What are described are a process for producing an insulating product for the refractory industry or an insulating material as intermediate for production of such a product, and a corresponding insulating material/insulating product. Likewise described are the use of a matrix encapsulation process in the production of an insulating product for the refractory industry and a corresponding insulating product and/or an insulating material as intermediate for production of such a product.

A method of treatment of bauxite residue resulting from a Bayer process of bauxite treatment in order to produce a solid product. The method comprises mixing a quantity of the bauxite residue (1) with a quantity of a glass material (2) to form a mixture. Then, compressing the mixture (4) to form a green body, and sintering (5) the green body. After cooling, the sintered green body thereby provides the solid product.

The invention relates to a construction unit made from various recyclable materials, for example, from recycled waste plasterboard from the construction industry or flue-gas gypsum which is a by-product from fossil-fueled power plants. The construction units are made from a raw mix comprising gypsum, clay and aggregate and methods of making construction units. The invention also relates to a raw mix for making a construction unit; a kit including a construction unit and mortar; and uses of the construction unit to form a structure.

The present invention relates to a lightweight sound-absorbing and fire-resistant insulation panel including: a binder; expanded graphite; and swelling clays, and the swelling clays are formed of honeycomb-shaped layered clays containing water molecules in interlayers and have particle sizes in the range of 50 to 200 m. Further, the expanded graphite is present in an amount of from 10 to 100 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the swelling clays. According to the present invention, the insulation panel is made of the expanded graphite and the honeycomb-shaped swelling clays, thus providing excellent lightweightness, sound absorption, insulation, fire resistance and flame retardancy, and further, the insulation panel is manufactured without having any sintering, thus providing simple manufacturing processes and lowering production costs.

Nanomaterial ceramic spheres, a preparation method, and an application thereof are provided. The raw materials of the nanomaterial ceramic spheres include 1-30 parts of nano-titanium dioxide, 1-30 parts of nano-zirconia, 1-30 parts of nano-tourmaline, and 1-30 parts of kaolin. In the present invention, mixing a first part of kaolin with water, rubbing it into soft spheres, and baking to obtain sphere cores; mixing a second part of kaolin, nano-titanium dioxide, nano-zirconia, and nano-tourmaline and performing a pre-mixing to obtain a pre-mixed material; mixing the sphere cores, water, an adhesive, and the pre-mixed material and rubbing into rounds to obtain a nanomaterial; baking the nanomaterial to obtain the nanomaterial ceramic spheres. The nanomaterial ceramic spheres significantly improve fuel combustion efficiency and meet the functional requirements of energy conservation.

The invention relates to a construction unit made from various recyclable materials, for example, from recycled waste plasterboard from the construction industry or flue-gas gypsum which is a by-product from fossil-fueled power plants. The construction units are made from a raw mix comprising gypsum, clay and aggregate and methods of making construction units. The invention also relates to a raw mix for making a construction unit; a kit including a construction unit and mortar; and uses of the construction unit to form a structure.

A lightweight high-strength ceramsite, comprising solid raw materials and activator as the raw materials, which can be respectively expressed in parts by weight, the solid raw materials: 100 parts, the activator: 1-15 parts; wherein said solid raw materials comprise fly ash: 100 parts, high-alumina fly ash, bauxite and red mud: 6-18 parts, silica fume: 1-5 parts, surfactant: 0.1-3 parts, plasticizer: 6-24 parts; and said activator comprises alkali metal hydroxide: 5-20 parts and alkali metal silicate: 80-95 parts. The lightweight high-strength ceramsite product prepared has a density level of 700-1100 kg/m3 and cylindrical compressive strength of 10-20 MPa, and thus is not susceptible to damage.

There is provided a refractory article for use in metal casting and a composition for manufacture thereof, comprising a particulate refractory material, an oxidisable fuel, an oxidant, a sensitizer; a binder, and from 0.5 to 5 wt % CaSO.sub.4.

Composition for additive manufacturing by binder jet printing, comprising a ceramic particulate material subjected to a heat treatment and a binder particulate material, wherein the heat treatment comprises heating a particulate ceramic material from 600 to 1200? C. for 1 to 20 h, to produce the ceramic particulate material subjected to a heat treatment and the binder particulate material is a water-soluble compound. Method for additive manufacturing by binder jet printing of a conformed object comprising repeating the steps of depositing a layer of composition of the invention on a printing bed and depositing a liquid binder.

The invention solves the problems of mechanical fragility of objects conformed by binder jet printing and design defects thereof, wherein the heat treatment creates bonds and aggregations between particles of the ceramic material, maintaining them during printing.

A method of reducing the swell potential of an expansive clayey soil comprising expansive clay mineral(s) at a proportion of the total weight of the expansive clayey soil (P.sub.ECM). The method includes (a) calculating a first amount of a swelling reduction agent to be incorporated into the expansive clayey soil to form a first swelling reduction agent incorporated expansive clayey soil with a reduced swell potential no greater than a pre-set level T with a nano-level constitutive modeling based on the water content and the CEC of the expansive clayey soil and P.sub.ECM. The swelling reduction agent is at least one selected from calcite, gypsum, potassium chloride, a composition comprising exchangeable K.sup.+, a composition comprising exchangeable Ca.sup.2+, and/or a composition comprising exchangeable Mg.sup.2+, and (b) incorporating the first amount of the swelling reduction agent into the expansive clayey soil to form the first swelling reduction agent incorporated expansive clayey soil.