Title:
Synthesis and Hydration of Ye’elimite
Author(s):
Yassine El Khessaimi, Youssef El Hafiane, and Agnès Smith
Publication:
Symposium Paper
Volume:
349
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
608-622
Keywords:
calcium sulfoaluminate cements, dissolution, hydration, quantitative Rietveld analysis, sol-gel synthesis, solid state synthesis, ye’elimite
DOI:
10.14359/51732776
Date:
4/22/2021
Abstract:
Ye’elimite-rich cements or calcium sulfoaluminate cements (CSA) are commercialized to prepare shrinkage compensation and self-stressing concretes. Moreover, CSA cements show environmentally friendly characteristics associated to their production, which include reduced CO2 footprint. The expansive behavior of CSA cements is mainly controlled by ettringite amount, produced upon hydration of the key-phase, ye’elimite [Ca4(Al6O12)SO4]. This paper presents, on one hand, the optimal conditions for the synthesis of highly pure ye’elimite by solid state reactions, and on the other hand, it shows a fundamental description of ye’elimite formation mechanisms. Another aspect of the study encompasses the influence of fineness and citric acid addition on ye’elimite phase dissolution, then on hydrates composition of lab made ye’elimite-rich cement. For the fineness effect study, a highly fine and pure ye’elimite was originally synthetized by sol-gel methods. Various experimental techniques were performed to conduct the different aspects of the present study, namely XRD-Quantitative Rietveld analysis, Thermal analysis (TGA, DTA and Dilatometry), SEM (BSE imaging and EDS mapping), BET analysis, PSD by laser diffraction, and Image analysis (2D porosity and 2D PSD).