This research investigates the incorporation of eco-friendly materials, namely fly ash and artificial interior stone sludge into cement grouts. The study aims to establish the correlation between the microstructural properties and the compressive strength, providing a comprehensive behavior of fly ash and artificial interior stone (AIS) sludge on the cement grouts. A multifaceted experimental approach encompassing compressive strength testing, mercury intrusion porosimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy is employed. The result indicated that incorporating fly ash and artificial interior stone sludge into cement grouts led to a reduction in the porosity and refinement of the pore size. The thermogravimetry analysis revealed a notable impact of fly ash and artificial interior stone sludge on hydration and phase transition. The scanning electron microscopy findings of the microstructural enhancement confirmed that the combined incorporation of fly ash and AIS sludge densified the structure.

Porous ceramics have the advantages of low density, low thermal conductivity, and excellent mechanical properties. Among porous ceramic manufacturing methods, the replica template method allows the easy manufacturing of porous filters with the highest porosity and pores of the desired size, but it also has the disadvantage that the resulting filters have low mechanical strength. To overcome this shortcoming, mullite (3Al2O3·2SiO2) whiskers, which have excellent thermal stability and high mechanical strength, were introduced in porous ceramic structure. The mullite whiskers were synthesized using a composition of Al2O3, flyash and MoO3. The morphologies and crystal structures of the mullite whiskers with MoO3 contents were investigated in detail. When the porous ceramic with mullite whiskers was fabricated using 20 wt% MoO3 catalyst the most uniform microstructure was obtained, and the mullite whiskers showed the highest aspect ratio of 47.03. The porosity and compressive strength of the fabricated porous ceramic were 82.12% and 0.83 MPa, respectively.

Fly ash is a by-product of coal fired electrical power plants and used as a material for cement and concrete; particularly, imported fly ash is mainly applied for cement production. Main objectives of this article are to replace domestic fly ash with an imported source. To verify the possibility of domestic fly ash as a material for cement from the aspect of chemical composition and physical properties, we manufactured various kinds of cement, such as using only natural raw material, shale, and partial replacement with domestic and imported fly ash. When we used the domestic and imported fly ash, there were no specific problems in terms of clinker synthesis or cement manufacturing in relation to the natural material, shale. In conclusion, domestic fly ash has been confirmed as an alternative raw material for cement because 7 days and 28 days compressive strength values were better than those of reference cement using natural raw material, on top of the process issue.

Electrospinning, as one of the nano technologies for synthesizing nanofiber, is widely used in filtration, thermal insulation, protective clothing, sensors, conducting devices, and other fields due to its simple equipment, low cost and easy manipulation. The electrospun fibers have small diameter, high porosity, excellent pore interconnectivity, large specific surface area, easy surface modification, polymer chain functionalization and other advantages. Therefore, in this study, electrospinning technology was employed to synthesize multifunctional composite nanofiber membrane(polyacrylonitrile/fly ash/polyacrylonitrile, PAN/FA/AgNO3), which has the ability to remove volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and heavy metals; moreover, the membrane also has excellent antibacterial ability. This research result provides an important reference value for broadening the application of electrospinning technology in the field of air and water filtration in the future.

Fly ash consists of various metal oxides which can remove SO2 gas by the catalyst effect. When fly ash is added in the preparation process of pitch-based activated carbon, the pitch particles aggregate and fly ash is embedded in the activated carbon. To increase SO2 gas removal performance, activated carbon was prepared by surface-treated fly ash and petroleum-based pitch. Carboxyl groups were introduced into the fly ash by malic acid treatment. The introduced carboxyl groups acted as an activation agent to create micropore around the fly ash, and created micropores were exposed to the fly ash outside of the activated carbon. The exposed fly ash increased removal amount of SO2 gas by a catalytic effect of the metal oxides. The SO2 gas removal performance improved by 34% because of the catalyst effect of the exposed fly ash and improvement in the micropore structure in the activated carbon.

Fly ash is used as alumina-silicate resource material to reaction processing on geopolymer materials. The strength of material is belonging to alkaline liquid, fly ash, activity reaction of fly ash. Geopolymer concrete as non-toxic, bleed free and high strength material can be used for construction on rigid pavement. Study on influence of polypropylene fiber on performance characteristic of geopolymer concrete is considered. In this research, the mix proportion with fly ash and alkaline liquid is used to react on geopolymer concrete. The poly-propylene fiber in range from 0 to 0.5% by volume is added in mixture of geopolymer concrete. The ratio between length and diameter in range of 100-500 is investigated. The results are indicated that workability of fresh concrete is reduced by using poly-propylene fiber. The adding of poly-propylene fiber is significantly affected on characteristic of geopolymer concrete. Poly-propylene fiber can be distributed in fly ash matrix and reduced shrinkage of concrete during activation. After geopolymerization, compressive and the flexural strength of concrete produced with fibers are enhanced up to 10% and 20%, respectively. However, when the length to diameter ratio increases, compressive strength is tended to decrease with mixture using polypropylene fiber.

