Efficient methods of grinding volcanic pumice and its use in making cementitious composites

Abstract

A cement composition is provided including a cementitious matrix containing Portland cement and a volcanic pumice component incorporated within the cementitious matrix. The volcanic pumice component is prepared by grinding in a ball mill using tungsten balls. The ball mill uses a tungsten carbide bowl of capacity 250 ml and the 12 tungsten carbide balls each having a diameter of about 20 mm. The volcanic pumice component is prepared in the ball mill at a speed of about 500 rpm for a duration about 10 minutes, about 1 hour, and about 3 hours. The volcanic pumice component is included in an amount of between about 10% w/w and about 30% w/w.

Claims

1. A cementitious composition, comprising: a cementitious matrix containing Portland cement; and a volcanic pumice component incorporated within the cementitious matrix, wherein the volcanic pumice component is prepared by grinding in a ball mill at 500 rpm for 10 minutes using 12 tungsten carbide balls of diameter 20 mm each in a 250 ml capacity tungsten carbide bowl, wherein the volcanic pumice component is about 10% w/w of the cementitious composition, and wherein the volcanic pumice component has a d.sub.10 particle size of about 4.5 microns, a d.sub.50 particle size of about 5.5 microns and a d.sub.90 particle size of about 14.8 microns, and wherein the cementitious composition has a compressive strength of 53.4 MPa after 7 days, 55.2 MPa after 28 days and 67.3 MPa after 91 days.

2. The cementitious composition as recited in claim 1, wherein the cementitious composition having the volcanic pumice component included in the amount of about 10% w/w has an apparent porosity of 10.2%.

3. A cementitious composition, comprising: a cementitious matrix containing Portland cement; and a volcanic pumice component incorporated within the cementitious matrix, wherein the volcanic pumice component is prepared by grinding in a ball mill at 500 rpm for 10 minutes using 12 tungsten carbide balls of diameter 20 mm each in a 250 ml capacity tungsten carbide bowl, wherein the volcanic pumice component is about 20% w/w of the cementitious composition, and wherein the volcanic pumice component has a d.sub.10 particle size of about 4.5 microns, a d.sub.50 particle size of about 5.5 microns and a d.sub.90 particle size of about 14.8 microns, and wherein the cementitious composition has a compressive strength of 48 MPa after 7 days, 62.6 MPa after 28 days and 70.4 MPa after 91 days.

4. The cementitious composition as recited in claim 3, wherein the cementitious composition having the volcanic pumice component included in the amount of about 20% w/w has an apparent porosity of 9.3%.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(1) The following definitions are provided for the purpose of understanding the present subject matter and for construing the appended patent claims.

Definitions

(2) Throughout the application, where compositions are described as having, including, or comprising specific components, or where processes are described as having, including, or comprising specific process steps, it is contemplated that compositions of the present teachings can also consist essentially of, or consist of, the recited components, and that the processes of the present teachings can also consist essentially of, or consist of, the recited process steps.

(3) It is noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms a, an, and the include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

(4) In the application, where an element or component is said to be included in and/or selected from a list of recited elements or components, it should be understood that the element or component can be any one of the recited elements or components, or the element or component can be selected from a group consisting of two or more of the recited elements or components. Further, it should be understood that elements and/or features of a composition or a method described herein can be combined in a variety of ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the present teachings, whether explicit or implicit herein.

(5) The use of the terms include, includes, including, have, has, or having should be generally understood as open-ended and non-limiting unless specifically stated otherwise.

(6) The use of the singular herein includes the plural (and vice versa) unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, where the use of the term about is before a quantitative value, the present teachings also include the specific quantitative value itself, unless specifically stated otherwise. As used herein, the term about refers to a 10% variation from the nominal value unless otherwise indicated or inferred.

(7) The term optional or optionally means that the subsequently described event or circumstance may or may not occur, and that the description includes instances where said event or circumstance occurs and instances in which it does not.

(8) It will be understood by those skilled in the art with respect to any chemical group containing one or more substituents that such groups are not intended to introduce any substitution or substitution patterns that are sterically impractical and/or physically non-feasible.

(9) Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which the presently described subject matter pertains.

(10) Where a range of values is provided, for example, concentration ranges, particle size ranges, or compression strength ranges, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range, is encompassed within the described subject matter. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in the smaller ranges, and such embodiments are also encompassed within the described subject matter, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated range includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the described subject matter.

(11) Throughout the application, descriptions of various embodiments use comprising language. However, it will be understood by one of skill in the art, that in some specific instances, an embodiment can alternatively be described using the language consisting essentially of or consisting of.

