The present invention discloses cementitious compositions which contain hydratable cement, limestone, or mixture thereof, having improved strength properties due to the presence of calcined clay and certain higher alkanolamines, wherein the calcined clay has an Fe.sub.20.sub.3 content of greater than one percent (1%). Also disclosed are exemplary additives and methods for enhancing strength of cement and/or limestone compositions.

The present application provides a negative thermal expansion material having excellent dispersibility and packing properties in a positive thermal expansion material. The negative thermal expansion material of the present invention comprises spherical zirconium tungsten phosphate having a BET specific surface area, of 2 m.sup.2/g or smaller. The degree of sphericity is preferably 0.90 or more and 1 or less. Also preferably, the negative thermal expansion material further contains at least Mg and/or V as a subcomponent element. Also preferably, the content of the subcomponent element is 0.1% by mass or more and 3% by mass or less. Also preferably, the average particle size is 1 m or larger and 50 m smaller.

The present invention pertains to the discovery that short chain aliphatic fatty acids, such as potassium sorbate, can be used in liquid-additive grinding compositions in the amount of at least 10%, more preferably at least 20%, and most preferably at least 30%, to mill carbonate materials into smaller particle size. The carbonate material can optionally be combined with another inorganic material in the grinding operation, such as limestone, lime, dolomites, talc, titanium dioxide, alumina, and kaolin, ceramics, and cement clinker. The use of the particularly described grinding additive composition are food-grade or food-contact approved, and are believed by the present inventors to resist the humectant behavior of the resultant ground particles which could in herently otherwise decrease efficiency of the particulate grinding process.

A new cement formulation includes a base cement slurry and an admixture of acoustic metamaterial particles, the acoustic metamaterial particles each having a dense inner core and compliant surrounding matrix. The cement formulation exhibits a substantial increase in transmission loss over the base cement slurry at a first frequency, and does not exhibit a substantial increase in transmission loss over the base cement slurry at a second frequency. A new cement interrogation technique involves transmitting acoustic energy at and near the band-gap frequency of an acoustic metamaterial, detecting an acoustic response and analyzing it for band-gap performance involving substantially elevated transmission loss at or near a given first frequency that rapidly falls off at nearby frequencies, determining that the cement formulation is present in regions exhibiting band-gap performance, and determining that the cement formulation is not present and/or has been compromised in regions not exhibiting band-gap performance.

Methods for the retrieval of aggregates from waste construction material by grinding in a ball mill or on a compressive grinder, which are useful in the recycling of waste construction material, especially in the recycling of concrete or mortar. Also, cleaned aggregates obtained from waste construction material by grinding and their use on the production of new construction materials.

Methods for the retrieval of aggregates from waste construction material by grinding in a ball mill or on a compressive grinder, which are useful in the recycling of waste construction material, especially in the recycling of concrete or mortar. Also, cleaned aggregates obtained from waste construction material by grinding and their use on the production of new construction materials.

A solubilizer is used to stabilize crude polyol produced from biomass.

It is intended to provide an industrially advantageous method for obtaining zirconium tungsten phosphate that is useful as a negative thermal expansion material and exhibits a single phase in X-ray diffraction. The method for producing zirconium tungsten phosphate according to the present invention comprises using a mixture of a tungsten compound and an amorphous compound containing phosphorus and zirconium as a reaction precursor and calcining the reaction precursor. Preferably, the reaction precursor has an infrared absorption peak at least at 950 to 1150 cm.sup.1, and the maximum value of the infrared absorption peak in this range appears at 1030 (20) cm.sup.1.

The present invention concerns a polycarboxylate ether polymer to be used as a grinding aid during the grinding of cementitious materials, said polymer having sacrificial linkages that preferentially break inside the cement mill. The polymer can have a polycarboxylate ether structure comprising free carboxylic acid groups, neutralized carboxylic acid groups, at least one side chain A and at least one side chain B. The at least one side chain A comprises a group (AlkO).sub.m and the at least one chain B comprises a group (AlkO).sub.n, where AlkO represents an alkylene oxide, and m and n are integers with m<n.

Processes are disclosed for producing gypsum-based products from a gypsum slurry. Additives or combinations of additives for improving compressive strength, fluidity and/or set time of the gypsum product are mixed in intimate contact with raw gypsum prior to or during grinding and/or flash calcination to form stucco. The stucco is used to prepare a gypsum slurry which is shaped and sets to form the gypsum product.