is performed with a calorimeter. Scottish physician and scientist Joseph Black, who was the first to recognize the distinction between heat and temperature, is said to be the founder of the science of calorimetry.

Compressive strength

In mechanics, compressive strength (or compression strength) is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads tending to reduce size (as opposed to tensile strength which withstands loads tending to elongate). In other words, compressive strength resists compression (being pushed together), whereas tensile strength resists tension (being pulled apart). In the study of strength of materials, tensile strength, compressive strength, and shear strength can be analyzed independently.

Cement clinker

Cement clinker is a solid material produced in the manufacture of Portland cement as an intermediary product. Clinker occurs as lumps or nodules, usually to in diameter. It is produced by sintering (fusing together without melting to the point of liquefaction) limestone and aluminosilicate materials such as clay during the cement kiln stage. The Portland clinker essentially consists of four minerals: two calcium silicates, alite (Ca3SiO5) and belite (Ca2SiO4), along with tricalcium aluminate (Ca3Al2O6) and calcium aluminoferrite (Ca2(Al,Fe)2O5).

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