(12) For purposes of better understanding the present teachings and in no way limiting the scope of the teachings, unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities, percentages or proportions, and other numerical values used in the specification and claims, are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term about. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the following specification and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained. At the very least, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques.

(13) The cementitious composition provided by the present disclosure uses ground volcanic pumice as a partial cement substitute for traditional cement such as Portland cement. In addition to environmental benefits from reducing the production of traditional Portland cement, pumice is advantageous in applications where a lightweight aggregate is desired to replace some or all of the traditional heavier aggregates used in the production of concrete, which results in a lightweight concrete having a lower density compared to standard normal concrete.

(14) In the development of the pumice used by the present disclosure, experiments were performed with a ball mill using a tungsten carbide bowl and tungsten carbide balls. Tungsten carbide is advantageous over other materials, such as steel, for use in grinding applications due to several key properties and characteristics such as hardness, wear resistance, heat resistance, chemical inertness, precision, reduced friction, and versatility.

(15) Tungsten carbide (TC) is extremely hard and ranks among the hardest materials known, even harder than most types of steel. This hardness allows tungsten carbide tools to maintain their cutting edges and abrasive qualities over an extended period of use, reducing the need for frequent resharpening or replacement. TC exhibits excellent wear resistance, making it particularly suitable for abrasive grinding applications. It can withstand the abrasive forces and wear that occur during grinding processes, resulting in longer tool life and consistent performance as well as operate at higher temperatures without significant degradation when compared to steel. This heat resistance is beneficial when grinding materials that generate heat during the process, as it helps prevent tool wear and deformation. Furthermore, TC is highly resistant to chemical reactions and corrosion, can be manufactured with high precision, and exhibits lower coefficients of friction compared to steel, which can lead to smoother and more efficient grinding processes and potentially less heat generation.

Experimental Procedure

(16) In the development of the lightweight, environmentally favorable cementitious composition disclosed herein, pumice was originally obtained from the Balochistan province in Pakistan in gravel form and then crushed to a small size (<10 mm) followed by sieving using an ASTM sieve #4. The smaller size pumice passing sieve #4 are then ground in a ball mill in the construction materials laboratory of King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. The mill used during the experiments was a Planetary Mono Mill PULVERISETTE 6 classic line. The dimensions (WDH) of the mill are 375350 cm. The grinding tools of the mill included a hard metal tungsten carbide grinding bowl of capacity 250 mm in combination with 12 tungsten carbide grinding balls of diameter 20 mm each. A dry grinding process was used during the experiments conducted.

(17) At the start of the grinding experiments, the pumice was initially in the form of small size gravels passing ASTM sieve #4 (4.75 mm opening size). The grinding bowl, which forms part of the mill, was firmly locked into place after being filled with pumice. Finally, the top cover of the mill was closed, locked and the mill was operated to grind the pumice at a speed of 500 rpm and duration of about 10 minutes, about 1 hour and about 3 hours. For the present disclosure, where the use of the term about is before a quantitative value, the present teachings also include the specific quantitative value itself, unless specifically stated otherwise. As used herein, the term about refers to a 10% variation from the nominal value unless otherwise indicated or inferred.

(18) Results of the experiments performed to produce the pumice described herein and its use as a partial substitute of cement are set forth by the following tables.

(19) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Chemical composition of NVP Oxides (% by weight) SiO.sub.2 67.06 Al.sub.2O.sub.3 12.76 Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 2.97 CaO 3.44 MgO 0.18 Na.sub.2O 3.07 K.sub.2O 4.82 SO.sub.3 0.29 LOI 5.41

(20) Table 1 above shows the elemental composition of natural volcanic pumice (NVP). The most important finding of the above table is that the sum of the first three elements (SiO.sub.2+Al.sub.2O.sub.3+Fe.sub.2O.sub.3) is 82.79% which is greater than the ASTM C 618 standard limit of 70% for materials to qualify as pozzolan for use in concrete.

