Characterization of belitic cement mortars elaborated from shell and glass powders, microstructure and mechanical properties

The purpose of this study is to use waste glass as a source of silicium oxide SiO2 and shells as a source of calcium carbonate CaCO3 to replace traditional raw materials for the production of belite-rich clinkers and to investigate the hydration characteristics of the resulting mortars. After grinding, the raw materials were mixed to synthesize the belite phase in a heat treatment from 500 degrees C to 1000 degrees C. The belitic clinkers were, mixed with shell powder (CaCO3) and gypsum. The cements were synthesized with different proportions of belitic clinker and the hy-dration of the mortars was performed by increasing the percentage of belitic clinkers. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) are used to characterize the mineralogy of hydrated samples during different curing times of 28, 65 and 90 days. The mechanical strength of mortars was measured for 28, 65 and 90 days. The results obtained show that the strength of all the samples increases with the curing time. The mortar containing 56 % of C2S has the highest value of mechanical strength 30.05 Mpa after 90 days of curing compared to other mortars. We have attempted here to review the development of high-belite cements by simple heat treatment at relatively low temperature and low CO2 release.