Mechanical activation of clay : a novel route to sustainable cementitious binders

Sammanfattning: EU Sustainable Development Strategy planned to achieve improvement of life-quality by promoting sustainable production and consumption of raw materials. On November 2018, EU Commission presented a long-term strategy, aiming among others a climate-neutral economy by 2050. Cement production is contributing to 6-10% of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Thus, several strategies for total or partial replacement of Portland cement in concrete production have been developed. The use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) and alkali-activated materials (AAM) is considered the most efficient countermeasure to diminish CO2 emissions. The broadening of knowledge with particular attention to the sustainable goals is the primary requirement to be fulfilled when novel materials are investigated. This study aims to develop a novel clay-based binder that can be used as a sustainable alternative to produce SCM as well as AAM. Clay is a commonly occurring material, with large deposits worldwide. However, natural clay has a low reactivity and various compositions, depending, e.g. on the weathering conditions. The present research aims exactly at enhancing the reactivity of natural clays occurring in Sweden subjecting them to mechanical activation in a planetary ball mill. Ball milling (BM) is considered a clean technology able to enhance the reactivity of crystalline materials without resorting to high processing temperatures or additional chemicals. BM was able to induce amorphization in clay minerals and to transform the layered platy morphology to spherical shape particles. The efficiency of the process was strictly related to the used process parameters. Higher ball to processed powder (B/P) ratio, longer time of grinding and higher grinding speeds increased the degree of the obtained amorphization. However, an undesired extensive caking and agglomeration occurred in certain setups. The potential of activated clay as a SCM was investigated in specific case studies. The measured compressive strength results showed a direct correlation between the enhanced amorphization degree of the mechanically activated clay and the increased strength values. The pozzolanic activity was induced and enhanced after the mechanical activation of the clay. The reactivity was assessed by the strength activity index (SAI). Furthermore, preliminary tests have shown that the alkali activation of the processed clays produced solidified matrixes with considerable strength.