Recently, there have been many efforts to establish suitable processes for recycling fly ash, which is produced in thermal power plants and which poses serious environmental problems. Use of fly ash as a major ingredient of ceramic tiles can increase fly ash utilization, as well as reduce the cost of raw materials in ceramic tile production. In this study, the effects of fly ash addition on ceramic tile properties such as bending strength, water absorption and porosity were investigated. A manufacturing process of ceramic tile was developed for utilization of fly ash with high carbon content. In this approach, it is important to hold the ceramic tiles at a temperature that is sufficient for carbon oxidation, before the pores supplying oxygen to the inside of the ceramic tile are sealed. Ceramic wall tiles were manufactured with 0-40wt% of fly ash addition. The water absorption and porosity of the fired body were slightly changed with increasing fly ash content up to 30wt% and decreased with greater amounts of fly ash addition. The bending strength of ceramic tile including 10wt% fly ash increased, reaching a level comparable to that of ceramic tile without fly ash.

Geopolymers have many advantages over Portland cement, including energy efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, high strength at early age and improved thermal resistance. Alkali activated geopolymers made from waste materials such as fly ash or blast furnace slag are particularly advantageous because of their environmental sustainability and low cost. However, their durability and functionality remain subjects for further study. Geopolymer materials can be used in various applications such as fire and heat resistant fiber composites, sealants, concretes, ceramics, etc., depending on the chemical composition of the source materials and the activators. In this study, we investigated the thermal properties and microstructure of fly ash and blast furnace slag based geopolymers in order to develop eco-friendly construction materials with excellent energy efficiency, sound insulation properties and good heat resistance. With different curing times, specimens of various compositions were investigated in terms of compressive strength, X-ray diffraction, thermal property and microstructure. In addition, we investigated changes in X-ray diffraction and microstructure for geopolymers exposed to 1,000 oC heat.

Carbon rich fly ash was recently reported to have compositions that are ideal for use as a precursor and catalyst for carbon nanotube growth. This fly ash powder is mostly composed of pure carbon, predominantly present as sp2. In this work, the effect of sonication time on the morphology and structural properties of carbon rich fly ash particles is reported. The obtained results show that ultrasound treatment is an effective tool for producing ultrafine particles/fragments with higher porosity, which might be suitable for the adsorption of gasses. Moreover, carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) of this fly ash were produced in parallel using the ball milling technique, and were evaluated as reinforcements for epoxy based composites. These CNPs have almost spherical shapes with particle sizes of around 30 nm. They were found to have strong C=O carbonyl group bonds, which might be generated during the ball milling process. The tensile testing results of a fly ash CNP reinforced epoxy composite showed significant improvements in the mechanical properties, mainly in the stiffness of the polymer. The stiffness value was increased by around 23% of that of neat epoxy. These CNPs with chemically active groups might also be useful for other applications.

In order to fabricate porous mullite ceramics with controlled pore structure and improved mechanical strength, a freeze casting route has been processed using camphene mixed with tertiary-butyl alcohol (TBA) and coal fly ash/alumina as the solvent and the ceramic material, respectively. After sintering, the solidification characteristics of camphene and TBA solvent were evident in the pore morphology, i.e., dendritic and straight pore channels formed along the solidification directions of camphene and TBA ice, respectively, after sublimation. Also, the presence of microcracks was observed in the bodies sintered at 1500 oC, mainly due to the difference in solidification volume change between camphene and TBA. The compressive strength of the sintered bodies was found generally to be dependent, in an inverse manner, on the porosity, which was mainly determined by the processing conditions. After sintering at 1300~1500 oC with 30~50 wt% solid loading, the resulting mullite ceramics showed porosity and compressive strength values in ranges of 83.8~43.1% and 3.7~206.8 MPa, respectively.

