A cement-based tile formed from a mixture comprising: a cement in the range of about 0.1 to 88% by wet weight percent; a secondary material in the range of about 0.1 to 50% by wet weight percent, the secondary material comprising limestone, sand, silica sand, gypsum, silica fume, fumed silica, Plaster of Paris, calcium carbonate, fly ash, slag, rock, or a combination thereof; a reinforcement fiber in the range of about 0.5 to 20% by wet weight percent, the reinforcement fiber comprising cellulose fiber, glass fiber, plastic fiber, polypropylene fiber, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber, homopolymer acrylic fiber, alkali-resistant fiber, or a combination thereof; a rheology modifying agent in the range of about 0.5 to 10% by wet weight percent; a water in the range of 10 to 60% of a total wet material weight; and wherein the mixture is extruded or molded to form the cement-based tile.

Fibers to be added to concrete to improve its properties are coated with an alkali-insoluble polymer, to provide adhesion of the fibers to the concrete. In a further improvement, nanoparticles are dispersed in an alkali-soluble polymer coating, and this is used to coat the fibers. When the fibers are mixed into the concrete mix, the nanoparticles are dispersed throughout the concrete, avoiding problems from agglomeration of the nanoparticles if simply added to the concrete mix.

What is disclosed is a cellulose-based aggregate admix product and a method for producing the aggregate admix product that includes the steps of thoroughly hydrating cellulose fibers, mixing clay and mineral particulates with a liquid to produce an emulsion, adding the emulsion to the hydrated cellulose fibers, and thoroughly impregnating the cellulose fibers with components from the emulsion and producing an aggregate admix product.

Described is a method of preparing foams, wherein a suspension comprising an aqueous liquid, particles and at least one surfactant is provided, wherein the at least one surfactant at least partially hydrophobizes a surface of the particles, and wherein the suspension comprising the particles having the at least partially hydrophobized surface is foamed. The at least one surfactant is selected from surfactants having a backbone chain comprising at least nine carbon atoms, the at least one surfactant preferably being an amphiphilic molecule consisting of a tail coupled to a head group, wherein the tail comprises the backbone chain comprising at least nine carbon atoms.

The present invention relates to a suspension comprising 50-95% by weight of the total suspension (w/w) of at least one metallic material and/or ceramic material and/or polymeric material and/or solid carbon containing material; and at least 5% by weight of the total suspension of one or more fatty acids or derivatives thereof. In addition, the invention relates to uses of such suspension in 3D printing processes.

Disclosed herein are building products comprising a polyurethane formed by the reaction of at least one isocyanate selected from the group consisting of diisocyanates, polyisocyanates and mixtures thereof and at least one polyol in the presence of fly ash and a non-silicone surfactant, wherein, the fly ash is present in an amount from 40% to 90% by weight based on the total weight of the building product; and wherein, the non-silicone surfactant is present in an amount from 0.5% to 2.2% by weight of polyol used to form the polyurethane. The building products possess desirable surfaces that are substantially free of pinholes, while also possessing a modulus, and other properties, that is comparable to or greater than that of building products substantially free of a non-silicone surfactant. Also disclosed are methods for producing the building products.

In a process for manufacturing a catalytic converter component, a ceramic unit is used that has been prepared by extruding green ceramic product through a die to form an extrusion having a honeycomb substrate structure in which tubular passages extend along the extrusion, the passages bounded by walls dividing adjacent passages from one another. The unit is obtained by cutting off a length of the extrusion and curing and firing it. The process further comprises, following the firing, injecting a mixture of a mastic component and a particulate metal component from an end of the ceramic unit into selected ones of the cells so as to block the selected cells over at least a part of the lengths thereof while maintaining all of the walls of the ceramic unit, and curing the injected material to render the injected material solid.

A base material for a membrane filter contains 90% by mass or more of aluminum oxide and 0.1% by mass or more and 10% by mass or less of titanium oxide. In a pore distribution curve measured by a mercury porosimeter, the base material has a first peak and a second peak which is higher than the first peak and is located at a pore size larger than that of the first peak, and the volume of pores with a pore size of 7 m or more is 0.02 cm.sup.3/g or more.

A cement composition is disclosed containing: cement; cellulose nanofibers; and water, wherein a mass ratio of the water to cement is 0.4 or less. The cement is preferably Portland cement. It is preferred that the Portland cement is high-early-strength Portland cement, and that a mass ratio of fine aggregate to the high-early-strength Portland cement is 2.0 or less. A unit amount of cellulose nanofibers in the cement composition can be 0.1 kg/m.sup.3 to 15 kg/m.sup.3 Furthermore, a hardened body of the cement composition is disclosed, wherein a ratio of a splitting tensile strength of the hardened body at a material age of 91 days obtained by curing in air, to the splitting tensile strength of the hardened body at the material age if 91 days obtained by curing in water is 0.90 or more and 1.10 or less, the splitting tensile strength being measured in accordance with JIS-A-1113 (2006).

Printable cementitious compositions for additive manufacturing are provided, that have a fresh state and a hardened state. In fresh state, the composition is flowable and extrudable in the additive manufacturing process. In the hardened state, the composition exhibits strain hardening. In one variation, the strain hardening is represented by a uniaxial tensile strength of about 2.5 MPa, a tensile strain capacity of about 1%, and a compressive strength at 100 hours of about 20 MPa. In other variations, the composition includes Portland cement, a calcium aluminate cement, a fine aggregate, water, a high range water reducing agent (HRWRA), and a polymeric fiber, as well as one or more optional components selected from: fly ash, silica flour, microsilica, attapulgite nanoclay, and/or hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC). Methods of additive manufacturing with such compositions are also provided.