(21) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Particle size Materials d.sub.10 d.sub.50 d.sub.90 NVP (10 min) 4.5 5.5 14.8 NVP (1 h) 15.8 17 18.3 NVP (3 h) 15.8 17.7 29.8

(22) Table 2 above shows the effect of grinding duration on d.sub.10, d.sub.50, and d.sub.90 sizes of NVP. Where, for NVP (10 min), d.sub.10, d.sub.50, and d.sub.90 represent 10%, 50% and 90% of particles have size equal or below 4.5 microns, 5.5 microns and 14.8 microns, respectively. In general, the grinding results demonstrated that the values of these sizes increased with increasing grinding duration. A significant increase was observed when grinding duration increased from 10 minutes to 1 hour, in particular among the d.sub.10 and d.sub.50 sizes. However, the increase in d.sub.90 size was relatively lower as compared to that of d.sub.10 and d.sub.50. With further increase of grinding duration from 1 hour to 3 hours, no change, a slight change, and a significant change in sizes were observed for d.sub.10, d.sub.50, and d.sub.90, respectively.

(23) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Compressive strength (MPa) Mix ID 7 Days 28 Days 91 Days C100 50.3 59.5 66.8 NVP-10% (10 min) 53.4 55.2 67.3 NVP-20% (10 min) 48 62.6 70.4 NVP-30% (10 min) 42 57.2 61.4 NVP-10% (1 h) 51.2 64.2 65.6 NVP-20% (1 h) 49.5 58.4 62.4 NVP-30% (1 h) 47.2 61.4 57.6 NVP-10% (3 h) 48.3 49.2 57 NVP-20% (3 h) 47.9 54.8 61.1 NVP-30% (3 h) 42.1 53.5 56.8

(24) Table 3 above shows the effect of grinding duration (10 min, 1 h, 3 h) and percent substitution of cement with NVP (10%, 20%, 30%) on development of compressive strength (CS) of mortar with aging (7, 28, and 91 days) and their comparison to that of a control mortar having 100% cement (C100). Despite a slightly lower CS at an early age of 7 days, it can be seen that the mortar having 20% of NVP (10 min) demonstrated higher CS at ages of 28 days and 91 days as compared to C100. The increasing grinding duration to 1 h has resulted in a slightly higher CS at 7 days and 28 days for NVP (1 h) which, however, resulted in a decreased CS at an age of 91 days when compared to C100 and corresponding mortar mixtures having similar cement substation levels of NVP (10 min). With further increase of the grinding duration to 3 h, the CS of mortar having NVP (3 h) decreased further as compared to C100 and corresponding mortar mixtures containing NVP (1 h) and NVP (10 min). Based on the comparison of results, it can be inferred that the mortar mixtures having 20% NVP (10 min) demonstrated highest CS as compared to C100 as well as all other mortars containing NVP (1 h) or NVP (3 h), irrespective of their percent substitution with cement.

(25) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Mix ID Water Absorption (%) Apparent Porosity (%) C100 5.6 12 NVP-10% (10 min) 4.8 10.2 NVP-20% (10 min) 4.4 9.3 NVP-30% (10 min) 4.5 9.4 NVP-10% (1 h) 5.4 11.4 NVP-20% (1 h) 4.8 10 NVP-30% (1 h) 4.7 9.7 NVP-10% (3 h) 5.7 12 NVP-20% (3 h) 5.3 10.8 NVP-30% (3 h) 4.9 10.1

(26) Table 4 above shows results of dry grinding of natural volcanic pumice (NVP) using 12 tungsten carbide balls of diameter 20 mm for durations of 10 minutes, 1 hour and 3 hours on water absorption (WA) and apparent porosity (AP). C100 represents a control mortar mixture containing 100% cement. The WA and AP for C100 were found as 5.6% and 12%, respectively. NVP-10% (10 min) represents a mortar mixture containing 90% cement and 10% natural volcanic pumice which was obtained after grinding for 10 minutes. For NVP-10% (10 min), the respective values for WA and AP were measured as 4.8% and 10.2%, respectively. The same explanation applies to other individual mortar mixtures NVP-20% (10 min) and so on. The results demonstrated that the mortar mixtures containing 10% to 30% of NVP after grinding for 10 minutes resulted in water absorption and apparent porosity values in the ranges of 4.4-4.8% and 9.3-10.2%, respectively. As compared to mortar mixtures having NVP (10 min), the mortar mixtures containing 10% to 30% of NVP after grinding for 1 h exhibited slightly higher values of WA and AP values in the ranges of 4.7-5.4% and 9.7-11.4%, respectively. With increasing grinding time to 3 h, the WA and AP values of 10% to 30% of NVP rises further to 4.9-5.7% and 10.1-12%, respectively. Based on the comparison of results, the lowest WA and AP values were observed for the mortar mixture containing NVP-20% (10 min).

(27) It is to be understood that the cement partially replaced with ground volcanic pumice is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the generic language of the following claims enabled by the embodiments described herein, or otherwise described above in terms sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the claimed subject matter.