Collaborative Research: New Natural Supplementary Cementitious Materials for Concrete

煅烧的不纯粘土和农业残渣灰有可能大大减少制造混凝土所需的波特兰水泥的量，从而减少对环境的不利影响和成本，并提高混凝土的长期耐久性。目前煅烧粘土和农业残余物灰的低成本生产方法导致具有低反应性的劣质材料，限制了它们在建筑中的使用。 本研究旨在开发热化学处理，以调整粘土和农业残留物的最佳燃烧条件，以产生更具反应性的辅助胶凝材料。 具体研究目标如下：1）当使用助熔剂添加剂时，量化最佳燃烧条件的变化和煅烧粘土的增加的反应性，2）将生物燃料生产中常用的生物质预处理应用于农业残留物，以改善用于混凝土的灰分的质量，3）开发用于组合煅烧粘土和农业残留物灰分生产和使用的方法，以及4）量化组合辅助胶凝材料的生命周期环境效益。农业剩余灰材料可以大大减少与混凝土建筑相关的温室气体排放，并提高发展中国家的建筑质量，因为所提出的材料成本低，available. 这种多机构合作将提供农业工程，土木工程，材料科学和生命周期分析的跨学科培训，并改善基础设施材料和可持续性的课堂教学。 夏季研究生交流将允许改进合作和接触新设备，研究策略和实验室方法。 还将制定一个外联方案，以增加女性和历史上代表性不足的学生在工程和可持续发展方面的参与。

Calcined impure clay and agricultural residue ash have the potential to dramatically reduce the amount of portland cement needed to make concrete, in turn reducing the adverse environmental impact and cost and improving long-term concrete durability. Current low-cost production methods for calcined clay and agricultural residue ash result in poor quality materials with low reactivity, limiting their use in construction. This research aims to develop thermochemical treatments to align the optimum burning conditions of clay and agricultural residue to produce a more reactive supplementary cementitious material. The specific research goals are as follows: 1) Quantify the change in optimum burning conditions and increased reactivity of calcined clays when flux additives are used, 2) Apply biomass pretreatments commonly used in biofuel production to agricultural residues to improve the quality of the ash for use in concrete, 3) Develop a methodology for combined calcined clay and agricultural residue ash production and use, and 4) Quantify the life cycle environmental benefit of the combined supplementary cementitious materials.The replacement of high volumes of portland cement with the proposed combined calcined clay/agricultural residue ash material could greatly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with concrete construction and improve the quality of construction in developing countries since the proposed materials are low cost and widely available. This multi-institution collaboration will provide interdisciplinary training in agricultural engineering, civil engineering, materials science, and life-cycle analysis and improved classroom instruction on infrastructure materials and sustainability. A summer graduate student exchange will allow for improved collaboration and exposure to new equipment, research strategies, and laboratory methods. An outreach program will also be developed to increase the participation of female and historically underrepresented students in engineering and sustainable development.