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Cementitious property of NaAlO2-activated Ge slag as cement supplement

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Abstract

Germanium (Ge), a waste residue leaching from zinc (Zn) smelting process, has potential cementitious properties and could be recycled as a cement supplement activated by chemical reagents. In this work, a test was conducted to determine the hydration properties of Ge slag-cement-based composites with Ge slag (GS)/ordinary Portland cement (PC) contents of 0wt%, 5wt%, 10wt%, 15wt%, 20wt%, and 25wt% and water-to-binder ratio (w/b) of 0.4. The activators Ca(OH)2, AlCl3, NaAlO2, and Na2CO3 were mixed under 1wt%, 2wt%, 3wt%, and 4wt% dosages of GS weight. The composition and microstructure of the hydration products were investigated by the combined approaches of X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry–differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). First, the GS cementitious property is attributed to the high content of CaSO4•2H2O. Second, the activators affected the acceleration performance in the following order: NaAlO2, Na2CO3, AlCl3, and Ca(OH)2. More importantly, the 28-day unconfined compressive strength (UCS) is 45.34 MPa at the optimum formula of 0.6wt% NaAlO2, 15wt% GS, and 85wt% PC, which is 9.16% higher than the control. Thus, NaAlO2 is beneficial for the ettringite (AFt) generation, resulting in the C–S–H structure compaction. However, the Zn2+ residue inhibited the AFt formation, representing an important challenge to the strength growth with curing age. Consequently, the GS could be recycled as a supplement to the cement under the activator NaAlO2.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51701094, 51834001, and 51574013), the key projects for the prevention and control of major accidents in safety production, China (No. Henan-0005–2016AQ), and the Plan for Scientific Innovation Talent of Henan Province (No. 194200510010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Joint Research Laboratory of Henan Province for Underground Space Development and Disaster Prevention, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, 454000, China

    Hua-zhe Jiao & Shu-fei Wang

  2. School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Ai-xiang Wu, Hui-ming Shen & Jian-dong Wang

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  1. Hua-zhe Jiao
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  2. Shu-fei Wang
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Jiao, Hz., Wang, Sf., Wu, Ax. et al. Cementitious property of NaAlO2-activated Ge slag as cement supplement. Int J Miner Metall Mater 26, 1594–1603 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-019-1901-y

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