Project Details
Projekt
Microanalytical and microstructural investigations on hardening and carbonation behavior of activated clay based materials
Subject Area
Construction Material Sciences, Chemistry, Building Physics
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 541773314
Activated clay-based materials will serve as indispensable components for both calcium silicate-based and alkali-activated binders. They don’t emit any CO2 as a part of chemical processes during their production. This research project plans to investigate production, hardening and carbonation processes of these components in realistic building materials of both categories microstructurally as well as microanalytically. The clay-based materials are selected from compositions that can be available in large amounts for construction purposes in the future. Both classical calcination and especially mechanochemical activation, which we expect to offer some advantages, will be used in activation procedures. The clay-based materials will be used as a pozzolan in an LC3 cement and as a carrier of aluminum and silicon in a geopolymer. The hardening processes of these materials will be investigated in-situ in a powerful ESEM. Calcination will be studied also in-situ using the high-temperature heating stage of the device. Carbonation reactions will be investigated both during hardening and in the hardened material by creating a water/CO2 atmosphere in the ESEM. Compositional changes in the atmosphere can be analyzed using the mass spectrometer integrated in the ESEM. In conjunction with rheological, structural and phase analytical investigations on macroscale material samples, significant information on the production, hardening and carbonation processes of clay-based components in CO2-reduced binders and building materials will be gained and made available with regard to the goal of Net Zero Concrete. Differences between clay-based materials in the respective binder systems will be identified and the hypothesis that mechanochemical activation is preferable to calcination will be examined. Based on these results, we plan to derive principles for the optimized use of various clay-based materials in calcium silicate-based as well as alkali-activated systems and make these principles available for the design of CO2-reduced binders. The intended work is assigned to module 1 "Alternative and Carbon Neutral Binders" and, to a lesser extent, module 3 "Concrete Carbon Capture and Long-Term Carbon Sink". The project of Hamburg University of Technology will seek extensive cooperation with the other groups and provide powerful electron microscopy techniques for the entire priority program.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
Subproject of
SPP 2436:
Net-Zero Concrete