석탄회를 NaOH로 용융시킨 후 수열 처리에 의하여 제올라이트 A를 합성하였다. NaOH/석탄회의 비, 용융 온도, NaAlO2의 첨가량, 수열 처리 온도 및 시간이 생성된 제올라이트의 종류와 결정도에 미치는 영향에 대하여 연구하였다. 결정도가 높은 제올라이트의 생성에 필요한 최적의 NaOH/석탄회의 중량비는 1.2, 최적의 용융 온도는 550℃이었다. 용융된 석탄회로부터 Si4+ 와 Al3+의 용출은 교반 시간의 영향을 받지 않았다. 생성된 제올라이트의 형태는 첨가한 NaAlO2의 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났다. 적은 양의 NaAlO2를 첨가하면 제올라이트 X가 생성되나 NaAlO2의 양이 증가하면 단일상의 제올라이트 A가 생성되었다. 수열처리 시간과 온도가 증가하면 제올라이트 A는 hydroxysodalite로 변화하였다. 승온 속도를 낮춰 반응 온도까지의 도달시간을 증가시키면 결정도가 좋은 제올라이트 A를 얻을 수 있었다.

This study was performed with an aim to improve the early-age strength of concrete containing fly ash, which is known to increase the long-age strength of concrete, reduce drying shrinkage, and enhance water tightness. The composition was partially substituted with calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA), from which ettringite is actively produced, in the early stages of hydration to verify its effect on improving the early-age strength and to determine the optimal mixing ratio. For this purpose, up to 30 % of the cement weight was substituted with fly ash, and the amount of CSA substitution was 8% of the fly ash weight. The mixtures were then fabricated into concrete specimens for compressive strength measurement and analysis of the correlation between the hydration products and the compressive strength.

Fly ash is one of the aluminosilicate sources used for the synthesis of geopolymers. The particle size distribution of fly ash and the content of unburned carbon residue are known to affect the compressive strength of geopolymers. In this study, the effects of particle size and unburned carbon content of fly ash on the compressive strength of geopolymers have been studied over a compositional range in geopolymer gels. Unburned carbon was effectively separated in the -46μm fraction using an air classifier and the fixed carbon content declined from 3.04 wt% to 0.06 wt%. The mean particle size (d50) decreased from 22.17μm to 10.79μm. Size separation of fly ash by air classification resulted in reduced particle size and carbon residue content with a collateral increase in reactivity with alkali activators. Geopolymers produced from carbon-free ash, which was separated by air classification, developed up to 50 % higher compressive strength compared to geopolymers synthesized from raw ash. It was presumed that porous carbon particles hinder geopolymerization by trapping vitreous spheres in the pores of carbon particles and allowing them to remain intact in spite of alkaline attack. The microstructure of the geopolymers did not vary considerably with compressive strength, but the highest connectivity of the geopolymer gel network was achieved when the Si/Al ratio of the geopolymer gel was 5.0.

PURPOSES: As pavement generally provides service shorter than an expected life cycle, maintenance cost increases gradually. In order to help extending the service life and reduce maintenance cost, a new multi-functional composite pavement system is being developed in Korea. METHODS: This study is a part to develop the multi-functional composite pavement and is to investigate the mechanical performances of fiber-reinforced lean concrete for pavement subbase. The inherent problem of fiber reinforced concrete is dispersion of fibers in concrete mix. This study additionally evaluated fiber dispersion characteristics with respect to different fiber types. RESULTS: From the test results, the compressive strengths of the concretes satisfied the required limit of 5MPa at 7days. The standard deviation of the measured number of fibers were lower in the order of nylon, steel fiber and polypropylene. CONCLUSIONS: Reject ash was shown to be satisfactory as a replacement material to Portland cement in lean concrete base. The fiber volume fraction is suggested to be 0.4% even though the fracture toughness did not vary significantly with respect to fiber types. However, fracture energy absorbed up to complete failure increased with the increased fiber volume fraction increment.

Geopolymer cements and geopolymer resins are newly advanced mineral binders that are used in order to reducethe carbon dioxide generation that accompanies cement production. The effect of additives on the compressive strength ofgeopolymerized class-F fly ash was investigated. Blast furnace slag, calcium hydroxide(Ca(OH)2), and silica fume powders wereadded to fly ash. A geopolymeric reaction was initiated by adding a solution of water glass and sodium hydroxide(NaOH) tothe powder mixtures. The compressive strength of pure fly ash cured at room temperature for 28 days was found to be as lowas 291kgf/cm−2, which was not a suitable value for use in engineering materials. On the contrary, addition of 20wt% and40wt% of blast furnace slag powders to fly ash increased the compressive strength to 458kgf/cm−2 and 750kgf/cm−2,respectively. 5wt% addition of Ca(OH)2 increased the compressive strength up to 640kgf/cm−2; further addition of Ca(OH)2further increased the compressive strength. When 2wt% of silica fume was added, the compressive strength increased to 577kgf/cm−2; the maximum strength was obtained at 6wt% addition of silica fume. It was confirmed that the addition of CaO andSiO2 to the fly ash powders was effective at increasing the compressive strength of geopolymerized fly ash.