Calcination

Catalysis

Engineering

Construction waste

Cementitious

Geotechnical engineering

Metallurgy

Materials science

Mineralogy

Biochemistry

Particle size

Chemical engineering

Geology

Mortar

Waste management

Waste material

Pozzolanic activity

Pozzolan

Portland cement

Cement

Environmental science

Particle-size distribution

Composite material

Chemistry

Clinker (cement)

Compressive strength

Cement and Concrete Research

The suitability of gravel wash mud (GWM), a sludge waste from gravel quarrying, is examined for its use as a partial Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) clinker substitute. The gravel wash mud was dried, milled into a fine powder and calcined at 750 °C, 850 °C and 950 °C. In this study, various characterisation methods including particle size distribution (PSD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) were applied on the calcined GWM powders to determine the optimal calcination temperature. Over 200 specimens were prepared based on different cement paste and mortar mixes to investigate the potential of calcined GWM powders as SCMs. The pozzolanic activity of the GWM powders was verified by applying strength-based evaluation methods, simultaneous thermal analysis and SEM on hardened samples. Very promising strength-enhancing capacities were observed for samples containing GWM powders calcined at 850 °C with an OPC replacement level of 20 wt%.

Gravel wash mud, a quarry waste material as supplementary cementitious material (SCM)